New Portland Police Stats Suggest Social Distancing Is Waning and Burglars Are Breaking Into Empty Businesses

After a dip that reflected Gov. Kate Brown's stay-home order, calls for service have risen.

A masked Portland :Police officer in a parade to thank health care workers. (Wesley Lapointe)
By Nigel Jaquiss

The Portland Police Bureau today released new statistics that capture some of the effects of Gov. Kate Brown's March 23 stay-home order.

Figures show that in the wake of the March 12 closure of public schools, continuing for the first two weeks after Brown's stay-home order, calls to the bureau for service, a common way of measuring police activity, dropped dramatically.

But in the week beginning April 5, calls for service jumped back to more normal levels.

"The increase in calls suggests the stay at home order is not being adhered to as closely as it was in prior weeks," the bureau said in a statement.

One of the most eye-catching changes in criminal behavior since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Oregon is a shift in burglaries: figures show burglars are hitting offices and businesses, many of which are closed to preserve social distancing, while the number of residential burglaries have declined sharply.

The types of burglaries essentially traded places, as smash-and-grab thieves learned to hit 'em where they ain't.

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