Portland mayor declares gun violence and homeless emergencies

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler recently declared a gun violence emergency in the city. He has also issued three different emergency declarations around homelessness this year. Portland’s new Community Safety Division is leading efforts to address both homelessness and gun violence. We hear from Mike Myers, the leader of that division.

Note: The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler recently announced a new emergency declaration to reduce gun violence in the city. This comes after a series of emergency declarations to try to tackle homelessness. These efforts all have something in common. They are both being spearheaded by Portland’s year old Community Safety Division. Mike Myers is in charge of that division and he joins us now. You have taken part in a number of weekly gun violence reduction meetings. But as you know, gun violence has not really gone down. We’re on track right now to either meet or exceed last year’s record setting number of homicides. Overall, what’s your theory for what’s happening in Portland?

Mike Myers:  If we look at the major cities that we’ve been compared to and we recently had a report that was completed from the California Partnership as a third party entity that we asked to design and discover, dig deep and give us a problem analysis for the city of Portland. They delivered that a couple of weeks ago and they showed us the comparisons between the city of Portland and some other cities that had some similar demographics; Nashville, Denver, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Atlanta. And a lot of common themes are relevant with all those cities and really cities across America.

In April of 2020,  the pandemic really started to take off and we saw gun violence take off dramatically across all major cities in the United States and Portland included. And at the time, you know, if you, if you read the report from 2002 to 2019, Portland had a very low rate per capita of gun crime. But in 2020 it certainly was explosive and it just took off. Although we ended up where we are today, with a per capita gun crime that’s right in the middle of those cities, where I think we’re above San Francisco, maybe tied with Denver, but not quite as high as, as some of those others, the percentage of growth, Dave, was just dramatic. We, by far, outpaced every one of those cities that we were compared to on the growth of gun violence here in Portland.

Miller:  Why?

Myers:  Well, there’s a number of causes and if you look across the country, the debate is still out on exactly why.  There’s discussions around and I think it would be interesting to see what theories people developed later on when they look back at these years across the United States, to solve that and to have that answer. But what’s being debated today,  if you read histories of pandemics, the breakdown of civility within communities and nations that have had pandemics is not unusual. We should not have been surprised by some of the things that have occurred. We have an immense amount of guns on the street today. We have a drug problem.  I’ve been in the business for 34 years. I’ve been the fire chief in Las Vegas. Was the fire chief here in Portland. I was your emergency manager for a couple of years.

I’m now in [this] position since last year and I’ve never seen a drug problem like this in America and certainly not here in Portland. And we have the houseless crisis. I mean, it’s a combination Dave. There is no one thing that is driving the increase in gun violence. It is extremely complex and there are multiple issues driving it.

Miller:  You haven’t mentioned race yet, our demographics, but it’s really striking. We’ve seen this before in earlier analyses as well as the new third party analysis, that something like 50% of victims and perpetrators of gun violence in Portland are young African American men, even though they make up something like 5% of Portland’s population. How do you explain that?

Myers:  So I’ll use a fire analogy since I spent most of my time in fire. I used to say that vibrant neighborhoods don’t burn. I never, in my lifetime as a fire chief, had a fire problem where neighborhoods were vibrant. I always had a fire problem where neighborhoods have been divested in, where there was poverty, where there was lack of jobs, where there was lack of sidewalks, access to health care, lack of access to healthy foods, where they just didn’t have the vibrancy and livability of other privileged groups. And when that happens, Dave, regardless of whether it’s fire that is happening in those neighborhoods, you’ll see gun crime and other violent crimes happening in those neighborhoods as well. And so a lot of people turn to policing as the answer. And they certainly have a role in reducing gun violence. But we also must understand that until we invest in these neighborhoods that we have not invested in in the past, they will continue to feel disrespected, like there’s nothing left for them to obtain. And violence will be an answer unless you get in there and invest and invest deeply and continue it. It has to be sustained.

