A new policing law in Portland, Oregon has residents asking the question “are we a lawless city?”
Over a year after the left’s “Defund the Police” movement began, heavily blue Democrat cities in America have taken drastic measures to reduce police presence. Portland, Oregon seems to be going for the gold medal when it comes to letting crime go unchecked by the boys in blue.
According to a local CBS affiliate, a new state law, House Bill 2928, has dramatically limited Portland police’s role in reducing crowd control. The police are so hamstrung by HB 2928, that vandalism and violent protesting are not swiftly prevented nor punished and local residents are alarmed.
During a Pearl District Neighborhood Association meeting on October 14, Police Officer Lt. Jake Jensen and the Portland Police Bureau explained to the local community that they were not allowed to restrain looters and vandals in downtown Portland in previous days because of the state legislature’s latest bill.
“The reason that we did not intervene goes back to what we talked about last month with HB 2928 and the restrictions placed on us in a crowd control environment,” he told the association on October 14.
A local news crew detailed the night of vandalism and the police’s apparent inaction that Jensen was describing. KOIN 6 News watched as police “remained in their vehicles Tuesday night” while perps vandalized parts of downtown Portland.
At the neighborhood meeting Jensen explained that there was nothing they could really do to subdue the crowd that evening because of “limitations” HB 2928 placed on the officers which include, not being able to “use pepper spray,” nor their “40mm less-lethal devices in that kind of environment.”
Jensen added that the bill “prevents us from having access to the tools we need in large part to keep ourselves safe.” Thus, they just stayed in their cars as vandals sacked areas of the city.
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One local resident, Linda Witt, asked Jensen, “Does that mean we are now like a lawless city, anyone can come in and just bash around and do all the damage they want without any repercussions whatsoever?”
Well that’s a pretty apt question. If cops won’t even get out of their cars for rampant crime, then what's the point of law and order anyways. It’s gone.
Though Jensen tried to reassure her and other concerned residents, that the criminals would face consequences once the cops open investigations. “In these cases, the consequences are going to come not on the night of, but in the follow-up investigation,” he added.
Oh that’s really reassuring. And what about preventing murders or protecting people from criminal assaults in the moment they’re being attempted? That’s not happening apparently. This is ridiculous.
Pray for the good Americans still left in Portland. At the very least, they all need to take self-defense classes.