City, county leaders weigh in on weekend events but no clear plan to address riots
Click here for updates on this story
PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — Portlanders want to know what local leaders are doing to address nightly violence in the city.
But in three months of demonstrations, and most recently, four nights in a row of riots, there doesn’t seem to be a clear plan.
When FOX 12 asked Mayor and Police Commissioner Ted Wheeler’s office what’s being done about nightly riots, we received a statement about protests in general, saying:
“We have seen three months of protests demanding police and criminal justice reform in Portland and across the country. And yet, this weekend we saw another Black man, Jacob Blake, shot seven times in the back by a police officer. This violence is real, and it continues to traumatize the Black community. And it reminds us that the Black Lives Matter protests must continue to push elected officials at all levels of government and in every corner of our country to do more. The repeated violence we see near some of the protests must be separated from these calls for justice. I am asking those who do not want to be associated with criminal activity to protest away from the small group that is perpetuating destructive acts in our city.”
Police Chief Chuck Lovell said Tuesday he’d like to be talking about the future of policing but that nightly demonstrations are actually getting in the way of that.
“This crowd control issue that we’ve been dealing with for three months now has really taken away from one, that conversation, but a lot of the resources we would use to start implementing things that would really benefit the community,” Lovell said.
Meanwhile City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly and County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal have said we must speak up against violence in all forms, but that police violence is by far a larger systemic problem.
In a statement, Eudaly said in part, “It is disproportionate and is wholly different from the destructive behavior we’ve witnessed from a relatively small number of protesters.”
She also criticized Portland Police for not stepping in during clashing protests Saturday.
The mayor said he’s reviewing that with the police chief.
Chief Lovell said it was a strategic decision based on where the crowd was, how they were interacting with each other, the potential that officer involvement could escalate things, and a lack of available officers.
“We have to make some determinations on what is safe to do what is prudent to do and what’s not,” he said.
As far as police reform, Commissioner Eudaly said she’s working with community leaders, advocates, and other elected officials on police protest actions and re-envisioning our justice system, including work with the group Reimagine Oregon.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
