Skip to main content

Crime

Portland residents frustrated at how police have 'almost disappeared' as homeless steal dogs for ransom

Police say that staffing issues have hurt coverage and response times.

November 4, 2022 6:14pm

Updated: November 21, 2022 7:40pm

Residents of Portland, Oregon, fed up with rising violent crime in the city are asking why they no longer see police.

"It's like they almost disappeared," Loretta Guzman, who owns a coffee shop in North Portland, told Fox News.

Guzman’s business, Bison Coffee, was vandalized in October for announcing a Coffee with a Cop. She moved forward with the event after locals helped her clean up the broken windows and paint the vandals splashed around the interior.

"A lot of people feel really unsafe," she said. "They’re angry, they’re sad, they’re mad. They feel helpless. They feel they don’t have a voice."

Violent crime surged 38% between 2020 to 2021, according to FBI data.

But property crimes like car theft and vandalism have also increased over the same period, according to Portland Police Bureau data.

One homeless advocacy group even reported that homeless are stealing neighborhood dogs for ransom.

Police point to staffing as a huge concern, with the PPB reporting it has lost 250 officers over the past two years due to resignations and retirements.

"Every day we are still unable to staff shifts to minimums," PPB spokesperson Terri Wallo Strauss told Fox News in an email. "That, coupled with increases in violent crime, traffic crashes … and other resource intensive calls, means people sometimes have to wait a long time for an officer to respond."

Law enforcements veterans around the country have blamed the “defund the police” movement for short-staffing, burnout and low morale among officers. Portland was the site of massive George Floyd protests in 2020 and has struggled with rising crime since.

Christine Drazan, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, has taken a lead over her Democratic opponent Tina Kotek, a former state House speaker, by focusing on crime and homelessness. If she wins next week, Drazan will become the first Republican governor of the historically blue state in 40 years.