6/5/20
Portland City Hall is surrounded by concrete barricades. They prevent the public from even getting on the sidewalk, let alone entering the building their tax dollars have paid for to be the 'people's hall' of government. To get to the press conference (which was announced to reporters via an email that warned media not to disclose the time of the press conference "for security reasons"), I had to find my way to a back entrance, climb past a barricade, and knock on a locked door. A security guard then opened the door and let me in to an echo-ey, empty city hall. I entered the Council Chambers and wondered if I had gotten the time wrong - because no other media were there. Just a single camera person for the media pool.
No other media arrived, so KBOO ended up being the only media at this press conference. Which meant we got to ask questions. The other media submitted questions remotely, via text. to the Mayor's Communications Director.
To the Police Captain:
Will the Chief of Police resign?
Will Officers Frashour and Kruger (who built a Nazi monument in a Portland park) be fired?
Do you have more information on the deadly use-of-force by Gresham police on Tuesday? Who was killed? What officers were involved?
To the Mayor:
The city of Minneapolis today voted on measures they describe as the beginnings of the dismantling of the police force to replace with a community-based alternative - will you do the same?
Will you resign?
Will you ban tear gas? Even just during the COVID19 pandemic?
You had recently proposed an increase to police funding in this year's budget - will you reconsider that, and reduce it - down to zero?
Here is the official city video of the press conference
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Audio Transcript (corresponds with the audio linked below - which starts a couple minutes into the first speaker):
Dr. Smith - Portland Office of Equity 0:00
I've been asked repeatedly over the past few days about what comes next. How can I help? I would like to offer the following. First, be open and accepting of the fact that white supremacy and white privilege are reality that has shaped the treatment of black people from the very beginning. This isn't about I have black friends are support black businesses. This is about the undeniable fact that our country was built on the ugly foundation of slavery. and dare I say, we are still operating with plantation styles, realities and mentalities. Understand that we have systems that function as they were intended in their original design, and we must be about the business of tearing them down and replacing them with ones that are equitable. And just, if you're a white person, you need to do your work. It's not the responsibility of black people or other people of color to do that for you. Silence is not an option. And in fact, if you stay silent, you are a contributing bystander to the inequities that black people face every day. Be willing to have tough conversations about race and racism. Stop taking detours, we can no longer afford to hold space for emotions and conversations that only center whiteness hold leadership in the city accountable. This means demanding transparency and understanding how our policies, practices and procedures either serve or don't serve black people and other communities of color. And finally, Reverend Al Sharpton said it best during the eulogy of George Floyd yesterday. Get your foot off our neck. It is long overdue. The time has come. Thank you.
Facilitatorr 1:43
Thank you, Dr. Smith. Now we'll bring up Mayor Ted Wheeler.
Mayor Wheeler 1:50
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here, either in person or virtually. today. Now marks one full week of protests here. In the city of Portland and of course around the nation, one week since our community began filling downtown peacefully to demand justice for George Floyd, and all black Americans. Last night's protest, followed a script that's starting to sound very familiar to many of us. A powerful and peaceful crowd of thousands marched across the Morrison bridge and gathered at Waterfront Park. a much smaller group of protesters acted dangerously and violently near the Justice Center. And I want to be very clear to separate those two groups. And our Portland Police officers worked hard to support peaceful protest and keep our city safe. They continue to do so despite their exhaustion and I want to commend them for not only doing everything they can to keep peaceful demonstration safe, but also potentially saving lives in the process. I made a commitment that we cannot continue to let our institutions fail. Our black neighbors, friends and colleagues. So today I want to take a step back and reflect on the past week. As many of you know, I grew up in Portland, I was born and raised here. I've had the opportunity to raise my daughter here. And it's truly been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as your mayor. I, over the course of my four years of Mayor have seen a lot of demonstrations, but nothing like this. This one is completely different. First of all, protesters span all demographics in this community, race, age, gender, geography, people who look different from one another, who come from different backgrounds who have different lived experiences. They're coming together and they're finding common ground. And what they're all demanding is both justice and reconciliation. And they want to do it in partnership with government. And with each passing day, there seems to be even more energy, more solidarity. Over the past week, black leaders in our community have graciously shared their pain and their resilience and their ideas for moving forward. I want people to know this, I am listening. I will keep listening. And I'll make sure that the city of Portland takes action.
