PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Jami Resch, former chief of the Portland Police Bureau, was sworn in as deputy chief of the Springfield Police Department in Springfield, Oregon on Tuesday.
Resch served as the Portland Police Bureau chief for six months but announced in June 2020 that she was stepping down from the position and that Chuck Lovell would immediately take over as chief.
Her resignation occurred amid the first weeks of civil unrest in Portland as thousands were protesting racial injustice following the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died of a lack of oxygen after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the pavement and held a knee on his neck for several minutes.
At the time, Lovell said he was surprised by Resch’s request.
Resch remained with the bureau after stepping down from the chief position and PPB said she resigned on Friday, January 13, 2023.
She began working for PPB in 1999 and in her decades there she served as a patrol officer, Neighborhood Response Team officer, Tactical Operations Division crime analyst, and sergeant of the Gun Task Force.
According to the Springfield Police Department, Resch also held the responsibility for the Portland Police Honor Guard and served as a critical incident commander during her time at PPB. She was appointed as PPB’s deputy chief in 2019, according to SPD, and was sworn in as Portland’s chief of police in December 2019.
She joins the Springfield Police department with 24 years of police service.
“Chief Resch will be a great addition to the city of Springfield and to our SPD team. Her authenticity, professionalism, leadership experience, spirit of public service, and demonstrated commitment to community make her an ideal fit for us right now. I look forward to working with her once again to further build community trust, increase operational effectiveness, and to serve the men and women of SPD along with all the people of Springfield,” said Springfield Police Chief Andrew Shearer.
Shearer worked for PPB from 1992-2020. He was working as assistant chief of police when he retired from the bureau in 2020.
He was named chief of police in Springfield in March 2022.
In its hiring announcement, SPD said Resch was an active member in PPB’s Muslim Council, Slavic Advisory Council and Refugee Integration Program. She also volunteered with Camp Rosenbaum, Shop with a Cop and served as a mentor with the Zman Scholarship Foundation.
SPD said she graduated from the FBI National Executive Institute and the PERF Senior Management Institute for Police.