THE mayor of Portland has asked for $2million in police funding as the city experiences a surge in gun violence – after voting to cull $16million from the cops' budget.
Ted Wheeler issued the announcement on Thursday over Zoom as "Antifa" protesters were allegedly blasted with tear gas after they burned American flags and damaged city property.
Days after the Oregon city recorded its 20th murder, Wheeler and community leaders said the cops there needed more money to allow for more proactive policing as gun violence exploded.
The Oregonian revealed that this amounted to a whopping $2million.
The Inter-faith Peace and Action Collaborative wrote a letter to the mayor calling for a uniformed police patrol team to “act on criminal intelligence," seize guns, try to prevent shootings, and stop revenge violence.
It read: "We understand why the previous Council voted to make significant cuts and changes to the Police Bureau. We acknowledge the serious reforms and major changes that need to occur in policing.
"However, we also believe defunding the Police Bureau without replacement programs and interventions caused a vacuum and put many people at risk and caused others to assume there was no accountability
"Cuts to the Police Bureau created a vacuum that undermined public safety and the very communities whose voices the Council – and our community — seek to amplify.
"We are deeply concerned about the dramatic increase in violence on the street. People are getting killed, injured, and traumatized. The cycle of retaliation will continue until we intervene and address the root causes of such violence."
They asked for five more detectives, money to fund the recently-formed, 24/7 six-officer team and an independent community committee to record cops' arrests and their effectiveness in terms of policing.
KATU reported that in January and February of 2021, there were 163 shooting incidents, 43 shooting injuries, and 10 shooting homicides in the hard-hit city.
At the Zoom briefing with the mayor, Executive pastor at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church Pastor Ed Williams remarked: "There's a proverb that says if you want to go fast go by yourself, but if you want to go far, you go together."
"Even though I am in southwest Portland, any time a bullet flies, it impacts the entire fabric of our entire community," agreed Pastor Christy Dirren of the West Portland UMC.
Dep Chief Chris Davis of the Portland Police Bureau, who was also in attendance, said he believed "in the approach that we've talked about here today, and I believe that it'll work."
Last night, Wheeler tweeted: "Thank you to the Inter-Faith Peace Action Collaborative (IPAC) for their work fighting the scourge of gun violence infecting our community.
"Together, we can break the cycles of violence that are harming so many families."
The group's recent letter to Wheeler is similar to one penned by Police Chief Chuck Lovell on December 23, 2020.
But the mayor reportedly made the announcement via the Zoom video news conference while Lowell was out of town training.
Lovell asked for a new uniformed team with two sergeants and 12 officers, taken in part from existing patrol staff and to consider allowing the department to rehire retired officers on a two-year basis
Wheeler said the difference with the latest proposal versus the former police Gun Violence Reduction Team, disbanded in June by the City Council as a result of the $15 million police funding cull was the community overnight committee to hold cops accountable.
The virtual conference speakers included Wheeler Rev. Dr. J.W. Matt Hennessee of the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church, Gina Ronning of IPAC, Portland Pastor Christy Dirren, Marta Guembes of the Latino Advisory Council, and Davis.
It comes after dozens of far-left demonstrators gathered outside the Federal Courthouse for a protest against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Courthouse was already boarded up with plywood after it was smashed up during weeks of unrest last summer.
And shocking footage shared on Twitter shows the remaining windows were broken in last night's violent protest.
"Anti ICE protesters gather. A few of the remaining uncovered windows have been broken. An American flag burns in front of the door," local reporter Garrison Davis said on Twitter.
Reporters at the scene said one member of the crowd threw a paint balloon and officers used pepper spray in a bid to push the protesters back.
Protesters reportedly set fire to the plywood and American flags outside the building, sparking the deployment of tear gas from federal agents.
Davis said "the feds marched further into the streets of downtown Portland while firing off chemical weapons and projectiles. A few of their pepperball and 40 mm launchers appeared to malfunction".
He said the cops were "aggressive" and the air was thick with smoke.
The unrest came after a security guard at a Chase Bank branch in downtown Portland pulled a gun on protesters who appeared to be trying to enter the building on Thursday afternoon, Oregon Live reports.
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