By Daryl Turner, President Portland Police Association
Over the past several weeks, the rank and file of the Portland Police Bureau has been tasked to work endless hours with resources dedicated to the Occupy Portland movement. During these several tumultuous weeks, the men and women of the Portland Police Bureau were tasked with the responsibility to carry out the mission of the Police Commissioner, Sam Adams. This mission was one that went against the very grain of what police officers were taught and tasked to do: Allow protestors to break the law and violate other citizens’ constitutional rights. When two downtown parks were taken over by Occupy Portland participants, officers were ordered to take no action. When protestors blocked downtown streets for several days, officers were ordered not to take action. And when the two occupied parks became centers for everything but the Occupy Portland movement, officers were told not to take action unless it was absolutely necessary. Portland Police officers were tasked to work endless hours expanding their shifts to twelve hour days and at one point all days off were cancelled. During the many weeks of Occupy Portland, officers were tasked with the responsibility of monitoring the several protest marches where many times the officers were out-numbered 10-1. A sergeant on a bicycle was pushed into a moving Tri-Met bus during a march on the Hawthorne Bridge. And it was obvious that some segment of the Occupy Portland movement had an anti-police agenda that included attempts to provoke police into a confrontation. When the Police Commissioner finally notified the Occupy Portland leadership that they would have to leave the two occupied city parks, the level of anti-police activity increased. There were reports of Occupy Portland protestors gathering rocks, boards with nails, and sheets of plywood in preparation for a physical confrontation with police officers. On November 13th at 12:01 a.m., the Portland Police Bureau was tasked to remove Occupy Portland protestors from the two downtown parks that they had inhabited for over 6 weeks. In the face of adversity that they neither created or controlled, Portland Police Officers were ordered to enforce the laws that they had not been allowed to enforce during the several weeks since the Occupy Portland movement began. Finally, the two parks that had become a haven for crime, drugs, and disease were cleared out. The damage that was inflicted on the parks’ plant life, wild life, and amenities were all that was left. And, yes, the garbage. Everything from discarded syringes, bottles of urine, decaying food, abandoned tarps, tents, sleeping bags, blankets, dirty and soiled clothing, and anything else the mind can imagine, littered the parks. The following morning, Officers worked with Parks Department workers to begin the task of clearing the two parks of all of the debris, garbage, and hazards left behind by the occupiers. Several giant dumpsters were filled with the occupiers’ leftovers and, as the parks were cleared, the true evidence of the damage caused to the parks was horrifyingly visible. Exposed was at least hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage that will come out of tax payers’ pockets. Where two pristine parks once stood, was a muddy two block area surrounded by ugly chain link fencing as park workers assessed the damage done to the parks. In the days to follow the clearing of the parks, several protest marches followed, arrests were made, and Portlanders expressed their frustration regarding the violation of their constitutional rights to enjoy two downtown parks. Frustration of not being able to travel through the busy streets of downtown Portland without taking detours because of the un-permitted protests that were slowing traffic and blocking the streets and sidewalks. And although the Occupy Portland protests have slowed down and things in this City are seemingly getting back to normal, the Citizens of Portland, Mayor Sam Adams, the City Commissioners, Chief Reese, and the management of the Portland Police Bureau owe the rank and file of the Portland Police Bureau a huge debt of gratitude for the countless hours they worked through adversity and uncertainty, while showing great resolve during the Occupy Portland protests. The men and women of the Portland Police Bureau have set a standard which is a cut above any department anywhere !