If we want to change the outcomes, then we have to commit to changing the policies, the plans and the culture that created those outcomes in the first place. Some of those changes are going to take time and some of those changes are things that we can do right now. That's why I decided on Wednesday that we will end the use of school resource officers and school districts throughout the city of Portland, and will redirect those police officers to other places where they're needed in the community. I announced that yesterday. And that's why we decided to reinvest $1 million from the police budget back into a community driven process to support black children here in Portland. We'll continue examining policies with community input, including former President Obama's challenge to every mayor in this nation to take a hard look at use of force policies, engage the community, report out on what our findings are, and then demonstrate meaningful change. We're committed to doing that. This of course, is just the beginning. And next week, I plan to share more about a suite of actions that I believe will address police reform and accountability in this city things that we've heard from the community. And we will continue to convene our community partners to broaden our efforts to combat systemic racism. Like so many others in this nation yesterday, I had the opportunity to watch George Floyd's memorial service. And I want you to know this I was deeply moved by it. It was powerful. And if you have not had the opportunity to watch it, I encourage people to take the time to do it. I grieve for his death. And I grieved for the deaths of all black people who've lost their lives too soon. Breanna Taylor, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, in so many, many more, and I grieved for all the ways that the United States of America has failed them in ways that the city of Portland has failed our own Black community, but I felt something else. I felt hope for the future. we're witnessing a dramatic shift in urgently charting a path forward to restorative justice, inclusion and understanding. And all of this is underscored by action. I feel a tremendous responsibility and privilege in being part of this movement. And I look forward to what we do next. Thank you.
Facilitator 7:45
Okay, next up will be deputy chief Chris Davis from the Portland Police Bureau. And after that's done, we'll open the floor for questions. And we're going to begin with questions for chief Davis so he can just remain up here at the microphone and we can minimize the back and forth between The speakers but think about questions if you have them for Dr. Smith, or deputy chief Davis or the mayor.
Deputy Chief Davis 8:10
Well, good afternoon. we've witnessed another night, last night of several thousand people gathering and marching peacefully in downtown Portland. After the peaceful demonstration came to an end, several smaller groups moved to the area of Southwest Third Avenue and southwest Maine, where they remained for several hours. At one point, the group started to throw water at water bottles, full beer cans and other projectiles at the officers but we were able to get them to stop by communicating with the crowd that we wanted them to stop doing those things. At about 130 in the morning, however, a group of agitators moved to the area of Southwest third and salmon where they set several fires engaged in speed racing where I'm told they were doing donuts basically in an intersection With a crowd of people standing around, there was alcohol consumption fireworks being lit and then at after that went on for a while the some of the people started throwing projectiles at police officers again. We did have one officer hit with fireworks. Fortunately that officer was able to avoid injuries. At this point, a civil disturbance and unlawful assembly were declared. And as officers were directing the group to disperse, we encountered several vehicles driving recklessly at speeds our officers estimated to be up to 55 miles per hour going the wrong way on a one way street, almost striking pedestrians. officers were able to intervene and stop three of these vehicles and safely take the drivers into custody. While officers were continuing to disperse the crowd, one of our soundtracks that we use to communicate with crowds became a target of The group's aggression. We encountered lasers being pointed at the driver of this, the, what we call the sound truck. This creates obvious safety concerns for for the driver, including eye injuries. And then we had people throwing rocks and glass bottles at the sound truck. It was at that point that the operators of the truck decided to deploy something called the long range acoustic device. I know there's been some questions about that. So I just want to address that right up front. It's the initials of this are l rad LR ad. And what this device does is it doubles as a public address system. It's a very effective one, because it's able to focus the sound when we give communications to the crowd. And we went to this device several years ago because it's much more effective at being heard than a regular public address system in a car. It also comes with a phone where it will emit a particular tone. That's very hard to be around and encourages people to leave the area. The officers in the sound truck deployed this tone mode of the RAD briefly for a couple of different occasions, as they were essentially under attack with objects being thrown at them. We made a total of 12 arrests last night, three vehicles were towed as well. And then I'll wrap up, and then I'll be available for questions. But I'd like to thank a lot of our community partners that helped keep the main event last night safe. We are really seeing a big distinction at this point between the protest groups and people who splinter off of those groups and stay downtown after the event is over, to engage in activity. Like we saw last night, and we want to express our particular thanks for some some vigilant people in the community who have found some really harmful items stashed in downtown Portland over the last couple of days. We We certainly appreciate that and just remind people that if you see suspicious objects or dangerous objects that are sequestered away and in the city to please let us know. So with that, I'm happy to take any questions that you have.
