PORTLAND, Ore. — After yet another weekend in Portland marked by an outburst in high-profile violent crime, the Multnomah County District Attorney's office held a press conference on Wednesday to highlight what local leaders are doing to curb the trend.
DA Mike Schmidt led the conference, but was joined by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell, Gresham Mayor Travis Stovall and Gresham Police Chief Travis Gullberg, among others.
Unlike previous press conferences held by Portland metro leaders to address the rise in violent crime, Wednesday's briefing did not feature the announcement of some specific initiative meant to bring new strategies to bear on gun violence, for instance.
Instead, as Schmidt later admitted, the primary purpose was to impress on the public that prosecutors, police and local government officials are working closely to bring criminals to justice — pushing back against an image of the criminal justice system in Multnomah County as dysfunctional.
“As we grapple with a surge in violent crime … collaboration is happening at every level,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt began by acknowledging the serious issues that Multnomah County's criminal justice system has been facing: a shortage of law enforcement officers, a shortage of public defenders and considerably fewer prosecutors than comparably-sized cities in the U.S.
“Our challenges are many and they’re spread across the community — and I think they’re felt by all of us,” Schmidt said.
Multnomah County plans to provide funding for more prosecutors in the next budget, Schmidt indicated. He also announced that he'd been working with both Portland and Gresham police to assign a deputy prosecutor to Gresham's Rockwood neighborhood, as they've done with similar areas dealing with consistent issues of violent crime.
The Portland Police Bureau, meanwhile, plans to use the overtime available in its budget to keep officers out on the streets longer. Chief Lovell specifically mentioned that this could help address property crime, allowing investigators more time to follow up and collect evidence that can be passed on to prosecutors.
Lovell said that PPB will be swearing in 14 new officers next week, adding to recent gains after successive years of attrition to staffing levels.
Mayor Wheeler and Lovell mentioned, as well, that Portland Public Schools and PPB were discussing the return of school resource officers to local schools after a shooting outside of Cleveland High School on Monday that injured a 16-year-old student. Lovell said that those discussion were still in the early stages.
PPS removed SROs from all schools in June of 2020 after the murder of George Floyd sparked national discussions and protests around race and policing.
While some other types of crime have been more difficult to track — with minor offenses more likely to go unreported or unaddressed by law enforcement — there's no question that homicides, in particular, have risen dramatically in Portland since 2019. A report released earlier this year found that the city's homicide rate rose 207% from 2019 to 2021. Portland set a record for homicides last year — a record that the city broke last week, according to PPB data.