The mayor of Portland, Oregon, asked for nearly $ 2 million in additional funding for the city’s police force and other agencies on Friday, citing an increase in homicides and other violent crimes.
But city council members have so far not agreed or fully committed to whether they will support the plan, according to reports.
Mayor Ted Wheeler’s request for a second term came on Friday during his statewide speech – and three days after Wheeler condemned one of the most recent murders in the city, the murder in broad daylight of a 42-year-old man in a city park on Tuesday.
“This shooting was daring and horrible,” wrote Wheeler on Twitter. “The city and its partners are working hard to prevent and reduce armed violence. It is a public health crisis that is hurting our entire community ”.
Wheeler’s request for funding marked a turnaround for Portland, which has been seen as an epicenter of the “Defund the Police” movement – in which liberal groups have sought to divert public money from traditional police departments and in efforts such as mental health treatment and community development.
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It also happened when the mayor faced criticism for months of violent protests in the city, including a clash on Thursday night in front of a federal court. Wheeler has been a frequent target of criticism from former President Donald Trump and others, although the mayor managed to get re-elected in November.
Last June, city leaders voted to cut $ 16 million from the police budget, a move that included eliminating an armed violence reduction unit, according to The Associated Press.
But Portland in recent months has seen an increase in armed violence. Since the beginning of 2021, the city has registered 20 homicides, mainly by gunshots. At the same time, in March last year, the city registered only one homicide, the AP reported.
Most of Wheeler’s $ 2 million order would go to the hiring of five additional detectives and the formation of a uniformed patrol team focused on armed violence, Portland’s KATU-TV reported.
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On Thursday, Wheeler previewed his proposal ahead of Friday’s speech during a news conference with police chief Chuck Lovell and other city officials. Wheeler said the proposed patrol team would operate differently from the armed violence reduction team that was dissolved last year.
“What will be different this time, and Chief Lovell said very clearly, they believe that we need a prevention and intervention function, but he also made it clear that he would not support it unless the community supported it, unless there was a community supervision, and unless there was transparent data collection and dissemination, “said Wheeler, according to KATU.
Restoring the Portland Police Department’s ability to deal with armed violence is the focus of a new funding proposal from Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, right.
But other city officials were not deciding whether to support Wheeler’s plan.
Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s office told KATU that she was reviewing the proposal, but was eager to “learn more, as well as listen to other proposals from the community and deliberate on any corresponding financial requests during the budget process”.
Commissioner Mingus Mapps expressed partial support for the mayor’s plan.
“There are parts of this proposal that I fully support,” said Mapps in a statement to KATU. He mentioned plans for the Office for the Prevention of Violence, increased investigative capabilities within the city’s police force and more community oversight, said the KATU report.
A group of community leaders has already expressed support for supporting the city police, writing to the City Council on Thursday, the Western Journal reported.
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“There is a lot of blood on the streets,” said Pastor Ed Williams of Inter-Faith Peace & Action Collaborative. “We have to be determined, we have to be fed up with [the violence] and want to do something about it. I see this issue before us as an opportunity to come together. “
“There is a lot of blood on the streets.”
Efforts to “defend the police” swept the United States last year, in part because of allegations of excessive use of force by police, especially against blacks and other minorities. The issue gained strength after the deaths of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis last May and Breonna Taylor in a police operation at his home in Louisville, Ky., Exactly a year ago on Saturday.
During the past year, Portland has seen violent protests almost daily and every night.
He also saw numerous gun deaths, including that of Patriot Prayer supporter Aaron “Jay” Danielson last August. The shooting was related to suspect Michael Forest Reinoehl, an Antifa supporter who was killed by police several days later.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.