KBOO Reporter 12:32
Hi, I'm with KBOO radio. One of the demands raised by protesters was for the firing of police in the Portland Police who have engaged in deadly force. Like Ronald Frashour, or also the firing of Officer Kruger who set up a Nazi memorial in a park. Are you going to fire those officers and will the Chief of Police resign.
Deputy Chief Davis 13:04
You'll have to ask the chief what her plans are. She certainly has not mentioned anything to me about resigning and Captain Kruger retired from the Portland Police Bureau and is no longer employed by the city. As far as officer fresh our that it's a matter of public record his case and the arbitration award that came out of that several years ago.
KBOO Reporter 13:27
I think the question was about cutting the pension for Kruger
Deputy Chief Davis 13:31
The pension is a matter of the city charter and the pension. The fire police disability system is a separate bureau from us and is completely outside the authority of the Portland Police Bureau.
KBOO Reporter 13:46
And what moves are the Portland Police taking to address the use of force by Portland Police that has been under investigation multiple times by the Department of Justice.
Deputy Chief Davis 13:58
So there was one very Large investigation that most people in the community are probably familiar with by the US Department of Justice. We have been we entered into a settlement agreement with DOJ several several years ago. And we are actually happy to note that we are nearing full compliance with the settlement agreement as a result of that we have made a number of significant reforms to the way in which we investigate and and document use of force and review every use of force by a Portland Police officer to make a determination as to whether it was in policy and in cases where force is determined to be outside policy, either because it is excessive, or because there is some technical violation of our policy. We take corrective action, and the DOJ is currently monitoring our compliance with that settlement agreement. That work will go on, you know, eventually the the DOJ will have to leave obviously but that work will go on After they have gone and we will continue to build on the foundation that we have constructed along with the DOJ to make sure that we are completely transparent and aboveboard with regard to the use of force and that we address any issues that we see there. So we are already starting with a really good foundation for delivering some of those four reforms that we're hearing called for all over the United States in our profession.
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 15:29
All right, Chief Davis. I'm going to read some questions that have that have been both emailed and texted into me for you. This one from the Oregonian has the ppb use the L rad you spoke briefly about that, but the long range acoustic device before during protests as was used Thursday night and can you explain a little more about what it is and what kind of training police received to use it?
Deputy Chief Davis 15:49
We have used it before. I have some notes here about this because this is not something I personally have worked with a lot but we have used it before. It's very rare. And it hasn't, we haven't always found it to be effective. It's not something that we use very often, because we've really had such mixed results with it. And it's, I mean, again, as I tried to describe it earlier, it's a it's a particular tone and it's really hard to describe might be something that we might want to give the media the opportunity to just come see for themselves, if we can park it, someplace where it won't disturb people and people can can hear it for themselves, but it's, it is intended to be a noise that is really hard to, to listen to. And it's again, you know, with all of these tools like the L rad or CS or some of those other things are really just intended to get people who are refusing to move from an area where we are encountering encountering a high volume of dangerous activity. To move out of the area, and the use of these things is always preceded by warnings. And we do have some guidelines within the training for the rapid response team for when it's appropriate to use that.
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 17:15
Okay, this is a question that we have from KGW. And they want to know why tear gas is being used in a pandemic, and what is the difference between CS gas and tear gas? And that's the question.
Deputy Chief Davis 17:29
So after yesterday, I was taken to school on the difference between tear gas and CS gas. And now as I understand it, apparently, in again, this is I I've spent a little bit of time in the rapid response team as a command officer. So you know, as I said yesterday, we're pushing the limits of my technical understanding of the all of the details of each of these tools and how they work but there's there are different kinds of of irritants Tear gas or whatever you want to call it, at one end is something like pepper spray it's or polio resin spray. That is actually a little worse than CS gas because when you're exposed to that, that sticks with you for about 90 minutes. And it's really hard to wash off, as opposed to something like CS gas, which is a substance that if you walk out of it, you really stop feeling the effects almost right away. And you'll have some residual effects that at least I've encountered all the times I've been exposed to it where I might get a little bit of an aftertaste, but your your functional a lot faster and you suffer a lot less long. And again, the whole reason why we use these tools is to just encourage people who are engaged in violent activity to move out of an area and stop engaging in violence and we have fairly high thresholds for crowd behavior before we're going to deploy any of these optics.
