The mayor of Portland, Ore., On Friday asked for nearly $ 2 million in additional funding for the police and other agencies, citing an increase in homicides and other violent crime.
However, according to reports, members of the city council have so far or not been fully committed to supporting the plan.
The request of the second term mayor, Ted Wheeler, comes during his state of the nation address on Friday – and three days after Wheeler condemned one of the latest murders in the city, the murder of a 42-year-old man in a city was lightened in broad daylight. . park Tuesday.
“This shooting was stupid and horrible,” Wheeler wrote on Twitter. “The city and its partners are working hard to prevent and reduce gun violence. It is a public health crisis that is hurting our entire community.”
Wheeler’s funding request was a turnaround for Portland, seen as a centerpiece of the “Defund the police” movement – in which liberal groups sought to divert public cash away from traditional police departments and in efforts such as mental health treatment and community development.
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It also came as the mayor had been criticized for months for violent protests in the city, including a clash Thursday night outside a federal courthouse. Wheeler has been a frequent target for criticism from former President Donald Trump and others, though the mayor managed to win re-election in November.
Last June, city leaders voted to scrap $ 16 million from the police budget, a move that would include eliminating a unit to reduce gun violence, according to The Associated Press.
But in recent months, Portland has seen an increase in gun violence. Since 2021 began, there have been 20 murders in the city, mostly by gunfire. At the same time in March last year, the city saw only one murder, reports the AP.
Most of Wheeler’s $ 2 million application would go to employ five additional detectives and form a uniformed patrol team with a focus on gun violence, Portland KATU-TV reported.
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Wheeler previewed his proposal ahead of Friday’s speech during a news conference with police chief Chuck Lovell and other city officials on Thursday. Wheeler said the proposed patrol team would work differently from the gun violence reduction team that was disbanded last year.
“What’s going to be different this time, and Chief Lovell made it very clear, they believe we need a prevention and intervention function, but he also made it clear that he would not stand up unless the community support it unless there was a community Wheeler said according to KATU unless the transparent collection and dissemination of data took place.
Restoring Portland police’s ability to deal with gun violence is a focus of a new funding proposal by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.
But other city officials did not raise their hands about whether they would support Wheeler’s plan.
Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s office told KATU that she was reviewing the proposal, but looked forward to “learning more and hearing other community proposals and considering any corresponding financial requests during the budget process.”
Commissioner Mingus Mapps expressed partial support for the mayor’s plan.
“There are parts of this proposal that I fully support,” Mapps said in a statement to KATU. He mentioned the plans for the Office of Violence Prevention, increased investigative capacity in the city police and more oversight of the community, the KATU report reads.
A group of community leaders have already expressed their support for the city police and wrote to the city council on Thursday, reports Western Journal.
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“There’s just too much blood on the street,” Pastor Ed Williams of the Inter-Faith Peace & Action Collaborative told the news office. ‘We have to be determined, we have to be fed up [the violence] and to want to do something about it. I see this issue before us as an opportunity to come together. ‘
“There’s just too much blood on the street.”
The police’s efforts were lost last year across the US, in part due to allegations of excessive violence by police officers, particularly against Blacks and other minorities. The issue came under fire after the deaths of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis last May and Breonna Taylor during a police raid on her home in Louisville, Ky, on Saturday exactly one year ago.
Over the past year, Portland has experienced violent protests almost daily and every night, and unrest involving several shootings, including Patriot Prayer’s supporter Aaron “Jay” Danielson, in August. The shooting was linked to Michael Reinoehl, an Antifa supporter who was killed by law enforcement several days later.
Associated Press contributed to this story.