It's summer time in Portland so gangs must be on the rise, as per Chief Mike Reese, Portland Police Bureau. Yesterday Multnomah County Local Public Safety Council released a 500 page report met to make us all afraid that gang activity in Multnomah County is running rampant. I wish we could believe the source of this data but having reviewed the lopsided survey sent out to the public to support this notion its sole goal is to convince the community to volunteer to stop gang violence and pay the cops overtime for gang work. It is the normal public-private partnership where the public law enforcement agencies get resources (up to $200,000 for enforcement activities vs the volunteer community support.
Don't be fooled we are here every single summer under Chief Reese. Too bad he is still ineffective at identifying, prosecuting and convicting people for this behavior. I will compare the half truths that the public is told and sold with the reality of the driving force behind this big report.
Join me tomorrow from 8-9AM on Voices from the Edge. For more information go to:
koin.com/2014/07/08/multnomah-co-released-500-page-gang-report/
- KBOO