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If you're like 60 percent of Portlanders, you feel safe walking in your neighborhood at night. And if you're like 87 percent of Portland cops, you're white.
Those are two of the more interesting statistics to come out of the proposed police bureau budget released by the City of Portland this week.
We'll have a piece in tomorrow's WW with a look at proposed new spending by the Police Bureau as well as by other city bureaus. But here are some numbers that jumped out at us from the proposed $163 million budget from Chief Mike Reese and Mayor Sam Adams, who oversees the police bureau:
$100,010—The cost savings from leaving vacant a bureau position for a fleet program coordinator, according to the budget. The budget notes this non-sworn position instead has been filled by a sworn officer since last year, and under the proposed budget, a sworn cop would continue to do this job. (The practice of filling empty civilian jobs with sworn officers stirred controversy when Adams began instituting it last year.)
12—The number of positions for background investigators that will continue to be performed by sworn officers. These civilians were laid off last year, and the positions were filled instead by sworn cops—a practice that would continue under the proposed budget. "Using non-sworn background investigators is the preferred model so as to keep sworn officers on the street," the budget notes.
$200,000—The annual cost of implementing a new civilian-oversight ordinance. That price tag was rarely mentioned when the ordinance was pushed through City Council last year by Commissioner Randy Leonard and Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade.
60—The percent of Portlanders "who feel safe alone in their neighborhoods at night," according to the proposed budget. The figure is touted as a measure of cops' performance in "emergency response and problem solving."
43—The percent of person crimes solved by the police bureau last year. The percentage of property crimes solved was 17 percent, the proposed budget says. Both those numbers "decreased slightly" from the previous year, the budget says.
13—Percent of police bureau employees who are minorities.
27—Percent of bureau employees who are women.
WWeek 2015