Miller:  This really jives with something you told Willamette Week in April. I want to read this quote because it is a very clear encapsulation of what you just said. You said, “it’s the neighborhoods that have been divested in for decades that end up in a situation where there’s poverty, there’s wealth gaps, there’s lack of access to safe, walkable streets, parks and education. And when these things exist in your neighborhood, you said they’ll oftentimes create conditions where violence and gun violence will occur.” If that’s your diagnosis of really the root of this problem in many ways, then why isn’t the solution better streets, better parks, better education and better job opportunities?

Myers:  So here it is. I think the difficulty we found ourselves in and why I believe the Mayor’s emergency declaration is the answer. You can have sidewalk money. You can have streets money, money for light poles. You can have money to help businesses get up on their feet. You can have job creation money in cities. And most cities of our size, metropolitan cities, do. But unless you are focusing it directly into a handful of identified neighborhoods, I mean all of it, Dave, focused into investments in those neighborhoods, you’re going to spread way too thin. There’s simply not enough money to do the entire city.

Miller:  Wait. But why then, if this is an epidemic and this is an emergency, what’s the argument against that kind of super targeted infrastructure or development or education or job training investment? Why not do that?

Myers:  We are. And I think that’s the main point of the emergency declaration that the Mayor declared about a week ago now and asked me to provide incident command around. It is bringing not only some policing options from the enhanced community safety teams, the investigators and the focus intervention teams doing their work where shootings are occurring. But we will be directly focusing largescale investment in these neighborhoods. The Mayor allocated $2.4 million dollars to start. But I’ll be also bringing in other bureaus in the city to really focus their efforts not only in outreach work, but looking at those physical and social determinants of health and really focusing our city investments in the neighborhoods that we’ve identified. And we’ve been working with a researcher out of Boston. I’ve worked with this gentleman for years, when I was the fire chief, and we have clearly identified where these neighborhoods are and where we need to make those investments. And Dave, now is the time.

Miller:  Where are these neighborhoods? How granular is your data?

Myers:  It can be very granular. They’re east of 82nd Avenue. I want them narrowed down to, I mean that would be great if we can get them down to the street. I want this to be as focused as we can get it because if you go too large, Dave, you spread out the amount of money that you have and the less work can be done. And so every one of the neighborhoods are going to be a little different, every size of the area will be different. And I actually want to make this a proof of concept. I think Commissioner Hardesty and some bureaus worked together last year, to do a small demonstration in Mt. Scott. And we were able to make just minor changes, Dave, and they reduced gun violence fairly quickly, about 60% reduction fairly quickly.

Miller:  Now remember, we did a whole conversation about that, but people may have missed it. This was really about traffic calming, about making it so cars couldn’t speed through the intersections right near the park before or after a shooting. That’s the pilot? You’re talking about traffic barrels?

Myers:  It is, but every neighborhood will be different. Every neighborhood will need something different. And one thing that is leading this discussion is the communities know what they need. If you sit down with the residents and ask them, ‘what is it gonna take to reduce violence in this neighborhood?’ And you have that hard conversation, they’ll tell you. And you know, the city does a great job at listening and we have a lot of listening opportunities. Where we’re falling down is we’re not delivering on what the communities want. And that’s the goal here is to capture what we think is needed to reduce violence in neighborhoods and making it happen.

Miller:  Are you arguing right now that $2.6 million dollars is commensurate with the task that you’ve outlined in terms of generations long divestment in streets and parks and education and job opportunities?

Myers:  No, it’s $2.4 million. But the answer is no. I’m not arguing that is commensurate. I think it’s going to take more, Dave. And here’s the other issue. It’s not going to just take these initial steps to reduce violence. Some of the changes that these communities need are longterm things, grocery stores, community centers. They’re not going to get done in three months to six months to build that fabric of that community back. But then it’s not only that, we have to sustain it. But see, these are longterm investments that are going to take a decade. My goal right now, what I’ve been tasked with, is to reduce gun violence. And we’ve been at it now for a week. But my first objective is to stop the upward trend of it. Once I can capitate that trend, we’re going to start working on reducing it. Every possible thing that I can do to reduce gun violence, we’re going to try to do. Whether it is going after individuals that are shooting, making capital investments in neighborhoods that have been divested in.

