PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Police Bureau is withholding the name of the officer involved in Wednesday night's deadly shooting, at least for now. In a Friday press release, PPB pointed to doxing as the reason behind the decision.
Doxing refers to when private information about a person, such as their home address, is published publicly with the intent to cause harm.
A police spokesperson said officers who were involved in two separate police shootings Sunday morning and Tuesday morning have become victims of doxing.
Authorities said there are credible security threats to these officers, prompting the decision not to identify the officer involved in Wednesday's shooting of a person who was reportedly firing a gun in the front yard of a home.
"Transparency is very important," said Sgt. Aaron Schmautz, president of the Portland Police Association. "It's a vital cog in accountability. But when we see officers threatened before there's any due process, before the investigation has even gotten off the ground, people followed home, people having flyers put up in their neighborhood, family members being threatened, this isn't about transparency. This is about utilizing an event to create chaos and threaten the safety of police officers. It's just not acceptable. What's very important is we work together to call out those actors, call out those people."
Schmautz said officers dealt with numerous doxing incidents during the protests of 2020, prompting some officers to take their names off their uniforms.
Officials said PPB will reassess releasing the name of the officer in Wednesday night's shooting after an investigation into this week's doxing cases is complete.