Portland Police Bureau
The Portland Police Bureau is the law enforcement agency of the City of Portland, the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. While oversight of Portland's bureaus shifts among the five City Commissioners, the Mayor is always assigned the Police Bureau.
History
The Bureau, originally named the Portland Metropolitan Police Force, was established in 1870 by the Portland City Council. The Council appointed Phillip Saunders as its first chief of police.[1]
Services
The Portland Police Bureau is the largest city law enforcement agency in Oregon. The Bureau has approximately 1,000 full time officers, 100 reserves, 50 cadets, and 300 civilian positions. The Portland Police Bureau provides numerous services to the citizens of Portland and the tri-county area, including:
Patrol
- 911 and emergency response
Crisis Response Team (CRT)
- Mission: The Mission of the Portland Police Bureau’s Crisis Response Team is to intervene in traumatic situations which impact individuals, families, and the community at large.
CRT members provide much needed support to victims of crime, sexual assault, and abuse.[2]
Rapid Response Team (RRT)
- RRT is Portland Police Bureaus "Riot Police" and respond to large political rallies/gatherings. They will also preform officer rescues if needed.
Detectives
- Portland Police Bureau detectives are members of the tri-county major crimes division, as such they will assist other agency's. Portland Police Detectives work a variety of task such as, child sexual assault, burglary and other property crimes, prostitution, narcotics, homicide, traffic crash investigation, hit and runs, auto theft, and other felony crimes. [3]
Mounted Patrol Unit
- The mounted police unit utilizes horses to fight crime in the downtown area of Portland. They are primarily used for crowd control at large events. [4]
Special Emergency Response Team (SERT)
- SERT (better known as SWAT) responds to incidents involving uncooperative armed suspects (such as bank robberies, shoot outs, or hostage situations). SERT would not be called for crowd control.
Hostage Negotiation Team (HNT)
- HNT responds to hostage situations and uses psychology to talk the suspect and the hostage out safely without use of force.
Air Support Unit (ASU)
- ASU is used for high risk situations, or for warrant service. Portland Police Bureau currently owns 3 planes.
See also
References
- ^ O'Hara, Ralph. "The History of the Portland Police Bureau; A Look Back".
- ^ Jackson-Johnson, Marci. "Crisis Response Team".
- ^ "Detective Division".
- ^ "Mounted Patrol Unit".