May 10th, 2016

Commissioner Dan Saltzman

Commissioner Amanda Fritz
Commissioner Nick Fish
Commissioner Steve Novick

Subject:

2016-2017 Budget

This letter is to reiterate my serious concerns regarding staffing at the Portland Police Bureau
as it relates to the 2016 2017 Budget process. For months I have been discussing with you
the serious staffing shortage and challenges the Police Bureau faces. It has been the subject
of several media stories. This is a state and nationwide issue as well. I again spoke in detail
about this with you during the formal budget submission hearings.
This has been the most challenging year Ive seen for the Portland Police Bureau in my 30
years here. We have a critical staffing and hiring crisis that will get worse before it gets
better; Department of Justice mandates that we must achieve; increasing community
expectations regarding sexual assault investigations and accountability; gang and gun
violence at near record numbers; and crime and livability issues related to the homelessness
crisis.
Our authorized sworn staffing level, after years of cuts, is down to 2002 levels some 100+
sworn positions less than in years past. The Matrix Staffing Study, mandated by Council
following the 13 14 Budget, said the Bureau is too lean and recommended adding
positions. This staffing situation took years to happen and requires immediate and deliberate
action to correct.
We are all competing for a much smaller pool of qualified people interested in the profession
at this time. We must restore positions to the Personnel Division that were cut when we
could no longer hire. It is also critical that we adopt the Pay and Incentives Package to make
the Bureau much more competitive in hiring and retention. Failure to do so will result in the
continued challenge of more people leaving the Bureau than coming in. We must reverse
this trend immediately. This pay and incentives package will also allow us the ability to
bargain for and secure community and Department of Justice priorities.

We cannot afford to continue to defer investing in the Police Bureau. Twenty-three people
retired from the Bureau this April with more expected to go in June and October. The
Bureau has done everything in its power within existing resources to staff efficiently around
the work and now we need your help.
We moved twelve positions back to patrol from Fiscal, Strategic Services, Graffiti work, the
D.A.s Office, and the Drugs and Vice Division, making these units very lean. We have
added two additional shifts to our three traditional patrol shifts. Also, every officer not
assigned to patrol now spends days of their pay period rotating in from their specialty unit or
function working patrol shifts. This is frequently on a different shift from which they are
regularly assigned and on an increasing basis. All of this has been very disruptive for the
involved members and their families, as well as for the specialty units and their stakeholders.
These efficiencies help make the best of what we have, but they are not the solution.
Without more people coming in the door than going out, we are rapidly moving toward a
Bureau which will only have the ability to conduct core patrol operations and conduct core
major investigations.
The Bureau has done a tremendous job managing these huge challenges, but to be clear we
are on the verge of a serious crisis. I will be forced to continue to reduce and eliminate our
specialty units and functions to staff the street. This means important and critical specialty
units and functions like the Walking Beat, the Youth Services Division, the Traffic Division,
the Family Services Division, the Gang Enforcement Team, and the Drugs and Vice Division
will continue to have to increasingly support core patrol operations.
These units and functions are all critical and should be expanded, not reduced or eliminated.
Our ability to support important special events will continue to decrease. Our ability to meet
community and Department of Justice priorities will be seriously impacted. Our ability to
support critical city commitments, like Vision Zero, will be reduced. Our ability to assist
with all manner of livability issues, from marijuana impacts to homelessness, will be
seriously impacted.
I know you have a very difficult job in balancing the huge and competing financial needs of
the city. I believe that it is critical to invest in the Portland Police Bureau now. We must
take immediate action to have more resources coming in the door than leaving, to preserve
our critical specialty units and functions, and to meet community expectations in a growing
and changing city. Please dont hesitate to contact me if there is any further information I
can provide.
Respectfully,