Common name Portland Police Bureau Formed 1870 | Abbreviation PPB | |
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Motto "Sworn to Protect, Dedicated to Serve" Preceding agency Portland Metropolitan Police Force Legal personality Governmental: Government agency | ||
The Portland Police Bureau (PPB), officially the Portland Bureau of Police, is the law enforcement agency of the city of Portland, the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. While oversight of Portland's bureaus shifts among the five City Commissioners, the mayor has historically been assigned to the Police Bureau as the police commissioner.
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Services
The Portland Police Bureau is the largest city law enforcement agency in Oregon. The bureau has approximately 1,000 full-time officers, up to 100 reserves, 50 cadets, and 300 civilian positions. The Portland Police Bureau provides numerous services to the citizens of Portland and the tri-county area, including:
CRT members provide support to victims of crime, sexual assault, and abuse.
Precincts
The Portland Police Bureau divides Portland into three precincts, with each precinct divided into as many as 20 districts. The divisions are generally in accordance with neighborhood association boundaries, but also take into account the number of police calls generated in each district. The district serves as the basic unit of territory within the bureau, and most are assigned between one and two patrol officers. As such, busier districts are geographically smaller and slower districts are larger.
While the number of officers in each precinct is adjusted continually through transfers, new hires and attrition, the infrastructure of each precinct remains essentially the same. A 2007 attempt by Police Chief Sizer to address this by folding the smallest (and least busy) precinct, North Precinct, into its neighbor, Northeast Precinct, was met by a mobilized North Portland community. North Precinct remains, but has been greatly reduced in overall size. Some past attempts to redraw precinct lines have met similar opposition from neighborhood associations.
Weapons
All Portland police officers are armed with a 9mm Glock handgun, either the Glock 17, the Glock 19, or the Glock 26 (in the case of plainclothes assignments.) Most uniformed officers' handguns are equipped with SureFire or Streamlight tactical lights. Many uniformed officers also elect to carry a backup handgun; these are not issued by the bureau, but must conform to regulations regarding caliber and type. Besides firearms, all uniform officers carry several non-lethal weapons. Pepper spray, the ASP expandable baton and the Taser are all required pieces of equipment.
All Portland Police Bureau officers are authorized to carry a Remington 870 shotgun (fitted with a tactical flashlight in the foregrip). After completion of bureau courses, officers are also authorized to carry Colt AR-15 rifles and Remington 870 shotguns specially intended to fire less-lethal beanbag munitions.
SERT officers are armed with a variety of additional weapons, including H&K MP5A3 submachine guns, and M4A1 rifles with EOTech holographic sights.
The .45 Glock 21 was once included in the list of handguns that could be used as a service pistol. However, after two incidents in which Glock 21s exploded in the hands of officers at a shooting range, the Bureau abandoned the Glock 21.
19th Century
The bureau, originally named the Portland Metropolitan Police Force, was established in 1870 by the Portland City Council. The Council appointed Phillip Saunders as its first chief of police, in charge of a force with six patrolmen and one lieutenant, at a time when the population of Portland was 9,000. The first member of the force to die in the line of duty was Officer Charles F. Schoppe, who was shot to death in 1874 while trying to disarm a drunken saloon patron.
20th Century
On April 1, 1908, the bureau became the first in the United States to hire a female police officer, Lola Baldwin, who became the Superintendent of its newly established Women’s Protective Division. In 1915, the "Metropolitan Police Force" changes its name to the Bureau of Police. Four years later, the bureau becomes the first, in the United Satates, to use a police radio. Sybil Plumlee, also considered to be a pioneer in the field, served in the Women's Protective Division from 1947 to 1967. In 1985, Penny Harrington becomes Portland’s first female chief of police, and the first to head a major U.S. police department.
Since 1992, there has been several cases of suspects having died while in custody at the Multnomah County Detention Center. In several high-profile cases, including the James Chasse, Jr. and Kendra James incidents, the Portland Police Bureau has been accused of engaging in the abuse of force and then covering up the investigation. The accusations have prompted a Copwatch program in Portland. In neither the Chasse nor the James interactions, were the Portland Police Bureau, nor any sworn officer, found guilty of any criminal wrongdoing.
Police chiefs past and present
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