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It that a PPB issue or a policy of local prosecutors? I dont know about Portland but in many "progressive" cities there is a directive to not prosecute minor p

It that a PPB issue or a policy of local prosecutors? I dont know about Portland but in many "progressive" cities there is a directive to not prosecute minor property crimes (i.e car break ins, shoplifting, etc) unless there was violence involved (i.e a Car Jacking at Gun Point) So the police have naturally reacted by not arresting anyone for those crimes, why bother to arrest them if they are just turned back out in 2 hours anyway?

n8cpdx 4y ago
A bit of both. PPB is a tiny force for a city the size of Portland. 313 patrol officers over 3 shifts for a city of 650,000. https://www.portland.gov/police/open-data/ppb-staffing-report https://www.portland.gov/police/open-data/ppb-staffing-repor... But even if they were fully staffed and had time to “criminalize homelessness”, the DA is reluctant to prosecute. But even if the DA presses charges, there is a huge public defender shortage. Loads of people are being set free and having cases dismissed for want of legal representation. https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/car-thefts-dismissed-public-defender-shortage-multnomah-county/283-5882d35f-8cb1-40e5-88cc-e54b230da64f https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/car-thefts-dismissed-... In summary: - police don’t have time or resources to investigate anything that isn’t a homicide (with some exceptions) - the DA won’t prosecute, to the point that criminals actively know to commit crimes in MultCo - if the DA does take the case, it will be dismissed because there aren’t enough public defenders
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  One reform I think should happen is 1:1 funding for the prosecutors office and the public defenders office. If the DA gets a $100 Million budget, then the Public Defenders office should have that as well. Right now it is like 10:1 in alot of cases if not even more lopsided.

n8cpdx 4y ago

A bit of both. PPB is a tiny force for a city the size of Portland. 313 patrol officers over 3 shifts for a city of 650,000. https://www.portland.gov/police/open-data/ppb-staffing-report https://www.portland.gov/police/open-data/ppb-staffing-repor... But even if they were fully staffed and had time to “criminalize homelessness”, the DA is reluctant to prosecute. But even if the DA presses charges, there is a huge public defender shortage. Loads of people are being set free and having cases dismissed for want of legal representation. https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/car-thefts-dismissed-public-defender-shortage-multnomah-county/283-5882d35f-8cb1-40e5-88cc-e54b230da64f https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/car-thefts-dismissed-... In summary: - police don’t have time or resources to investigate anything that isn’t a homicide (with some exceptions) - the DA won’t prosecute, to the point that criminals actively know to commit crimes in MultCo - if the DA does take the case, it will be dismissed because there aren’t enough public defenders

phpisthebest 4y ago
One reform I think should happen is 1:1 funding for the prosecutors office and the public defenders office. If the DA gets a $100 Million budget, then the Public Defenders office should have that as well. Right now it is like 10:1 in alot of cases if not even more lopsided.