The following editorial content is written by a retired police officer and current staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.
PORTLAND, OR- As violent riots in Portland enter their fifth month with no end in sight, we continue to see police officers in the city being attacked by Antifa, Black Lives Matter and other radical groups. The overwhelming irony in a lot of this is black police officers being specifically targeted with racist rhetoric, including being called “coons” and “race traitors.”
Red State Nation reported earlier this week that around 150 rioters (because let’s call them what they are) arrived at the offices of the Portland Police Association. When they arrived, police announced via loudspeaker that the streets in the area were to remain open to automobile traffic, however the sidewalk in front of the building was closed.
Rioters were warned that if they remained on the sidewalk, they could be subject to use of force, including impact munitions as well as pepper spray.
That didn’t matter to the mob, who continued to stand in the street, while others stood in front of the union office building and some tagged the building with graffiti.
Police arrived in the area and maintained a perimeter between the roadway and the PPA building. Officers placed several of the rioters under arrest and extended their perimeter around the building to prevent damage to the building.
At this point, the mob decided to engage in racist attacks on black police officers, whereby they called them “coons” and “race traitors.” One could also be heard saying “skin-folk ain’t yo kin-folk.”
One officer told Law Enforcement Today:
“I’m standing nose to nose with a protestor and he looked me dead in the eye and told me ‘we’re going to kill your family’.”
Here are #Portland #Antifa tools being very respectful to Police to try and reduce the temperature and bread dialogue.
By threatening them saying “you’re gonna get it one day”, and calling them “cunts” because “pigs” is offensive to actual pigs. Or something. pic.twitter.com/flrZyf19X9
— Darth Crypto (NEW ACCOUNT) (@DarthCryptoTFC) September 29, 2020
If that sounds familiar, that’s because a guest on MSNBC used exactly those words to describe Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is black.
In a segment on MSNBC, retired Los Angeles Police Department sergeant Cheryl Dorsey was speaking about the attorney general lamenting the Hollywood hypocrites fomenting violence in the wake of the Breonna Taylor grand jury decision.
Dorsey said, “Let me just speak to this whole celebrity influencer thing—while, look, they can’t speak for Kentuckians. Let me say this as a black woman. [Cameron] does not speak for black folks. He is skin folk but he is not kinfolk…”
MSNBC guest on black Kentucky AG Cameron: “He’s skinfolk, but he is not kinfolk…he should be ashamed of himself.” pic.twitter.com/Y9lNvSmPtS
— Thomas Catenacci (@ThomasCatenacci) September 23, 2020
Sound like a dog whistle? Her words obviously rang true for one of the Portland rioters.
Shortly afterward, one of the officers was struck in the head with what appeared to be some type of pyrotechnic device thrown by the rioters.
The crowd cheers after an officer is hit in the head with what looks to be a firework is thrown by rioters #Portlandprotests pic.twitter.com/L0shQeO3kJ
— Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) September 29, 2020
It also appears that the rioters attacked police with mace during the riot as well.
It looks like they may have used mace on the Portland Police pic.twitter.com/ReoGat5Ph3
— Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) September 29, 2020
In Tuesday night’s debate, President Trump asked Democrat Joe Biden to condemn Antifa and the violence they have perpetrated in Portland and other cities throughout the country. Biden’s reply was classic, saying that “Antifa is an idea, not an organization,” or similar words.
[embedded content]
An idea? Here is an interview NBC News had with “an idea” back in 2019. “Ideas” apparently do not like to show their face.
[embedded content]
Portland of course has been ground zero for far-left, anti-American protests, and as such Law Enforcement Today has reported extensively on the riots. We recently reported on how much in police overtime the riots are costing the city and taxpayers of Portland. For more on that, we invite you to:
DIG DEEPER
As if Portland didn’t have enough monetary expenses active or pending on the destruction caused by the endless riots and protests in the past few months – there’s also the multi-million dollar costs associated with policing these very protests and riots.
All those taxpayer dollars flushed down the Leftist toilet so the Mob can throw its destructive temper tantrum. https://t.co/6Ky2Dy7hs5
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) September 9, 2020
According to reports, police overtime costs associated with the unrest in the city has cost $6.9 million. While rioters and protesters have been clamoring to “defund the police,” their activities are ironically forcing more money to go towards policing.
