PORTLAND, Ore. — It has been two weeks since the Portland Police Bureau's new interim police chief officially stepped into his role. During a press conference on Monday, Interim Chief Bob Day laid out his priorities and his plans for the city.
Day will serve for the next 16 months, until the city elects a new mayor who can appoint a new chief. Day came out of retirement to help out by filling the role.
"I didn't come back because I was looking for a job. The opportunity that the mayor and Chief Chuck Lovell really provided me is very special, and I'm very honored," said Day.
Day retired in 2019 after working 29 years at the bureau. In that time, he held a variety of roles — now he's taking on the leading role after Lovell stepped down earlier this month.
"I really see that this is a time of transition for the city," said Day.
Thirteen days in, the chief has his top priorities clearly lined out, number one being crime.
"Reducing crime and the fear of crime through community engagement and enforcement efforts." said Day.
He said he hopes to do that by improving calls for service and by strengthening relationships with members of the community.
The second priority is transparency and accountability: "Really, you're gonna see a lot more of me personally, that may be a positive or negative," said Day. "I intend to be a lot to be very visible, to be very out and about."
"As an organizational piece with more of an inward focus," Day continued. "But the reality is that I can only represent and do so much. It's really the many, many men and women in the organization that touch the community on a much broader, more consistent scale than me."
When it comes to reducing drug use in the city, it's a battle the chief says is personal.
"I lost a family member to a fentanyl overdose a few years back, so it's personal," he said. "It's definitely a priority. I mean, we're talking about lives, human lives at stake here. And so we're doing everything we can."
Chief Day told KGW that while Portland has had a lot of chiefs come and go, he wants to stress this bottom line: there's change ahead.
"(Portlanders) have a chief that's all-in. I'm here, clearly by choice and and I'm here because I see the opportunity that lies in front of us," said Day.
