[What follows is part two of a five-part series on the progress Portland has made on police reform over the past year. Read the rest here.—eds] The beginning of last year’s protests coincided with City Council’s deliberations on the city budget, a vote that determines Portland Police Bureau's (PPB) funding for the year. Of the nearly 800 people who signed up to testify on the city budget in June 2020, the majority of them echoed.
Editorial: City’s refusal to fund new gun-violence unit will take toll on victims of other crimes
Updated Apr 11, 2021;
Posted Apr 11, 2021
Amid continuing calls to defund the police, the Portland City Council refused to provide any additional funds for a new police team to combat gun violence. Unfortunately, that will only further tax an already understaffed police bureau, leading to a reduced response from police to other crime victims, the editorial board writes.
Jamie Hale/The Oregonian
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On balance, the compromise plan adopted by Portland City Council last week offers a promising strategy to confront the city’s escalating gun-violence crisis and reshape public safety. Along with a $4.1 million investment in nonprofits working with at-risk communities and the addition of six detectives to a Portland Police Bureau team investigating shootings, the council assented to Mayor Ted Wheeler’s proposal to form a dedicated police unit to proactively head-off vi
Portland police chief says he’ll pull officers from other work to fill new uniformed team targeting gun violence
Updated 5:42 PM;
Today 5:24 PM
“We’re so lean right now,” Police Chief Chuck Lovell said Wednesday. “There’s not many other places to pull from.Being able to do this means greatly impacting our ability to do something else.” Dave Killen / StaffThe Oregonian
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Moments after the City Council gave the green light but no extra money to bring back a uniformed police team to address gun violence, Police Chief Chuck Lovell said he’s unsure which officers will do the work or how the bureau will pay for them.
by Alex Zielinski • Apr 7, 2021 at 4:36 pm DRAFTFOLIO / GETTY IMAGES
Portland City Council responded to an alarming uptick in local gun violence by unanimously passing a $6 million emergency budget package on Wednesday.
The proposal finances grants for community-based organizations that work directly with Portlanders impacted by gun violence, significantly expands Portland s park ranger program, and funds crime data collection and analysis. It does not include any additional funding for the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), a solution initially suggested by Mayor Ted Wheeler in March. This proposal goes beyond just enforcement to invest in upstream solutions and tackle disparities faced by many of the impacted communities at their roots, and replacing and rebuilding it with a system that supports them, said Commissioner Carmen Rubio during the Wednesday council meeting.