We also have gun violence happening in our houseless encampments. I’ve been working on that now for three months. We have the SSCC, the Streets Services Coordination Center and the houseless work. So it’s all those things. And then the extra questions, Dave, around auto theft and its potential connection to gun crimes. The amount of guns that are moving into Portland, the drug issue in Portland, it’s all those things that need to be addressed. And we have just grouped them together under one emergency declaration and put some leadership over it and we’re gonna start driving solutions in every area.

Miller:  You mentioned homelessness. I want to turn to that in just a minute. But one last point here. One of the new pieces of this is the focused investment group, this three member team. What exactly are they going to be doing?

Myers:  So we have research that we’ve had probably for about a year now that we’ve been working on, endlessly, that suggests where this gun violence is occurring right down to the neighborhood level. We have a number of other staff members that are working with [these focused intervention members]. So it’s not just those three. We also have a group of individuals that just came over from Civic Life and the Office of Violence Prevention led by Director Nike Green, all working together to come up with investment strategies for the two or three neighborhoods that we’re going to do this direct focused investment in.

Their job is to write up the investment plan for that neighborhood, make sure we have the funds. And if we don’t, let’s go get the funds and then make sure that those investments actually happen. And we start seeing a return on our dollar. I’ve asked them just today, I want to know what the gun violence rate and violence rate is in that neighborhood today. And then once we start making those investments, I want to watch it every week or every month until I can see a reduction in gun violence in those neighborhoods by these focused investments.

Miller:  Where is the accountability that’s built into this in terms of city leaders, whether elected or you? How are we going to, as Portlanders, hold all of you accountable?

Myers:  So what I’ve told the mayor is, and I’ve been saying this for a while, that I believe that they need to bring all of these issues under one responsible person and hold that person responsible for outcomes. I am that person. So I will own the performance measures of reducing gun violence, reducing shootings. But I’m working with a really great team from Portland Police Bureau, from the Community Safety division, from Civic Life, from Portland Bureau of Transportation, all of the Commissioners. I’ve got good support around me. But Dave, somebody needs to be responsible to do this and bring them together and that person’s me.

Miller:  Let me put it to you this way. If a year from now say, shootings haven’t gone down, should you still be in your job? We can vote out, you know, elected leaders, but you’re not an elected leader. I mean, I’m putting this in a pointed way just to really truly understand your understanding of accountability?

Myers: It’s going to be up to the council. This is not new for me, Dave. You know, I’ve been a fire chief and an executive for many years. And you step into an emergency and take total responsibility for it. I’ve always been an optimist believing that no matter how big the challenge is, whatever was burning down, it was chaotic when I got there. But I will figure this out. And I always have. And you know, I’m not guaranteeing success here, but I’m willing to be held accountable for it. And that means in the end that I will give you everything, I’ve got Dave. And I’ve been on this program before, I think you all know that. But in the end, if it’s not successful and the city chooses to go in a different direction, that’s part of the job.

Miller:  We’re talking, right now, with Mike Myers. He is in charge of Portland’s Community Safety Division, which is now overseeing the city’s efforts both to reduce gun violence and to address homelessness. I want to turn to homelessness right now. You mentioned briefly, the Street Services Coordination Center. Can you explain the idea behind it and the work they’re actually doing?

Myers:  Sure. So, we’ve talked a lot already about how to bring bureaus together and different groups together to solve a problem. And houslessness is as big as the gun problem. I mean, we’ve got huge problems here in Portland. One of the top ones is the houselessness issue. The mayor, I think now, 2.5, 3 months ago, declared an emergency around houselessness in a number of different ways. There was that high speed crash corridors. There was a kind of focus on health and safety and the fact that living on the street is not healthy and safe. And then this last one and so again, I provide that incident command leadership around the whole problem. And I have an incident commander that helps me just with the SSCC, which is the Street Services Coordination Center. The intent is to go into locations where, using a number of different tools [including] a matrix that we use to define when we would go in and clean up a camp. But I also am working closely with precinct commanders, specifically central precinct, on where crime is occurring, specifically gun crime and the potential connection to high impact are very dangerous houselessness encampments. The example that we started with had a focus area just to show proof of concept. Were we going to be able to do this? Was this the right thing to do? And we started working in the Old Town Chinatown downtown area. And I feel although the data is not completely in, anecdotally, listening to individuals that work down there and live down there, we’ve already started to make an impact. We have been able to get people into shelter that haven’t had shelter before. I believe the data will show that assault, burglary and murder is down.

