Portland Murders Surge After City Council Disbands Police Unit

The police bureau of Portland, Oregon, did away with their Gun Violence Reduction Team following budget cuts by the city council, and witnessed the highest number of murders in one month than has been seen in over 30 years.

Breitbart News reported that there were 15 murders in Portland during July 2020, the most for a single month in over three decades.

And the Oregonian reported there were 63 shootings in Portland in July 2020, versus 28 for the same month in 2019.

This surge in violence and death correlated with the July 1, 2020, elimination of Portland police bureau’s Gun Violence Reduction Team, which Chief of Police Chuck Lovell said “the bureau was forced to cut…at the direction of the City Council.”

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) made clear his plan to disband the special anti-gun violence unit on June 9.

“We need to fundamentally change the police bureau and how we interact with police in our daily lives,” Wheeler said, according to KPTV

“I am hearing loudly and clearly from demonstrators that they want fundamental reform. I am hearing loudly and clearly from demonstrators that they want us to completely reimagine the way that we think about public safety in our community,” Wheeler added. “And I believe these reforms, combined with the resources that I’ve proposed we send out into the community, I believe those things work together to live up to the promise of that reimagination.”

In New York City, the NYPD’s Plain Clothes Anti-Crime Unit was disbanded June 15, 2020, and the New York Post reported that the week ended with “28 [shooting] incidents and 38 victims.”

On June 29, 2020, Breitbart News reported more than 110 people had been shot during a nine-day period in NYC. Just over a month later, Breitbart News reported that there had been more shootings in NYC from January 1, 2020, through August 1, 2020, than there had been in all of 2019.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.