The Oregonian: Portland Police Are Leaving In Droves

It is not just Portland.

This is playing out in other big cities across the country like Washington, DC where progressive politicians and the media have glorified criminals, embraced anarchists and demonized the police.

Who wants to become the next Darren Wilson or Derek Chauvin? Who wants to spend months being assaulted by anarchist mobs on a daily basis who are never prosecuted by local district attorneys because they are coddled as a protected class by progressive Democrats?

Oregon Live:

“They trashed police management.

They mocked city leaders.

They bemoaned the lack of true community-based policing.

And they were all Portland officers and supervisors who chose to leave the state’s largest police force in the last year.

In 31 exit interview statements, the employees who turned in their badges or retired were brutally frank about their reasons for getting out.

“The community shows zero support. The city council are raging idiots, in addition to being stupid. Additionally, the mayor and council ignore actual facts on crime and policing in favor of radical leftist and anarchists fantasy. What’s worse is ppb command (lt. and above) is arrogantly incompetent and cowardly,” one retiring detective wrote.

“The only differences between the Titanic and PPB?” he continued. “Deck chairs and a band.”

Since July 1, 115 officers have left the Police Bureau, including 74 who retired and 41 who resigned. …”

Williamette Week:

“Less than 10 weeks into the new year, Portland has witnessed 20 homicides. Fifteen of the killings were committed with guns, says Lt. Greg Pashley of the Portland Police Bureau.

The city reached that number with a spate of deadly shootings in Portland parks, killings in public spaces that seemed to mark a new low for a city engulfed in gun violence. …

The rise in shootings continues a bleak trend. In 2020, Portland saw 890 shootings, more than double the 393 reported the year before. 

Fifty-five people were killed by homicide last year in Portland, the highest number in a quarter century. At this pace, 2021 would easily eclipse that toll. …”