PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN 6) — In a 3-2 vote, the Portland City Council voted to become part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, with the deciding vote coming from Mayor Charlie Hales.
The ordinance calls for the assignment of two full-time police officers to the JTTF.
Hales called his vote “a reluctant decision to join” and one of the most difficult decisions he’s had to make. The no votes came from commissioners Steve Novick and Amanda Fritz.
“I think given what’s loose in the world and what’s been the harm that’s already been done to innocent people like in Boston, that as your police commissioner, this is the right decision for me in good conscience to make,” Hales said.
In 2001, then Commissioner Charlie Hales voted against the task force.
The Portland Police Bureau first teamed up with the JTTF in the 90s. But the City Council voted to withdraw in 2005. Then, it reconsidered five years later after the foiled Pioneer Courthouse Square Christmas bomb plot.