PORTLAND, Oregon — Chuck Lovell will step down from his role as chief of the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), effective Oct. 11. He made the announcement Wednesday afternoon during a joint press conference with Mayor Ted Wheeler.
Lovell was sworn in as chief in June 2020. He took over as head of PPB after former Chief Jami Resch stepped down, and has held the job for about three and a half years.
"I took this job essentially overnight in June of 2020, and I always knew that I wasn't going to do it for the seven years remaining I had in my career, so I think it's always been a question of 'when is the right time?'" Lovell said, adding that Wheeler's recent announcement that he doesn't plan to seek a third term created an ideal moment to step away.
Lovell is stepping into a new role leading the bureau's community engagement efforts, and he said he would continue working in the chief's office and work closely with the new chief in his new role.
“He has nothing but my support, my admiration and my gratitude for his service," Wheeler said, noting that Lovell has been the longest-serving chief during Wheeler's seven years as Mayor.
There have been four police chiefs so far during Wheeler's tenure, starting with Mike Marshman, who stepped into the role following the retirement of former chief Larry O'Dea about six months before Wheeler took office in early 2017. Marshman retired later that year and Wheeler selected Danielle Outlaw as the new chief. Outlaw had previously served as Deputy Chief in Oakland and was the first Black woman to be Portland police chief.
Outlaw departed at the end of 2019 to become Philadelphia Police Commissioner and was succeeded by Resch, who held the job for about six months before stepping down and passing the reins to Lovell, specifically citing a need for change as the city responded to widespread protests in 2020.
Wheeler announced Wednesday that he has named Bob Day to become interim police chief after Lovell steps down. Day retired in 2019 after a 29-year career at the bureau during which he held several leadership roles including at the Training Division, Critical Incident Command, Crowd Management and the Operations Branch, according to a news release from Wheeler's office. He served as deputy chief under Outlaw during his final year before retirement.
Day will serve until Portland's transition to a new form of government is complete in 2025. Wheeler said he opted to appoint an interim chief because the process of hiring a new police chief would take about a year, and he wanted to make sure the new mayor who takes office at the start of 2025 has the ability to oversee that process and make their own selection.
Speaking at the news conference, Day said he was only coming out of retirement to serve as chief for the interim period and has no plans to remain in the role past 2025, but said he hoped his work would help make the role a sought-after job when recruitment for a new permanent chief begins in 2025.
"At my heart, I'm passionate for the city. I'm passionate for the police bureau," he said. "And I absolutely am hopeful that Portland can once again become a city and a place — a destination — for families, business, tourism, community service, grassroots initiatives; the things that we all are so familiar with, and remember and long for."
This is a developing story and it will be updated when more information becomes available.
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