The entire Portland police crowd control team resigned the day after a jury indicted an officer for allegedly using unlawful force on a rioter during the nightly riots that went on for over 100 days in the city last year.
“The Portland Police Bureau said that members of its Rapid Response Team (RRT) resigned as a group on Wednesday,” NBC News reported. “Approximately 50 officers, detectives, and sergeants make up the team, Acting Police Chief Chris Davis said Thursday at a press briefing.”
The Portland Police Bureau released a statement on Thursday addressing the mass resignations.
“On June 16, 2021, Portland Police Bureau employees serving as members of the Rapid Response Team (RRT) left their voluntary positions and no longer comprise a team,” the statement said. “Its members were sworn employees of the Portland Police who served on RRT in addition to their daily assignment in the Bureau. Despite no longer serving on RRT, they will continue in their regular assignments.”
The statement added, “The Rapid Response Team is an all-hazard incident response team that has received advanced specialized training to respond to incidents requiring higher levels of technical expertise including public order policing, natural or man-made disasters.”
The resignations follow a pattern seen across the country in response to the hostility towards police and the nationwide rioting that began after the death of George Floyd on May 25th, 2020, causing $2 billion in damages and the deaths of 19 people within two weeks. According to the New York Post. over 5300 New York Police officers retired or quit their job in 2020, an increase of 75% compared to 2019.
“More than 5,300 NYPD uniformed officers retired or put in their papers to leave in 2020 — a 75 percent spike from the year before, department data show,” the New York Post reported. “The exodus — amid the pandemic, anti-cop hostility, riots and a skyrocketing number of NYC shootings — saw 2,600 officers say goodbye to the job and another 2,746 file for retirement, a combined 5,346.”