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 19:01
Okay, got a three part question from KATU television. First part, what is your response to the city of Minneapolis agreed to ban chokeholds by police and require officers to report and intervene when they see an unauthorized use of force by another officer.
Deputy Chief Davis 19:17
I think that's great. Those are steps that we've already taken in the Portland Police Bureau. We've stopped using the chokehold years ago before I even was hired here. And we have if if that technique gets used in a force encounter, it is considered deadly force and it's evaluated in the deadly force standards. So it is I can't think of a time that we've used that in the time that I've worked here. We also train extensively obviously in control tactics and and ways to take people into custody who sometimes resist physically and in all of our training in the Portland Police Bureau, We train our officers to avoid the neck because it's a pretty vulnerable area on people. And so even in the last couple of years, we've evolved our training for when you're taking a resistive person into custody. And I won't go into the specific tactics right now, because we don't have time. But this whole shift that we've made just in the last few years in our control tactics, training has been even further away from any kind of contact with the neck. Because even if you don't have the immediate effect that we saw in the murder of George Floyd, you can still really hurt somebody if you mess around with this part of their body too much in a struggle. And so we try to avoid that as as much as we can, other than in a situation where there's just absolutely no resort and it becomes a deadly force situation. And then, as far as the other part of that question, that's another Good step, and I'm surprised hadn't been taken before. We have a policy requiring our members to report acts of misconduct by other members. And if we find out that someone knew about something, and they didn't report it, they can be disciplined as well up to and including termination from the organization. And we have, as I mentioned yesterday, I have seen a number of incidents in the last few years since I've been in the chief's office where our members have acted with that courage and step forward and done the right thing when they saw something that was wrong. So it appears to me at least as leader in the organization that our policy and our culture changes that we've been working on for so long or are working. Are we done? No, but we're at least headed in the right direction. And as I said, I was really surprised to hear that Minneapolis hadn't done all that already.
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 21:54
second part of the question, can you elaborate on some of the individual conversations that your officers are having with protesters What is the response in the rank and file to those discussions?
Deputy Chief Davis 22:03
So I just had one of those conversations earlier today. And it was a really positive conversation with a couple people who had some really positive ideas. And that's consistent with what I'm hearing from our officers, that they're encountering a lot of people who are coming up to the line who want to talk to them who want to reach out to them as human beings. We want to encourage that and that's one of the next steps for us is finding ways to just plug officers into those one on one interactions with other people in the community. I think that's, you know, we want to look for the big overarching solution to a situation like the one that we're in, but that's where the change is going to happen is when we get to know each other on that human level. So that and it's been positive for the officers too, because, you know, situations like we've been in over the last week can be really draining on the people who work here and sometimes I know for me the conversation I had with a couple of students just a little while ago I was I was feeling pretty worn out. And that actually gave me a lot of energy. So we'd appreciate it if people would keep trying to engage with us.
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 23:11
Okay, last part of the question, will the bureau take a more aggressive approach to close down roads and routes into downtown Portland tonight and during the weekend to prevent people from driving their vehicles into the zones where protesters are congregating?
Deputy Chief Davis 23:25
We're looking at that right now because that is a significant issue that we're encountering as the week goes on as more and more vehicles as I said there was some driving behavior downtown last night that is really, really egregious in crowds of people. As far as specific measures. We're working on that with our Incident Command team right now to make sure we keep people safe.
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 23:53
Okay, any other questions for chief Davis
KBOO Reporter 24:00
Sorry, just a quick thing I know it was the Gresham Police Department involved in the deadly use of force on Tuesday. But I understand it to happened in Portland. Do you have any comment on that or more details on what happened and what officers and who was involved?
Deputy Chief Davis 24:16
Because that involved another agency. It's really not appropriate for me to give that information. I would recommend that you ask the Gresham Police Department for some of those specifics.
Facilitator 24:31
Thank you, Chief Davis. Let's bring Mayor Wheeler now to the microphone to answer some questions.
KBOO Reporter 24:42
Hi, Mayor Wheeler, KBOO here. The president of the city council in Minneapolis today said they're taking the first steps to dismantle the police department by issuing a restraining order on the police there. Will you take a similar measure here in Portland and dismantle the police replaced them with a Different kind of community approach. And will you yourself resign? Some protesters are asking.
