PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — “Mayor Wheeler’s public policies have failed.”
That’s what Daryl Turner, the President of the Portland Police Association, said in a statement on Monday, days after Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said the city needs to find out why 52% of the city’s arrests are made against nearly 3% of the population: the homeless.
The Oregonian conducted an analysis of the city’s arrest records on June 27. Wheeler told the Oregonian he wants to find out why there is a high number of homeless arrests.
“The real question here is, ‘Is there some sort of profiling or implicit bias?'” Wheeler told the Oregonian on July 13. “From my perspective, that’s the crux of the situation. The police should be focused on policing criminal activity, and that’s sort of the beginning, the middle and the end of it for me.”
That comment, according to Turner, was made so Wheeler could “smokescreen his own failed policies.”
Will investigating our officers result in more housing for the homeless? Will it provide more mental health or addiction resources for those in need? Will it resolve the livability issues that Portland residents and business owners face daily? Of course not! It’s more of the same from the Mayor; failed policies and blaming others for his failures.
Turner also said Portland has become “a cesspool” where “aggressive panhandlers block the sidewalks, storefronts, and landmarks like Pioneer Square, discouraging people from enjoying our City. Garbage-filled RVs and vehicles are strewn throughout our neighborhoods. Used needles, drug paraphernalia, and trash are common sights lining the streets and sidewalks of the downtown core area, under our bridges, and freeway overpasses.”
Michael Cox, Wheeler’s Chief of Staff, said they’re reviewing the statement.
On Tuesday, Mayor Wheeler said, “I hear the frustration and I share it, but I want to spend time on solving the problems.”
“Feces, urine, garbage the things people are upset about’
In a Tuesday interview with KOIN 6 News, Turner talked about the frustrations police have, the lack of resources to address issues and what he believes to be an insult from the mayor. Some excerpts from that interview:
- “We’re as frustrated as the community is about this issue, about the livability issues that are going on here. We’re as frustrated as the homeless community is about they don’t have the resources and the places they need to go.”
- “Feces in doorways, urine in doorways, garbage thrown around the streets, RVs and cars that are filled with garbage, parked in neighborhoods for days on end. Those are the type of things people are upset about.”
- “When we arrest somebody on a warrant they should have a choice. You can go to jail on this warrant, or there should be a place that you can go to get the social services you need. Those are the two choices you have. It’s not about enabling, it’s about empowering. … We’re empowering people to be able to take care of the issues they need to take care of. But we need to have those resources to do that.”
- “Officers are out there 24/7 to try to find solutions because there aren’t the resources at 2 in the morning to take somebody someplace. … 90% of the calls that we get on anybody are calls from citizens. 911 calls, non-emergency calls, they come from citizens.”
- “When the Mayor wants to point the finger at police officers, he’s doing the wrong thing. And he needs to lead like a leader, take the credit when you do something good, but also take the blame when there’s mistakes made and he’s not doing that.”
- “The Mayor will say that he supports police officers and that we’re doing a good job, but then he slaps us in the face and says something like this. … That frustrates our officers. We want to work in the communities, we want to help the communities, we need the resources to be able to do that. And when the mayor writes something about implicit bias, that we may be profiling homeless people, it really, really upsets us. It really, really, it’s insulting.”