Make no mistake - the policing situation in Portland is 100% political, from the police side. Policing is AOK in the more conservative areas of the metro area - the rest of the city is intentionally left to rot despite no actual reduction in funding or capabilities. Portland in media became a “liberal stronghold” and our (naturally) right-wing police force (which have colorful and long-standing local history with regional white nationalist groups) have decided to make their political statement by selectively performing their job duties to attack liberals.
I have family that’s a part of this shitfest, on the LEO side. The shit they say after a few drinks on Thanksgiving is disgusting. The issues plaguing Portland are 100% intentional by the police. They view themselves as “teaching Portland a lesson about their liberal government” and boast about how they’ll drive past dangerous and criminal events if it looks to them like it’s just a liberal or undesirable “getting what they voted for”.
There are private groups to help you track down and (sometimes forcefully!) recover your stolen car in the city, because if you call the police to report a theft, they’ll wait until you tell them what part of the city you’re from and if it’s not the conservative areas they’ll just tell you they can’t do anything and hang up on you. No report, nothing. They’re well aware that this lack of report number impacts your ability to make insurance claims, by the way - another chuckling boast over Thanksgiving when I asked.
They won’t stop until they “feel respected” again. To them, this means zero oversight, unlimited budget, no questioning, no consequences, and conservative leadership over the city. The disgust I feel when I see our “public servants” now after being educated on their perspective is alarming even to me.
Make no mistake - the policing situation in Portland is 100% political, from the police side. Policing is AOK in the more conservative areas of the metro area - the rest of the city is intentionally left to rot despite no actual reduction in funding or capabilities. Portland in media became a “liberal stronghold” and our (naturally) right-wing police force (which have colorful and long-standing local history with regional white nationalist groups) have decided to make their political statement by selectively performing their job duties to attack liberals.
I have family that’s a part of this shitfest, on the LEO side. The shit they say after a few drinks on Thanksgiving is disgusting. The issues plaguing Portland are 100% intentional by the police. They view themselves as “teaching Portland a lesson about their liberal government” and boast about how they’ll drive past dangerous and criminal events if it looks to them like it’s just a liberal or undesirable “getting what they voted for”.
There are private groups to help you track down and (sometimes forcefully!) recover your stolen car in the city, because if you call the police to report a theft, they’ll wait until you tell them what part of the city you’re from and if it’s not the conservative areas they’ll just tell you they can’t do anything and hang up on you. No report, nothing. They’re well aware that this lack of report number impacts your ability to make insurance claims, by the way - another chuckling boast over Thanksgiving when I asked.
They won’t stop until they “feel respected” again. To them, this means zero oversight, unlimited budget, no questioning, no consequences, and conservative leadership over the city. The disgust I feel when I see our “public servants” now after being educated on their perspective is alarming even to me.