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Portland's police union today launched a media campaign to demand City Hall fund more officers. They picked an inflammatory place to begin.
As first reported today by The Portland Mercury, the Portland Police Association has erected a billboard reading "Having Enough Police Matters." It's across Southwest Salmon Street from the First Unitarian Church—which has been displaying a "Black Lives Matter" billboard for a year.
The police union billboard is on the side of the Gentry Apartments, positioned so that it's the first thing drivers see after the church when traveling northbound on Southwest 12th Avenue.
A press release from the Portland Police Association president Daryl Turner says similar billboards are going up "across the city." Turner tells WW the billboard is one of several locations in Portland.
"The locations are all random," Turner says. "They were picked by the company. It had to do with the availability of the spaces."
The billboard is part of a larger campaign by the Portland Police Association to pressure Mayor Charlie Hales to pay for more police officers during an upswing in gun violence.
"Based on national benchmarks, the bureau is understaffed by 700 officers," Turner tells WW. "We're not able to respond to the upswing in gang activity or crimes of opportunity at this point in time. When you don't have officers patrolling the streets proactively in the numbers you need, those crimes go up in volume."
Here's how the billboard is viewed by northbound traffic on Southwest 12th Avenue.
Willamette Week