Miller:  When you say that, what I have heard and The Oregonian did, I think about two weeks ago, a deep analysis of the data that has come in so far. And they noted that the city has touted, as evidence of the success of this more aggressive sweeps policy, that crime has gone down in Old Town. Is it down overall in the city or has it just been moved, dispersed to other parts of the city?

Myers:  So it’s always a tough question to answer. The goal, obviously, is to reduce it over the entirety of the city and not move the problem around. That’s the goal. And we will see over time how successful we will be. But I can clearly tell you in that area I feel - and again I need the hard data to prove what we feel is going on now and we are working on getting that  - that things have changed down there and we are making a difference. Now when we go in and people use the term sweeps when we go in, I’ve directed the SSCC to go in days ahead of time. Make sure you have a special team out there just communicating with individuals so that they know there’s shelter options and they know we’re coming to work on that camp. We post like we’re required to, and then we come in and we have navigators there ready to help them if they want shelter. Dave, it’s offered. But many don’t take it and many will move on and I understand that and I know it’s difficult when we move a person off the street and they have to relocate. I’m very aware of that. I have to sleep at night as well. But I also know that in the end if we can reduce assault and reduce burglaries and reduce rapes and reduce murders in that area, then that is the objective.

Miller:  When are you going to have the data? Because, as you’ve been very clear about this, you don’t know yet if you have been successful in reducing the rates of all of these crimes, violent and property crimes truly citywide or if you’ve moved them. When will you be able to answer that question?

Myers:  So with the emergency declaration around the houseless issue,  which I think came out about three months ago. I’d have to find the exact date and that was the date that I was given the charge to get going. You know, get this set up, put the team together and get a plan together. And so from the minute I was told to go, just like the gun violence direction I received 4 or 5 days ago, I immediately start to get to work. So it takes a while for us to get work done. I believe a lot of work has been done in Old Town and the downtown area. So I would assume within the next 30-60 days that the data will start showing up for the month that we started doing the work. Reports have to be closed out. Some of these things are investigations and are still ongoing. You know, there’s still a lot, it’s more complex than it sounds. But eventually we will know whether we’re doing a good job. Up until then, it’s all qualitative right? People are telling you anecdotally things are changing for the better but you know, I don’t, can’t operate just off of that. I need to be able to show the hard statistics for us to continue to do the work or make changes.

Miller:  So crime is a hugely important piece of this. But as you were noting, there are so many pieces of this. And certainly one of the biggest I assume is whether people are actually being helped out of homelessness and being helped into some version of permanent supportive housing or their own housing of some kind. How is everything you’re talking about leading to that?

Myers:  Well, let’s be honest and open about the discussion that we don’t have enough housing here in Portland. It is a difficult situation for this city to be in. We don’t have enough shelter options for everyone and all the different kinds of shelters that are needed for the different living situations that people have found themselves in. And so, clearly, we need more options Dave. And that is not particularly my responsibility. But I’m willing to work with whoever I need to work with.

Our job is to identify individuals that can use shelter, offer that shelter to them and transport them to that shelter. And a certain percentage of people that we offer it to do take us up on that and we do transport them to shelter beds. Fewer than one in 10, if I’m reading the data right, take it. So you may offer 10 people shelter, but very few people actually want to go to the shelter. And these shelters are all different kinds and there are areas where people can’t use drugs. Some shelters, they can have a pet, some they can’t. There’re just all different kinds of shelter options for people. And for whatever reason, I don’t know all the details or why a person wouldn’t want it. But many people are focused on and committed to living on the streets.

Miller:  Mike Myers, we will talk again. Thanks very much for giving us a big chunk of your time today.

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