Mayor Wheeler 25:07
Well, first of all, I'm not completely familiar with what's been proposed in Minneapolis. And I'd certainly like to further evaluate that. I think at this time in history, everybody has to be willing to take a look at all options, all innovations, and put everything on the table and be honest about what the options are. We are already in the city of Portland through our city council through the mayor's office, we're already looking at ways to redeploy resources, not just the things we talked about yesterday, redeploying the school resource officers or taking resources from the Police Bureau, and supporting the education and nurturing of black children in our community. But we've also looked at fundamentally reshaping our first responder program, for example, through the Portland Street response and that is a partnership that I've engaged And with Commissioner Hardesty in st routes and many other organizations to look at how we manage people in crisis on our streets, that's something that's been requested from the community. The community brought us a package that we thought looked great. So everything should be on the table. With regard to your second question, should I resign? I have not considered resigning. But I do believe part of the healing process requires people like me those who are privileged, I am a white male, relatively fluent compared to most of the population. I come with a lived experience and a sense of privilege that allows me and people like me to take for granted things like leaving the house and not worrying about whether or not I'm going to come back. As I heard from some of the pastors yesterday and the day before, I don't have to set my cruise control at 20 miles an hour when I'm driving on a Portland city streets. Because I'm not worried that I won't come home. And one of the positive outcomes of these mass demonstrations is people are starting to hear the majority community is starting to hear what the black community is known for the entirety of their lives, which is that just by virtue of being black, in our community, and in our society, is dangerous to them because of the institutional racism, and because of the injustices that continue to be wrought in our community and across the nation. So I've committed to do anything I can. And that includes for people like me being willing to cede both power and privilege. And so I would argue that that everything is on the table in the pursuit of equality and justice and I'm willing enough to be humble. I am willing to be in a listening mode rather than a speaking or reactionary or defensive mode. And I truly is somebody Do you love this community? I want to do what is in the best interest of the community. And from where I stand today, a week into this, I would argue that everything is on the table.
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 28:10
Got a question here for you kind of along the same lines from KATU television on the topic of calls to defund the police. How much openness is there to radical ideas for reform, to looking at ways to reallocate funding and potentially changing the first responder system?
Mayor Wheeler 28:25
Well, as I indicated, we are already investing in and organizing around changing our first responder system in the city of Portland and we're doing it in a fact based way in a data driven approach, working with community partners and working with city bureaus that can make that happen. With regard to the first part of the question, these are transformational times what we're seeing on the street as I've described, you can describe it as a reckoning. You can describe it as a tipping point, however you want to describe it, what clearly is called For his transformative change, and I'm committed to hearing the community to listening to the community to seeing the community, when it comes to what those options are. I'm certainly putting my best ideas forward. The city council is collaboratively putting their best ideas forward. But we have no monopoly on the truth. And I believe there are other fantastic ideas that are out there in the community and we're hearing them every day.
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 29:26
Okay, I have a question for you from KATU. Can you please address the meeting you had last night with a governor and the Urban League of Portland it was actually I think, put on by the Urban League. The governor was invited you were invited. the n double acp was invited and it was about police reform what was discussed and what kind of change you're committed to going forward after that.
Mayor Wheeler 29:48
That was a great and very positive forum last night. The president of the NAACP, the president of the Urban League. governor, Governor Brown was president Michael Commissioner Hardesty was present. And it had a dual purpose, first of all, to listen and hear and reflect on the needs from the community, but also to make commitments about what we were going to do going forward. And I made a whole host of commitments around public health and working with the county. As we continue through the COVID crisis, I made a series of commitments around shared economic prosperity and making sure that we lift up the black community that were looking at economics, I made commitments around education, even though that's not historically the direct responsibility of the City of Portland education is everybody's responsibility. And so as as you know, that issue came up, I talked about how we are redirecting some of our resources to support and uplift children in this community, particularly black children in this community. And I also put some other issues on the table that I think are important as well including substance abuse treatment, mental health services, things that are clearly beyond the purview of a municipal government. But without us collaborating and supporting and working with our county and our state partners, we're going to continue to see the manifestations of neglect in those two areas on our streets. So those are some of the things I committed to. And the governor made a series of commitments, as did my colleague, Joanne Hardesty,
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 31:26
a couple of different TV stations are asking for your thoughts as the police commissioner about the use of CS gas and tear gas by police to you know, for crowd management purposes. Let's be honest, it it's ugly.
Mayor Wheeler 31:39
It looks ugly. And nobody who knows this community wants to see that. But I want to be clear, neither do the police. And so I stand with those who say that we should ban the use of tear gas, but with an important provision And it's one that we have to talk about, which is I would support the discontinuation of tear gas or CS gas or whatever you want to call it, provided that there are viable alternatives for dispersal that do not involve higher uses of force. And that's part of the conversation we need to have I signed that pledge that the Obama organization put forward. That will obviously include questions about the use of CS gas as well as other crowd disbursement techniques. And I think we need to have an open, honest and transparent conversation with the public about, number one, what our policies are, why we use it, what we use it for, what the impacts are, and what if any viable alternatives exist. So I'm not willing to say to date I would ban it without also Though acknowledging that we need to know that there are viable alternatives that do not include a higher use of force, I'm open to that open to that conversation. And it's one we're obviously going to have.
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 33:12
All right, Patrick KGW who is asking about the Portland Police Association contract negotiations. First question is kind of two parts. Are there negotiations happening now? And if so, what areas? What are the areas where the two sides disagree?
Mayor Wheeler 33:26
Well, we're, we're, we're not in bargaining at the moment. And so I don't feel at liberty in the interest of bargaining in good faith to be able to say what is on the table are off the table. It is considered not bargaining in good faith. If I talk to you about specific issues that are included in the bargaining process. I will tell you that there are ongoing discussions right now about the possibility of extending the contract for one year. The reason for that being that we had to suspend contracting associations when the COVID crisis hit, we we start negotiations by bargaining the the ground rules of bargaining. And we did not anticipate virtual bargain. So we stopped the process until we could agree on a new process. And what's happening now is both the city the City Council and the PPA are discussing the possibility of a contract extension in the short term until the COVID crisis passes.
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 34:31
The last part of the question is will the new contract when it eventually is gotten around to include changes that increase police accountability such as releasing the names of officers disciplined by the Bureau?
Mayor Wheeler 34:42
Well, all of this is, of course on the table for bargaining. But you know, that I in my administration in the community, have long prioritized questions around disciplinary action and accountability and we of course, support Support the legislation that has been put forward by the people of color caucus in the Oregon legislature. I've asked the leadership of that caucus to come to the city council's I believe it's June 11 work session to present their work and talk about how we could work in Alliance on that.
Tim Becker - Mayor's Communications Director 35:18
Thank you for that. One more question from KOIN TV, and you sort of addressed this earlier, there are growing concerns from health experts here as well as around the country about the use of CS gas, whether you allow the Bureau to continue to use it on protesters.
Mayor Wheeler 35:32
Alright, I think already answered that question. And in one part I should have added is, you know, on one hand, are there viable alternatives? Number two, are there viable alternatives that don't involve a higher use of force in number three, can our officers be safe and use whatever those tactics are safely?
Facilitator 35:51
Okay, any other questions?
KBOO Reporter 35:53
Um, would you temporarily ban it during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Mayor Wheeler 35:59
I think everything should be on the table. There. There are many discussions about use of force underway and on a daily basis, the incident commanders make different decisions based on the circumstances.
KBOO Reporter 36:11
You had said that you are moving some funding. At the same time, you recently also requested an increase in funding to the Portland Police Bureau in this year's budget. Will you change that and call for a decrease in funding and will you decrease that funding down to zero?
Mayor Wheeler 36:29
I most certainly will not decrease the funding of the Police Bureau down to zero. Because at the end of the day, criminal activity still happens in this community. Hundreds of thousands of people call for police assistance throughout the year. And we still need a robust public safety function in this community. If somebody Jacks your car breaks into your home mugs you still expect when you call 911 that the police are going to show up and they're going to conduct an investment And that they will hold people accountable. So I can say safely that zero is the wrong number. With regard to the increase, I want to be very clear, I held the Police Bureau to the same constraint reductions that I held every other Bureau to what is being identified as cost increases include things like the pension. In addition, we have just made a commitment to take resources out of the school resource officer program that'll actually come from vacancies in the police borough and allocate those instead, the community's highest needs around supporting black youth in their educational process. So I'm not sure I in fact, I'm sure I don't agree with the characterization that we are increasing the Police Bureau budget and the proposed budget. Now the adopted budget.
Facilitator 37:59
Thank you. Mayor Wheeler, any questions for Dr. Smith?
Facilitator 38:04
Okay, that will wrap it up for today. I want to let media know out there that we do not right now have any press conferences scheduled for the weekend as far as the daily briefings. Our next one is scheduled for the eighth which is Monday June 8. If there is need, we may have one so be on standby for that, but you'll hear from me thank you
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
- KBOO