PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland's new police chief wasted little time reacting to the national shootings today.
“I've seen the videos of both those events tragic occurrences. I wish those events just didn't happen. Unfortunately, they do,” said Chief Mike Marshman.
Marshman knows the images are powerful. He's troubled because he knows it could influence opinions in Portland.
“If they see a law enforcement activity in one city, it would make sense to me that they would think that's how we do policing in Portland and that's not right,” Marshman said.
Public perception is important so is cultural awareness. That's why the lack of diversity in Portland police is also a big issue. Daryl Turner leads the police officer's union.
“I think you'll find that in a lot of major cities, the larger percentage of people are white and it’s a low percentage of people of color,” said Turner.
He's right when it comes to Portland.
- The police bureau is 84 percent white but the city is 72 percent white.
- Hispanics make up 3 percent of the force but 9 percent of the city.
- Six percent of police are Asian, 7 percent of the city is Asian.
- And 4 percent of the police force is black compared to 6 percent of the city.
“We do need to do a better job, I think everybody recognizes that. I don’t think that’s a secret,” said Turner.
He believes many minority officers leave as they rise through the ranks to take better paying jobs elsewhere.
Chief Marshman is not sure he agrees with that assessment but acknowledges there is a problem.
“Our diversity numbers are low. We can definitely do better,” he said.
Marshman plans to recruit more Hispanic officers as he works to make the Portland Police Bureau look more like the city it serves.
“It is true we need to make sure we reflect the face of the communities that we serve,” he said.