Every officer on the volunteer Rapid Response Team of the Portland Police Department has resigned in a mass protest. All (or most) of the officers are still employed by Portland Police, but nobody is currently on the Rapid Response Team. This team consisted of 50 people that would intervene with riots and protests that turned into riots. They were a constant presence on the ground during the summer of 2020 when groups like ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter were wreaking havoc. Their mass-resignation protest is due to one of their teammates being indicted on an assault charge for an incident that happened while responding to a violent riot.
City leaders, including the Mayor and City Council, have been engaged in sort of a cold war with Portland Police for years now. It has gotten worse since the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis back in the summer of 2020. City councilmen have openly attacked Portland Police as a “rogue, paramilitary group without accountability to the community”. This attitude from city leaders is what allowed all of the violence in 2020 to rage on without much kickback. This is also what has lead to an 800% increase in the year-to-date murder rate in Portland.
Portland Police officers are stressed, underpaid, and overworked. Several officers have resigned from the force completely. The dismantling of the Rapid Response Team will make the situation in Portland worse for the average citizen, but the police officers don’t have much of a choice. If they are to be locked up for doing things that their job requires, then what is the point of working that job? It’s the equivalent of getting a speeding ticket while on a high-speed chase with a suspect who has two 13-year-olds tied up in his windowless van. And until the toxic, moronic mentality of city leaders in Portland changes, this trend of public safety officials simply opting out will continue.
SOURCES:
Portland police officers resign en masse from crowd control unit – YouTube
Portland police officers resign from Rapid Response Team – OPB
Portland Riot Squad Quits in Protest of Charges Against Cop for Hitting Activist
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