Page 4
October 20, 2021
A Grim Toll of Shootings, Deaths
Continued from Front
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of Self Enhancement Inc, anoth-
er school serving African Amer-
icans, told the Portland Observer
that more police are needed, but
also said the effects of Covid-19
have made it harder to reach the
youth who are impacted.
“The challenge has always
been access to the kids, and
those kids having legitimate op-
tions and opportunities to be in-
volved in positive alternatives,”
he said, pointing to the pandemic
restrictions that have prevented a
lot of that.
“There has been a lack of op-
portunities, in part because they
have not had access to programs
because of Covid,” he said.
“We’re still out there providing
services, but not at the same per-
sonal contact level. You don’t
build relationships with kids
through Zoom, especially Black
kids.”
That’s been one of the major
challenges this year, he said, and
the lack of personal contact with
kids and families has helped pro-
liferate gun violence.
“We need more opportunities,
more personal contact,” he said.
Hopson agrees with Mayor
Ted Wheeler that more police of-
ficers are needed, but says they
need to be already involved in the
community.
“I’m in favor of adding more
police to the force and specif-
ically police officers who can
work with this particular issue
— having officer who know the
kids and who the kids know and
respect makes a difference,” he
said. “There’s a preventative
side as well as a police side and
those two things need to work
together.”
Multnomah County District
Attorney Mike Schmidt told
KATU in September that address-
ing gun violence is his number
one priority, despite his larger
goal of reforming the criminal
justice system.
Schmidt said arrests and pros-
ecutions are needed now to stem
the tide of shootings in Portland.
In the long run, the prosecu-
tor wants to craft more long term
solutions.
Portland
Police
Officer
Charles Asheim, a member of the
bureau’s Enhanced Community
Safety Team that investigates in-
jury shootings, has estimated that
at least 60 percent of shootings
are connected, acts of retaliation
among different gangs.
City Commissioner Jo Ann
Hardesty, a lifelong advocate
for police reforms, has called for
much more reliance on crisis in-
tervention specialists responding
to non-violence 911 calls, instead
of police with guns, which she
said can exacerbate a touchy sit-
uation.
Hardesty is calling for an ad-
ditional $1 million to Portland
Street Response, which was just
recognized last month as an ef-
fective program by Portland State
University’s Homeless Research
and Action Collaborative.
“With Portland Street Re-
sponse, we’re opening new ave-
nues of care for people who have
low or no access to health care,”
Hardesty stated. “And each re-
sponse that provides vulnerable
people with compassionate care
at the moment they need it most
builds a better first response sys-
tem for all Portlanders.”
Hardesty also wants to see
fewer guns on the streets and ad-
vocates for a gun buy-back pro-
gram, strict requirements regard-
ing gun storage, a community
mediation program and a new tip
hotline.
“The reality is we should have
been investing more in this work
a long time ago to have helped
prevent what we are seeing to-
day,” she stated in response to
questions from the Oregonian
and published on the city’s web-
site.
“It’s hard to catch up in a cri-
sis,” she said.