Oregon, My Oregon

According to the Free Bacon, Portland is seeking advice on police from the people least likely to give any useful counsel, Portland Shells Out Thousands For Homeless to Help Shape City's Police Disciplinary System

Portland, Ore., shelled out thousands of taxpayer dollars to a group of homeless people to have them evaluate the city's new Police Accountability Commission after the city said that its "houseless community" should shape the way cops are disciplined.

Portland's Police Accountability Commission hired a marketing firm in June and July to hold focus groups with participants from "communities that have been historically underrepresented … or who are vulnerable to police misconduct or discrimination," according to a commission report. The city held one session at a local homeless shelter, which invited "twenty participants from the houseless community" to provide their "thoughts and ideas about the police" and the city's disciplinary policies for law enforcement officers. Each participant received a $200 gift card, meaning the city paid at least $4,000 to hold the focus group at the homeless shelter.

The revelation provides a window into how Portland and other left-wing cities are working to make "systemic changes" to their police discipline policies in the wake of George Floyd's death. At the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, Portland voters approved a ballot measure to establish a new Police Accountability Commission, which has spent nearly two years designing a new system to replace the city's police review board. The new board will have broad power to subpoena police records, investigate police conduct, and discipline officers.

Law enforcement veterans are barred from serving on the board, as are their immediate family members. The city is shelling out thousands of dollars, however, to receive feedback from law enforcement opponents. In addition to the homeless group, the city sought out focus group participants who have a "history of working with over-policed communities," as well as "equity practitioners" and "anyone who has witnessed or experienced police misconduct."

 No wonder, as Logan Washburn at Da Fed informs us  Portland Police Response Times Skyrocket As City Struggles With Crime, the inmates are running the asylum. 

Shattered glass lined the sidewalks. Downtown Portland was recovering from nightly riots five days after George Floyd’s police death. I was downtown with friends, helping businesses recover from the latest bout of violence. Officers with the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) were taking reports from damaged businesses.

More than three years later, Portland police are still struggling to respond to crime. The PPB is dealing with high response times, high crime rates, and low staffing levels, according to a Manhattan Institute report released Sept. 14.

“Portland, Oregon, is in the middle of a public safety crisis,” the report reads. “What sets Portland apart are the limits on its capacity to respond to these issues with the traditional tools of the criminal justice system and, in particular, its capacity to use the police.”

The PPB took more than 20 minutes to respond to high-priority calls, more than 50 minutes to respond to medium-priority calls, and more than one and a half hours to respond to low-priority calls as of July, according to the report.

“Like other major cities, Portland, Oregon, has experienced a surge in crime and disorder over the past three years,” the report reads. “Unlike other major cities, Portland is uniquely ill-equipped to deal with this problem, because its police department is uniquely understaffed.”

Who would want to be a cop in a city where the homeless are telling you how to do your job?