PORTLAND, Oregon – Residents of Oregon’s most populous city faced record homicides, a rise in property crime and a general sense of “lawlessness” during 2022, but Portland leaders have taken some steps to set a different tone for the new year.
“The rise in crime and the homeless and homeless population continues to be a challenge that I think the city is beginning to embrace,” business owner Katherine Sealy told Fox News.
A police officer views the crime scene where one person was shot to death and several others were injured, on February 19, 2022, in Portland, Oregon.
(REUTERS/Mathieu Lewis-Rolland)
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The city set a new homicide record for the second year in a row, with more than 90 murders recorded so far. The city is considering a proposal to place controversial gunshot detection technology in Portland’s five most violent neighborhoods, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Total violent crime increased marginally in 2022, but property crime increased 16% between January and October compared to the same period last year. Theft, vandalism, and terrifying encounters with people experiencing mental health crises have driven many businesses out of town.
“With the police force, people are overstretched and think they can do anything now,” Carol, a longtime Portland resident, told Fox News in September. “I feel like it won’t always be like this, but right now we’re in the middle of… lawlessness.”
Police emergency response times reached levels not seen in at least a decade, according to data from the Portland Police Bureau, with the average high-priority call waiting for a response of more than 20 minutes in October. Loretta Guzmán, whose cafe was vandalized after advertising a Coffee with a Police event, said her customers tell her it’s like the police “almost disappeared.”
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“They have questions like, ‘Where are the police? How come they can’t come?'” Guzmán said in late October. “We used to see them all the time.”
Police have blamed the problem on staff shortages, but the office may soon get some relief. There are now 804 sworn members, up from a low of 773 in September, according to the office.
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The end of 2022 showed some signs of change on the horizon.
Voters ousted far-left City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty in favor of the more moderate Democrat René González, whose campaign offices were vandalized twice in the run-up to the election. Portlanders also voted to reform their government by more than doubling the membership of the City Council and eliminating the city’s commission system.
A homeless person pokes holes in the top of his tent on a sidewalk in Portland on December 8, 2022.
(Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
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And as the ongoing homelessness crisis pushed residents and business owners to their breaking point, the City Council in November passed a ban on street camping.
“We deal with break-ins, we deal with assaults,” Darren Marshall, the CEO of a tea company, told Mayor Ted Wheeler during a meeting of business owners last month, OPB reported. “This afternoon we had an explosion around the corner. Fire everywhere. That’s the world we live in every day.”
The council approved $27 million from the city budget to create designated outdoor areas for the homeless to camp. The ban will be implemented over the next year and a half as the camps are built.
