Portland set a new record for homicides in a year - breaking the ignominious mark set in 1987 of 66 deaths with still three months left in 2021 - as the the defund the police movement continues to have deadly consequences for Oregon's largest city.
The Pacific Northwest city has seen more than 1,000 shootings this year, with 314 bystanders injured by bullets. Deaths by gun violence have accounted for three-quarters of all homicides.
Last year, Portland recorded 55 murders, nearly triple the total of 20 in 2016. With a population of 650,000, the liberal bastion has had twice as many murders as neighboring Seattle, which has about 100,000 more people.
Portland's murder spree comes after the city's police department budgets were slashed by millions of dollars in the wake of the defund the police movement - causing significant staffing shortages - along with a lack of enforcement power due to new legislation which restricts officers' actions.
City leaders slashed a total $27 million from the police budget last year - $11 million due to the pandemic-caused budget crisis - a decision that the police union says has cost lives.
'I have never seen the police bureau so stressed, personal-strength-wise, never,' Oregon Association Chiefs of Police President Jim Ferraris told the Wall Street Journal.
The homicide rate in the city has increased to 67, far outstripping the murder rates of the past five years
Police investigate an overnight fatal shooting in Portland in July 2021. Portland surpassed its previous record of 66 homicides set in 1987
The news comes less than one week after hundreds of rioters caused over half a million dollars' worth of damage in the city and spray painted messages inciting violence against police officers (Pictured: graffiti sprayed on a wall in Portland on October 12 which reads 'kill cops')
Portland was rocked by a violent, 100-person protest last Tuesday night that police were unable to prevent due to new laws restricting their power in responding to riots (Pictured: a dumpster set alight in downtown Portland on October 12, 2021)
On Saturday, Police Chief Chuck Lovell posted the above tweet addressing Portland's gun violence, after the city registered more than 1000 shootings in 2021 so far
Jacob Eli Knight Vasquez became Portland's 67th homicide in late September when he was hit by a stray bullet while sitting inside a pizza bar in northwest Portland. The 34-year-old died on the scene.
'We are running on fumes. There´s no way we can investigate thoroughly, and correctly, all these shootings,' said Daryl Turner, executive director of Portland's police union.
Nationally, homicides increased by nearly 30% from 2019 to 2020 based on FBI data, but the deadly violence has increasing at a much faster rate in Portland than nearly all major cities, with an 83% increase in homicides in 2020.
It's the largest increase in homicides the country has seen since the FBI started recording national data in 1960.
Lionel Irving Jr, a local outreach worker and a former gang member, said, 'This past year has shattered anything that I've ever witnessed.'
Irving does not believe gun violence will slow without more officers on the street and a specialized gun violence unit, along with investments in community-based organizations.
Police say the recently passed law ties their hands even further as it prohibits police from using crowd control techniques like pepper spray or tear gas. Instead, law enforcement agencies are told to rely on follow-up investigations to hold rioters accountable.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced in June that officers are no longer being directed to stop drivers for low-level traffic violations, partially in response to data showing a disproportionate impact on drivers of color, but also because the city doesn't have enough officers.
Turner says the city needs to hire 840 officers over the next five years to implement proper community policing and keep Portland safe.
Since August 2020, about 200 officers have left the Portland police department, many of whom cited low morale, a lack of support from city officials and burnout from months of racial justice protests in their exit interviews. The department is now operating with a force about 128 officers below its authorized strength.
The city's police department is seemingly unable to fill positions on even the smallest of task forces aimed at reducing the violence, while the city's authorities scramble to implement alternative solutions to improve safety.
The police department's Focused Intervention Team has been unable to fill 14 available spots, reporting in August that only four applicants had applied to join the taskforce aimed at reducing gun crime.
The original Gun Violence Reduction Team was shut down after the Portland City Council voted to cut $15 million from the police budget and eliminate 84 sworn positions last June.
