Mounted patrol, cold-case squad to be cut
PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer announced Monday the police bureau will eliminate the mounted patrol unit and the cold-case squad in order to meet Mayor Sam Adams’ proposed budget cuts.
The cold-case squad has been credited with helping convict 25 killers from unsolved cases but under the proposed cuts it will be shut down July 1. “’We’ve got about 300 unsolved homicides going back to the 1970s," said Sergeant Paul Weatheroy with Portland’s cold-case squad. "So that’s 300 potential killers out there with an opportunity to re-offend, and 300 victims’ families who won’t be getting answers or justice.”
Sizer also said she plans to make cuts to Portland's drug-crimes unit and let go 25 of its most junior officers. However, Adams said during a news conference that no one will be laid off.
“No one will be walking out the door at the police bureau,” Adams said.
Sizer said “there’s lots of frustration” and said she’s not sure about Adams’ pledge of not laying anyone off.
“There hasn’t been any strategy that has been identified to avert a layoff,” Sizer said. “Should no strategy arise, we are looking at 25 sworn officers laid off.”
Adams said that his office is still trying to figure out if the city will use incentives to encourage early retirement.
He said he may also delay the budget cuts another year when dozens of officers are already planning to retire.
“And that would mean effectively a cut of 50 positions, and that would have an even more substantial impact on the organization,” Sizer said.
Late Monday, Adams issued a press release in response to Sizer’s comments during her news conference. In the release, Adams said Sizer failed to mention that she met with him to discuss how to proceed with the cuts.
“Sizer and her team and I met numerous times during the budget development process to strategize on how to make the necessary cuts in the least painful manner,” he said in the release. “Today Police Chief Rosie Sizer in her press conference neglected to mention that fact. Or that she approved the cuts recommended by her Bureau and included in my proposed budget.”
Adams also said that some information the bureau gave him was faulty. He said Sizer “offered to cut eight positions that she stated are vacant. Today, Sizer informs us via press conference that those eight positions are not vacant.”
He said he will look into how the discrepancy happened and will work with the police bureau to make any changes to his proposed budget to ensure the needs of public safety are met.
Late Monday, Adams' spokesman, Roy Kaufmann, said in an e-mail that the mayor won’t be going back to the drawing board with his budget.
“We were provided inaccurate info. by the police," Kaufmann said, "and will need to work with them to revise our recommended cuts and add-backs."
He said it was too soon to know which programs will be “shifted, cut or restored.”
Meanwhile, there was an offer to help save the mounted patrol.
Bob Ball, with "Friends of the Mounted Patrol," told KATU that his organization provides between $20,000 and $25,000 a year for the nine horses in the mounted patrol unit. This past week the group even offered the city $100,000 as a one-time offer – along with additional fundraising throughout the year – to help the city through this budget crunch, Ball said.
"We didn't hear anything back," Ball said, "so we just assumed it wasn't enough to help.”
In addition to the high-profile cuts, the police bureau also plans to save money by closing all precincts to the public at night. Additionally, four motorcycle traffic positions won’t be filled.
The next City of Portland budget hearing is 6 p.m. May 20, at the University Park Community Center, 9009 N. Foss Ave. in North Portland. The city council votes on this matter May 26.
Related resources:
A copy of a chart presented at the 11 a.m. news conference on the 14th floor of Portland's Justice Center:
