Survey indicates that Portland residents support cutting police to balance the city budget

PORTLAND, OR - A survey conducted by the independent research firm DHM Research shows that many residents are willing to make cuts to the police bureau before other services to help cover Portland's $93 million budget shortfall.

According to KATU, the survey asked about 600 Portland residents whether they'd approve or disapprove of making cuts to the four service areas within the general fund. Based off the results, it appears that most people were OK with cutting funds from the police.

District 3 Portland City Councilor Steve Novick said, "One of the more striking findings, I thought, was at one point we asked, 'Would you rather reduce police shifts or reduce parks maintenance?' And frankly, I expected people would say given that choice they would reduce parks maintenance."

He added, "What we saw in the poll is the police function that the most people were most willing to cut is, the police got out on these what are called welfare check calls, where somebody calls and says this guy seems to be in trouble, but it doesn't seem to be a medical emergency."

KATU said to Portland City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney that Chief Bob Day said if there's any cuts, it's going to have to come from personnel. KATU then posed the question: "Say the mayor says we have to make cuts, will you or will you not support that?" The City Council President said, "I haven't heard anybody on Council talk about cutting police officers. We know that there are positions to be filled within our police force.

I think the question is whether we cut some of the overtime shifts [and] cut come of the overtime funding, but I haven't heard a single councilor talk about cutting police officers, cutting jobs within our police force."

Based off the results of the survey, if Portlanders had to put key services on the chopping block, in second place would be housing and homelessness services. In third place, Parks and Recreation. The bureau residents were most opposed to making cuts from is the fire bureau. The survey said that 42 percent of residents approve of spending cuts to police, with the highest level of approval. However, 55 percent disapprove.

There is a vast difference by district. District 2 and 3 (NE and parts of SE Portland) most approve of cuts to police with approvals of 46 percent and 51 percent, respectively. Districts 1 and 4 (east and west, SW Portland) have the least approval rates with 32 percent and 38 percent, respectively.

Cuts to fire services met the highest opposition, with only 17 percent approval and 81 percent disapproval. Residents across all districts consistently disapprove of cuts to fire services. City Councilor Olivia Clark said, "It's really, I think there's really mixed results in that poll. And I think you'll see when you look at the poll, the differences between different parts of the city of Portland."

Portland Police Bureau Chief Bob Day explained what cuts could mean for the department. He said, "It would really just come down to reducing personnel. I mean, at the end of the day, Portland Police Bureau is woefully understaffed for what it needs to serve a city this size, and 10 years ago, our authorized strength was 1,035. Today, as I said, it's 877.

So, you know, prior city councils have tried to find a way to balance the budget on the backs of the police bureau in the past, and it's always in the reduction of officers, including 2021, when there was $27 million removed from the police bureau budget, as well as some 80 odd positions removed from the police bureau budget."

The city's budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year shows that City Council allocated the majority of the general fund to "public safety bureaus." The police bureau and the Fire & Rescue bureau received the largest amount of money. In 2024-2025, the city allocated $295.06 million to PPB compared to $261.68 million in 2023-2024.