The Democratic mayor of Portland Ted Wheeler said Saturday he is grateful to President Joe Biden for rescinding Donald Trump s order allowing an influx of federal agents to help quell riots that gripped the city last summer.
The executive order, issued in July, directed agents to protect monuments, statues and federal property as violent mobs ransacked Oregon s largest city following demonstrations sparked by George Floyd s murder.
The order is one of several issued by Trump that Biden has now rescinded, prompting Wheeler to tweet: Thankful for the support of the current administration.
Ted Wheeler - Mayor of Portland, Oregon - on Saturday welcomed news President Biden had rescinded a Trump executive order dispatching federal troops to help quell riots
Portland Police Union President Says City Is ‘On the Precipice of a Gang War’
The president of Portland, Oregon’s police union said in a blistering new statement that the city is on the brink of war.
“We need to talk about the elephant in the room: gun violence. We are on the precipice of a gang war,” said Daryl Turner, head of the Portland Police Association.
Police in the state’s largest city had responded to 357 shootings as of May 9, an increase of over 100 percent from the same time period the year prior.
Portland dealt with a jump in violence in 2020, with both shootings and murders skyrocketing, along with near-nightly riots that regularly diverted attention from 911 calls.
Police union blasts proposed Portland budget May 13 2021
The Portland Police Association blames the increase in shootings on the elimination of the Gun Violence Reduction Team.
The head of the union representing most Portland Police Bureau employees criticized the City Council for considering cutting its funding hours before the scheduled vote on next year s budget.
In an email press release, Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner blamed the surge in shootings and killings that began last year on the council s elimination of the bureau s Gun Violence Reduction Team during social justice protests. The team had been accused of disproportionately focusing on the Black community.