Will things change there? Color me skeptical, as the Progressive mindset is so strong there. This sounds like politicians trying to cover their behinds. One thing that never seems to happen there is the progressive politicians responsible for the policies that have allowed crime to flourish won't admit it was their decisions that have been the cause.

Quote:Portland authorities are set to launch a renewed effort to crack down on the blue-run city's out of control crime wave.

Two new task forces intended to specifically tackle car and retail theft are being prepared by Multnomah County DA Mike Schmidt and Democrat Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, who have previously been slammed for the city's crime epidemic.

Portland has one of the worst crime rates in America, with over 63,000 property thefts littering the city over the last year, per official police statistics.

Schmidt entered office in 2020 as a non-partisan candidate after running on an uber-progressive platform of opposing minimum sentences, avoiding charging juveniles as adults, and using specialty courts as alternatives to prison sentences. Ahead of his re-election bid in 2024, he is seemingly attempting to shake his soft-on-crime image.

In 2020, Portland became one of the first regions in America to fall foul of the 'defund the police' movement, slashing $15 million from its budget.

The move led Mayor Wheeler to issue a desperate plea to renew the department's funding after it led to a disastrous crime spike.

But two years on, with rampant crime continuing to rip apart the city including a surge in homelessness and serious offences including homicides and robberies, officials are again attempting to stop the bleeding.

The twin task forces are expected to be bolstered by the introduction of new deputy DAs and investigators, who are reportedly tasked with building and prosecuting cases, according to Oregon Live.

However, Portland residents have slammed officials for their lack of effort to prosecute criminals in recent years.

Quote:Despite announcing the push to halt Portland's rampant crimewave, residents have raised questions over the ability of city officials to turn the crisis around.

Dan Lavey, co-founder of political action organization People for Portland, told Oregon Live: 'Portland politicians are very good at making announcements and very bad at getting things done.'

'People want to feel safe, and they want to see prosecutions for property crimes.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...-city.html

To paraphrase Perot, that giant sucking sound is that of businesses fleeing to safer communities.....

"spoil the pet, never the child" ... after decades of bs pussification, they're fk'd...

Portland and Seattle are among the top of the list of cities that basically shrug off crime and cater to the criminals over their own citizens. Others well on the way to that "criminal utopia" include SFO, LAX, NYC, ORD, PHI, ATL, DET, MSP, and BWI.