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Portland Police Bureau

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Portland Police Bureau
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MottoIntegrity, Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Excellence, Service
Agency overview
Formed1870
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionPortland, Oregon, United States
General nature
Operational structure
Officers1150
Unsworn members350
Mayor responsible
Agency executive
  • Rosanne M. Sizer
Facilities
Precincts
5
  • North Precinct
  • Northeast Precinct
  • Central Precinct
  • South East Precinct
  • East Precinct
LockupsNone, jails run by County Sheriff
Airplanes3
Website
http://www.portlandonline.com/police/

The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) 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 as the police commissioner.

Precincts

The Portland Police Bureau divides Portland into five precincts and each precinct is divided into as many as 10 districts. The divisions are generally in accordance with neighborhood association boundaries, but also take into account the number of police calls generated in each district. The district serves as the basic unit of territory within the bureau, and most are assigned between one and two patrol officers. As such, busier districts (shopping centers, for instance) are geographically smaller and slower districts (sparse industrial areas) are larger.

While the number of officers in each precinct is adjusted continually through transfers, new hires and attrition, the infrastructure of each precinct remains essentially the same. A 2007 attempt by Chief Sizer to address this by folding the smallest (and least busy) precinct, North Precinct, into its neighbor, Northeast Precinct, was met by a mobilized North Portland community. North Precinct survives, only in a somewhat reduced form. Some past attempts to redraw precinct lines have met similar opposition from neighborhood associations.

Services

The Portland Police Bureau is the largest city law enforcement agency in Oregon. The Bureau has approximately 1,000 full-time officers, up to 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,[1] 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 perform 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 barricaded subjects or hostage situations). SERT would not be called for crowd control.

Hostage Negotiation Team (HNT)

  • HNT responds to hostage situations and uses psychology to resolve situations 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 three planes.

Traffic Division

  • Officers working within the traffic division are primarily on motorcycles (instead of police cars). Traffic officers daily tasks include DUI enforcement, aggressive driving watch, response to traffic crashes, and enforcing moving violation. Traffic officers also handle all types of law enforcement emergency calls.

School Resource Officer (SRO)

  • A School Resource Officer responds to crimes within any school within Portland Public Schools. Each Portland high school is assigned a specific SRO.

Child Abuse Team (CAT)

  • CAT investigates reports of child abuse throughout Multnomah County. CAT is made up of officers and deputys from Portland Police, Gresham Police, Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, Troutdale Police Department, Fairview Police Department, CARES Northwest, and Oregon Department of Human Services.[5]

Cadets

  • Cadets are young men and woman between the ages of 16 at 21 who serve as a sworn uniform volunteers of the police bureau. Cadets assist with community service events, parades, crowd control, security, and other special details. Cadets also preform cadet patrols consisting of two cadets in a marked police car assisting officers at traffic collisions, perimeters, paperwork, and taking traffic-related 911 calls. Cadets also ride with police officers as partners, which allows them to perform more tasks.[6]

Weapons

All Portland Police officers are armed with a 9mm Glock handgun, either the Glock 17, the Glock 19 or the Glock 26 (in the case of plainclothes assignments). Many uniformed officers also elect to carry a back up handgun (these are not issued by the bureau, but must conform to regulations regarding caliber and type). The .45 Glock 21 was once included in the list of handguns that could be used as a service pistol. However, after two incidents in which Glock 21s exploded in the hands of officers at a shooting range,[7] the Bureau abandoned the Glock 21. Most uniform officers' handguns are equipped with SureFire or Streamlight tactical lights.

All Portland Police Bureau officers are authorized to carry a Remington 870 shotgun (fitted with a tactical flashlight in the foregrip). After completion of Bureau courses, officers are also authorized to carry Colt AR-15 rifles and Remington 870 shotguns specially intended to fire less-lethal beanbag munitions.

SERT officers are armed with a variety of additional weapons, including H&K MP5A3 submachineguns, M4A1 assault rifles with EOTech holographic sights.

Besides firearms, all uniform officers carry several non-lethal weapons. Pepper spray, the ASP expandable baton and the Taser are all required on uniform officers' duty belts.

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.[8]

Controversy

See also: James Chasse, Jr.
See also: Kendra James

Members of the Portland Police Bureau have killed over 130 citizens from 1992 to 2008.[9] In several high-profile cases, including the James Chasse, Jr. and Kendra James incidents, the Portland Police Bureau has been accused of habitually engaging in the abuse of force and then covering up the investigation.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Organizational Chart".
  2. ^ Jackson-Johnson, Marci. "Crisis Response Team".
  3. ^ "Detective Division".
  4. ^ "Mounted Patrol Unit".
  5. ^ "Child Abuse Team".
  6. ^ "Cadet Division".
  7. ^ "Possible Officer Safety Issue Related to Glock Model 21 Handguns".
  8. ^ O'Hara, Ralph. "The History of the Portland Police Bureau; A Look Back".
  9. ^ Portland Police Shootings and Deaths in Custody: 1992-May, 2008
  10. ^ Street News Service
  11. ^ What Happened to James Chasse
  12. ^ Bernstein, Maxine (March 30 2004). "Man killed by police unarmed: Portland officials have not said why an officer shot James Jahar Perez". The Oregonian. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ "Mr. Perez? Fatal Mistake".
  14. ^ "THIRD UNARMED AFRICAN AMERICAN KILLED BY PORTLAND POLICE IN 25 MONTHS".
  15. ^ "Officer who shot, killed homicide suspect also shot Kendra James".
  16. ^ "The Kendra James trial: Was justice served?".
  17. ^ "Why Did James Chasse Jr. Die?".

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