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.
As of September 2024, the Bureau has around 800 sworn members, 35 cadets, and over 300 professional staff.[citation needed]
Prior to 2025, when Portland operated under a city commission form of government, oversight of Portland's bureaus shifted among the five City Commissioners, with the mayor being assigned to the Police Bureau as the police commissioner due to tradition.[3] As of January 1, 2025, the chief of police acts as the primary executive of the agency.
From 1851 to 1870, Portland was policed by a town marshal. After 1861, the marshal was empowered to hire deputies, but they did not have permanent jobs until late in the 1860s.[4] In 1970, the Portland City Council established the police bureau, originally called the Portland Metropolitan Police Force.
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[5]
PPB was involved in an ongoing series of protests beginning in May 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. The PPB were supplemented with federal agents deployed by President Donald Trump who have reportedly arrested rioters and Antifa off the streets from unmarked police vehicles for detainment without reading Miranda Rights, providing cause, or identifying themselves.[6][7] During these protests, Mayor and police commissioner Ted Wheeler was tear gassed.[8]
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oregon Legislative Assembly passed a law exempting law enforcement officers from vaccine mandates due to pushback from officers and the Portland Police Association.[9]
The Portland Police Bureau divides Portland into three precincts,[2] with each precinct divided into as many as 20 districts.[10] The divisions are generally based on neighborhood association boundaries, but also take into account the number of police calls generated in each district.[citation needed] The district serves as the basic unit of territory within the bureau, and most districts are assigned between one and two patrol officers. As such, busier districts are geographically smaller and slower districts are larger.
The infrastructure of each precinct is essentially the same, though the number of officers in each precinct is adjusted continually through transfers, new hires and attrition.
Police officers receive the rank of officer immediately after hiring. Sometime after hiring, they go to the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training police academy in Salem, followed by an "advanced academy" at PPB's training center in the Wilkes neighborhood. Depending on class space at the state academy, officers may perform limited, primarily administrative, police functions while waiting for the academy. Following training, officers have a 18-month probationary period with a field training officer.[12]
After 4.5 years of service as a police officer, 3 of which must be at PPB, officers may take a promotional exam to become either a detective, sergeant, or criminalist.[12]
Public Safety Support Specialists are unsworn and unarmed officers who respond to non-violent crimes to take reports.[13] Police cadets are teenagers learning about policing. They assist with community events, traffic control, and learn leadership skills. It is similar to the Police Explorer program.[14]
The 'Portland Independent Police Review’ is a civilian oversight board that hears and investigates complaints related to law enforcement.[15] When the office receives a complaint, it attempts to obtain physical evidence, makes a list of people to talk to, and interviews everyone involved.[16]
The duties of this office will be overtaken by the Community Police Oversight Board, which should be operational by late 2025.[17] In June 2020, during the George Floyd protests in Portland, Oregon, the office recorded 185 complaints.[18]
The 'Portland Community Police Oversight Board’ was authorized to be created in 2020 when Portlanders voted to amend the city charter to include it.[19] It will replace the Portland Independent Police Review.[20]
As of September 2024, a Judge gave the city one year operationalize the board.[21]
Equipment
Portland police vehicles with pre-2013 and 2013-2023 livery.
Firearms
All Portland police officers are armed with a 9mm Glock handgun, either the Glock 17, or the Glock 19. Plainclothes officers carry a Glock 26.[22]
Non-lethal weapons
Portland Police Bureau has a LRAD "sound cannon".[23]
Body cameras
In 2014, PPB began exploring the idea of issuing body-worn cameras as part of a US Department of Justice lawsuit about unconstitutional use of force, United States v. City of Portland. After years of negotiations on body-camera policies, On June 17, 2024, PPB officers in the Central Precinct were outfitted with cameras as part of a pilot-program. In August of that year, all officers were outfitted with the cameras. Portland had been the largest city without police body cameras.[24][25][26]
Portland Police Association
Most of the bureau's rank-and-file employees are represented by the Portland Police Association union. The union also represents 911 call takers and dispatchers, who work for the Bureau of Emergency Communication.
On July 1, 2020, the city and the PPA renewed its annual contract, with an agreement to permit a newly formed Portland Street Response team, promoted by Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, for emergency situations that don't require firearms, and an agreement on the delay of cost-of-living adjustment due to city budget issues related to COVID-19.[27]
The 2011-2017 NBC drama Grimm starring David Giuntoli and Russell Hornsby follows a Portland Police Detective who fights mythological creatures. Multiple characters on the show are members of the PPB.
The 2015 Fox series Backstrom follows a team of 'eccentric criminologists' in the PPB led by an "overweight, offensive, irascible" commanding officer played by Rainn Wilson.
The ABC show Stumptown follows a Portland-based private investigator played by Cobie Smulders who frequently works with officers from PPB.
Larry O'Dea (January 2, 2015 – March 27, 2016, resigned after attempting to cover up an incident where he accidentally shot a friend while drunk on a hunting trip)[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]
Donna Henderson (Interim) (March 27, 2016 – June 27, 2016)
Michael Marshman (June 27, 2016[49] – August 24, 2017)
Chris Uehara (interim) (August 24, 2017[50] – October 2, 2017[51])
↑ Nigel Jaquiss (June 29, 2016). "Meet Mike Marshman, Portland's New Chief of Police". Willamette Week. Retrieved September 17, 2020. O'Dea tainted the four assistant chiefs in line to succeed him by telling them about the shooting weeks before it became public. Because none of the four assistant chiefs referred the incident for investigation, they lost their chance for promotion.
↑ Beth Slovic (June 27, 2016). "Mayor Charlie Hales Blames "Trial by Media" for Portland Police Chief Larry O'Dea's Departure". Willamette Week. Retrieved September 17, 2020. By picking Marshman, Hales made an unusual move. He skipped over O'Dea's top aides, including Mike Crebs, Bob Day, Kevin Modica and acting chief Donna Henderson, who are all under investigation by IPR for possibly violating bureau policies
↑ Budnick, Nick (June 21, 2016). "Police chief's top aides under scrutiny". Portland Tribune. Retrieved September 17, 2020. Why they are now under scrutiny remains unclear. It has been widely reported that O'Dea informed them, as well as Hales, of the shooting on April 25. Under city code, IPR was supposed to be notified, but was not.
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