Police stood idle as rioters rampaged through the city, citing a new law that prevents law enforcement from using means of crowd control like pepper spray, tear gas or incapacitating projectiles (Pictured: the aftermath of the riots in downtown Portland on October 12)
Law enforcement agencies in Portland were told to rely on follow-up investigations to hold rioters accountable (Pictured: damage to a bank window and ATM machine caused during the October 12 riot)
Meanwhile, Portland authorities have resorted to using road signs and traffic cones in a desperate attempt to reduce instances of drive-by shootings.
Transportation Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty - a 'defund the police' supporter who voted in favor of the police's budget cuts - recently ordered the Bureau of Transportation to install orange traffic barrels across a six-block area in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood.
The barrels were to be used as part of a series of 'holistic solutions to community safety' aimed at reducing the shooting epidemic by preventing cars used in drive-by shootings from 'both commit a crime and get away with it,' Hardesty said.
'This is an all-hands-on-deck situation where government needs to dig deep, think creatively,' she continued. 'From police to community-based organizations to infrastructure design — we all have a role to play in this emergency.'
Don Osborn, a brother-in-law of a recent shooting victim in Portland, has railed against the city's defunding of the police and called on authorities to renew the police's powers.
'Let's please untie the hands of our law enforcement officers,' he implored in an interview with AP. 'I believe if the proper tools were in place for our law enforcement officers, this wouldn't even have happened.'
Turner's comments came less than a week after a group of nearly 100 rioters caused more than $500,000 in damage last Tuesday during a 'night of rage and anger' that police could not prevent because of a new state law that restricts how law enforcement can respond to riots.
The violence broke out after a memorial for Sean Kealiher, an Antifa activist who was struck and killed by an SUV in October 2019 after getting in a fight with the driver at a bar earlier that night.
Police have not made any arrests in connection to Kealiher's death, though his mother, Laura, believes they have identified the culprits, according to the Oregonian/Oregon Live.
She organized last Tuesday's protest on Twitter, writing that it was 'not a peaceful event' and dubbing it 'a night of rage and anger.'
Following the destructive riot last week, resident Linda Witt asked: 'Does that mean we are now like a lawless city?' when discussing the new restrictions on riot responses during a neighborhood meeting with police.
Police say many of the shootings are linked to the marked increase in gang violence, fights and retaliation killings, but the escalating gun violence has already seen several innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire.
Hadar Kedem, 9, recently told city leaders about a dangerously close call when she was caught in gunfire earlier this year.
Hadar had been playing with her father, brother and dog at a northeast Portland park when a group of people in ski masks began shooting. Hadar and her family dove for cover behind a metal equipment bin. One bullet landed within feet of the fourth-grader.
'I know that not only do I want change, but everyone wants change,' Hadar said during a City Council meeting last month. 'I want to feel safe.'
Transportation Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty (pictured) recently ordered the Bureau of Transportation to install orange traffic barrels in an area notorious for drive-by shootings in an alternative attempt to curb escalating gun violence
The traffic barrels are expected to cost $2,000 to $3,000 in total, and have been mocked by critics as a pathetic attempt to reduce gun violence in a city where the police budgets have been drastically cut
On a national level, the increasing violence and pleas for cities to do more have compelled some areas to switch from defunding police departments to restoring funding to them.
From Los Angeles to New York, some law enforcement departments that underwent massive budget cuts, amid nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd last year, have had local leaders restore funds or implement new programs or units.
In Portland, there's money available for public safety in the form of a $60 million general fund excess balance.
The City Council can use half the money, which came from business taxes last year and was far more than anticipated, however it wants. Whether a significant portion will go to the police bureau has yet to be determined.
'We have to realize that everybody has a role, from community members to the police department,' Irving said. 'No one entity is going to solve gun violence.'
Police respond to a shooting in a house in Portland in June 2021, setting up a cordon to prevent bystanders from entering the scene of the crime
Post a Comment