Sgt. Aaron Schmautz is the President of the Portland Police Association (“PPA”), which represents the police officers, sergeants, detectives, criminalists, and PS3s who work for the Portland Police Bureau. The PPA also represents the 911 dispatchers and supervisors who work for the Bureau of Emergency Communication. They are the oldest continuous police union in the United States.

Aaron talks about:

• How the Portland police fared in the City of Portland budget
• The fact that the Portland police continues to be near the very bottom of police staffing per capita in the United States
• Arguments from some of the Portland City Councilors regarding whether the Portland police are overfunded, are not using their allocated funds, or have too many vacancies
• Arguments from some of the Portland City Councilors about whether the Portland police are funded at a rate higher than they were during the Portland police defunding of 2020.
• The uniquely difficult nature of police staffing for protests in Portland, Oregon, which could turn violent at any moment, based on historical data
• The fact that Portland spends more than other cities, including bigger cities, but those cities still manage to fund their police departments
• The ongoing activity occurring at the ICE facility in Portland
• Whether the Portland police are appropriately trained
• The various ways Portland police are held accountable and police accountability systems currently in existence

And more!

Thanks to Andy Chandler from the podcast NW Fresh for co-hosting.

Thanks to Thad Fisco for the studio space and Portland Water for the refreshments.

Betsy Johnson ran for governor of Oregon as an unaffiliated candidate in the 2022 election cycle. She also served in the Oregon Legislature as a Democratic House Representative and later in the Oregon Senate. Betsy met Alan Evans when he came to the Oregon Legislature to talk about homelessness after he started an addiction recovery program called Thugs off Drugs. Alan was homeless for over 25 years and is now in recovery from substance use. He founded the Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers, which includes Bybee Lakes Hope Center in Portland, Oregon. Betsy and Alan talk about homelessness and addiction solutions that have proven effective in Oregon and why those programs have problems getting funding from local government, the story about how they met, and more.

https://helpinghandsreentry.org/about-us

Betsy Johnson ran for governor of Oregon as an unaffiliated candidate in the 2022 election cycle. She also served in the Oregon Legislature as a Democratic House Representative and later in the Oregon Senate. Betsy met Alan Evans when he came to the Oregon Legislature to talk about homelessness after he started an addiction recovery program called Thugs off Drugs. Alan was homeless for over 25 years and is now in recovery from substance use. He founded the Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers, which includes Bybee Lakes Hope Center in Portland, Oregon. Betsy and Alan talk about homelessness and addiction solutions that have proven effective in Oregon and why those programs have problems getting funding from local government, the story about how they met, and more.

• https://helpinghandsreentry.org/about-us