This $6.9 million in spending toward overtime is only when reviewing the data from Portland between June and July.
Considering that the protests and riots have yet to cease, it’s fair to assume that the overtime costs connected to the period of the riots is now well above $7 million.
When reviewing the overtime costs from January of 2020 up until July, the total ticket is $11.4 million for that entirety. What that means is between January and the end of May this year, the PPB was shelling out an average of around $900K monthly for overtime costs.
Yet, in June and July, the average monthly cost between the two months for overtime was $3.45 million each.
While demonstrations continue in the Rose City, police spending on overtime is skyrocketing.https://t.co/AYew6PKQTa
— KATU News (@KATUNews) September 8, 2020
But it’s not just overtime costing money either, nor is it the needed repairs to portions of the city due to the destructive efforts of bad actors at these riots and protests.
There were tens-of-thousands in costs related to crowd control assets and mere protective measures for buildings in the area.
In early June, there was nearly $50,000 spent on items like chemical munitions and pepper spray for the PPB. Then, by mid-June, slightly over $20,000 was spent to re-up on that very same type of equipment. The mayor’s office also shelled out $30,000 for fencing that was erected around City Hall.
Another $40,000 was spent on fencing via the PPB in June and July, which mostly covered areas in Chapman and Lownsdale squares. Apparently, that fencing only lasted a few days when erected and was subsequently removed.
But law enforcement officials are all too aware that overtime costs are needed in these times. Such as when departments are feeling the effects of the defunding that has taken place.
With violent crime in the rise within certain areas of New York City, the NYPD has announced that strategically allocated overtime for certain precincts will be administered that are among some of the areas most greatly impacted by this rising violence.
The current rate of shootings has soared when compared to 2019 data in New York City, with the NYPD showing an overall increase of 87% for the entirety of 2020 and a 143% increase for August alone. With violent crime increasing, there has also been an increase in response times.
Sources tell CBS2’s @AliBaumanTV the #NYPD will soon approve small amounts of overtime, sending hundreds of officers to the areas of the city hardest hit by crime. https://t.co/P9hPudnOwP #nycshootings #nycgunviolence
— CBS New York (@CBSNewYork) September 1, 2020
Data shows that officer response times increased by 44% in June of this year and 14% collectively between July and August. Currently, there are two theories being touted as to what is causing these increased response times.
Former police officer and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams suggested that police precincts might be intentionally slowing their response times due to the anti-police sentiments across the country:
“The Department of Investigation must look at precinct by precinct to see if job actions are taking place in certain precincts out of frustration.”
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea denied that there was some collective move by precincts to intentionally slow down their response times:
“New York City police officers and detectives are as dedicated today as they ever have been.”
Surprisingly, Mayor Bill de Blasio presented an alternative theory to Adams’. The mayor reasonably pointed out that the recent cuts to the NYPD budget, which was nearly $1 billion, is going to inevitably affect things like response times:
“If there are fewer police officers and less overtime there are going to be challenges.”
These questions about what’s going on with policing, with respect to response times, comes on the heels of a recent murder of a caretaker for the Bedford-Stuyvesant Church who was gunned down on August 31st.
Deacon Ronald Stewart lamented the loss of the 62-year-old victim, calling him a “good man” and describing how he and his wife took him in off the streets and afforded the victim a second chance at life:
“He was an asset to the church, a very good person. Not only that, me and my wife took him off the street and we fed him. We did everything for him.”
Earlier on August 31st, a Manhattan criminal court judge was randomly attacked by an assailant while she was heading down Water Street on her way to work. A witness to the attack, Barat Mukhtiyi, described the seemingly random assault:
“Somebody hit her on the face and the guy was on a bicycle.”
Not long after the incident involving the judge being assaulted, there was reportedly two men who were shot while standing outside of a daycare facility in Fordham Heights.
Starting on September 1st, small amounts of overtime are now going to be allocated to certain precincts and will be approved until the end of the summer. It’s unclear if the NYPD will be considering any continuance of overtime after the aforementioned period.
Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today? With so much “stuff” happening in the world on social media, it’s easy for things to get lost.
Make sure you click “following” and then click “see first” so you don’t miss a thing! (See image below.) Thanks for being a part of the LET family!
