With the prospect of more civil unrest in Portland after former president Donald Trump’s reelection, the Portland Police Bureau has reportedly made several changes to avoid a repeat of 2020’s protests.
The agency has taken “meaningful” steps, according to an outside consultant, though many of those steps are still in very early stages.
The report arrived last week as Portland Police shored up staffing and increased patrols in anticipation of protests. Several smaller-scale demonstrations and gatherings took place in the city, including a march through Southeast Portland Saturday afternoon, but the response was overall relatively quiet.
The consultant — Independent Monitor LLC, based in Los Angeles — was tapped in part to help the city better prepare for riots and to advise the bureau on how to prevent officers’ own actions from inflaming them.
“We are pleased to report that in the last year, the city and the Portland Police Bureau have taken meaningful — but in some cases preliminary — steps” to adjust their tactics, wrote consultant Nicholas E. Mitchell on Nov. 7.
The bureau still has to rebuild many of its relationships with neighboring law enforcement, the consultant said. During the protests, other agencies grew concerned about landing in legal trouble for using force.
Mitchell noted that officials have “devoted resources,” but with mixed results. Mitchell also noted city officials were rebuffed by peers at other agencies, though it doesn’t say which.
“We were told in interviews that these meetings were only moderately successful and, in certain cases, not well attended,” Mitchell wrote, noting that some meetings were productive.
Portland police officials did not respond to written follow-up questions from OPB. But city attorneys responded directly to Independent Monitor LLC with a 4-page letter.
City attorneys agreed that some of PPB’s peers continue to decline to help on the frontlines of a protest. However, some agencies will take 911 calls to help free up officers in such a scenario.
“The city hopes that as outside jurisdictions work again in Portland, and benefit from assistance from PPB, that they will be willing to consider” returning to the fold, city attorneys wrote.
At a recent press conference — in which Police Chief Bob Day noted that “everybody wants to know” how Portland will respond to protests — officials said police from Gresham, Lake Oswego and the Port of Portland were ready to dispatch to 911 calls in the city if Portland police were occupied.
Mitchell noted that rebuilding relationships was rated the No. 1 recommendation, although it acknowledged that it is “the recommendation over which the city has the least control.”
Another recommendation included curbing police’s reliance on crowd control munitions like tear gas; and on crowd dispersal tactics that proved too forceful. State lawmakers have already passed legislation to narrow the use of munitions.
Mitchell lauded PPB for launching new, white-shirted Event Liaison Officers tasked with talking with crowds face-to-face. “Only in the most extreme circumstances will crowds be ordered to disperse and the use of riot control agents be authorized,” Mitchell wrote.
Still, he questioned how PPB’s crowd control units are materially different from the past. He noted that police will now have body-worn cameras but raised concerns about how reliant the team will be on plainclothes police to spot troublemakers in crowds. He warned that plainclothes police can be “misused.”
Mitchell also lamented that PPB continues to name its crowd control unit the “Rapid Response Team.”
“Our community interviews reflect that the name RRT continues to have significant baggage in Portland,” Mitchell wrote. “Choosing the same name as used in the past suggests, hopefully erroneously, that the team will function the same as in 2020.”
City attorneys responded that they will continue to evaluate and adjust when necessary.
