Portland, Oregon’s City Council approved $1.4 million to go toward the hiring of “unarmed” park rangers for around-the-clock foot patrols, Breitbart reports.
KGW reports there will be “two dozen” such patrols. The money for the “unarmed” patrols is part of a larger $6 million plan, none of which will go to the Portland Police Bureau. “$4.1 million will be earmarked for community groups that work in the neighborhoods hardest-hit by gunfire.”
The Associated Press quoted Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s (D) opinion on the approved funding: “We agree that the immediate spike in gun violence is a public health threat that requires a public health response that invests in community-based organizations working to change the conditions and environments that foster violence.”
According to Breibart, “there have been more than 250 shootings in Portland thus far in 2021. That is a greater than 100 percent increase over the 111 shootings in Portland at this same time in 2020.”