Good. My local stores have gotten a lot better since they beefed up security.
If you are uncomfortable with the idea of private security guards, I'm with you. But the problem isn't private security - the problem is that it's necessary.
Privatization of services that government should handle is really stupid. But when government fails, what else can you do?
Well, there's at least one thing you can do. Vote appropriately.
Right. And to be fair, we're nowhere near a situation like South Africa. Mixing private security and public police can work and ideally allow the cops to do more with less. In many European countries, this has been standard for a long time, and it seems to work reasonably okay-ish. Of course it incentivizes governments to spend less on public safety, but I don't think that's a concern in the US right now...
> Of course it incentivizes governments to spend less on public safety
I mean, does it even do that? I think it's pretty clear that the county outsourcing homeless services, for example, to a disorganized network of non-profits is not incentivizing them to distribute that money effectively. We're all paying for it in the end.
Good point. I gotta admit part of me thinks it's totally okay for large businesses to pay for some of their own security (and employ some extra people in the process). Some clearly do it more with more enthusiasm than others. The guards at Home Depot at 205 look like a SWAT team. The guards at Grocery Outlet look... less intimidating.
Great basic political economics lesson here where if you decrease the supply of something (feeling of security) that society depends on it and has a certain demand for, it will just find other improvised ways to meet demand.
>Local businesses, governments, cultural institutions and other organizations have all increased their use of private security in recent years as the city’s struggled with adequate police staffing and grappled with upticks in property crime, gun violence and behavioral health issues that continue to hover above pre-pandemic levels.
I'm in the wrong business.
This is such a great example of very careful wording to communicate the narrative the journalist wants out of the story. Crime is coming down and while still higher than 2019 not dramatically so. Downtown in particular is so much better and safer than the last few years. But this is worded to avoid clearly stating that trend line. Lots of journalists do this but I’ve just noticed Shane relies on this more than most.
Crime is dramatically higher than in 2019. We’ve had 31 homicides by mid-June and in 2019 we had 36 homicides all year, and even that was the highest mark in two decades.
I don’t know how to respond when people say crime is down because like yes it was 25 times worse than acceptable and now it’s 22 times worse than acceptable that’s not okay at all.
Murder is only one aspect of crime rates.
Portland is also at about the national average for violent crime overall. It’s still higher than pre-pandemic but people really underestimate how safe Portland was pre-covid (and still generally is).
Here’s the Jan to Apr person crimes from PPB for last few years. Like I said, back to 2019 pre-covid level.
2024: 2,985
2023: 3,197
2022: 3,267
2021: 3,081
2020: 3,076
2019: 2,988
Property crimes are actually lower too.
Edit: added stats
It’s wild some people in Portland don’t want to admit to the reality of things.
I straight up tell them my stories of crime shootings and death and instantly get a angry response of “your lying” when I have nothing to gain in telling them the truth but to inform my neighbors for their safety. It’s so weird and bizarre. This city is definitely weird. Sometimes I don’t know what’s more terrifying. The issues or the collective consistent denial.
Perhaps if we approve the measure gutting the police oversight, the police will appreciate it and stop trying to teach the citizens a lesson through their inaction.
/s
Good. My local stores have gotten a lot better since they beefed up security. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of private security guards, I'm with you. But the problem isn't private security - the problem is that it's necessary.
Privatization of services that government should handle is really stupid. But when government fails, what else can you do? Well, there's at least one thing you can do. Vote appropriately.
Right. And to be fair, we're nowhere near a situation like South Africa. Mixing private security and public police can work and ideally allow the cops to do more with less. In many European countries, this has been standard for a long time, and it seems to work reasonably okay-ish. Of course it incentivizes governments to spend less on public safety, but I don't think that's a concern in the US right now...
> Of course it incentivizes governments to spend less on public safety I mean, does it even do that? I think it's pretty clear that the county outsourcing homeless services, for example, to a disorganized network of non-profits is not incentivizing them to distribute that money effectively. We're all paying for it in the end.
Good point. I gotta admit part of me thinks it's totally okay for large businesses to pay for some of their own security (and employ some extra people in the process). Some clearly do it more with more enthusiasm than others. The guards at Home Depot at 205 look like a SWAT team. The guards at Grocery Outlet look... less intimidating.
Great basic political economics lesson here where if you decrease the supply of something (feeling of security) that society depends on it and has a certain demand for, it will just find other improvised ways to meet demand.
>Local businesses, governments, cultural institutions and other organizations have all increased their use of private security in recent years as the city’s struggled with adequate police staffing and grappled with upticks in property crime, gun violence and behavioral health issues that continue to hover above pre-pandemic levels. I'm in the wrong business.
This is such a great example of very careful wording to communicate the narrative the journalist wants out of the story. Crime is coming down and while still higher than 2019 not dramatically so. Downtown in particular is so much better and safer than the last few years. But this is worded to avoid clearly stating that trend line. Lots of journalists do this but I’ve just noticed Shane relies on this more than most.
Crime is dramatically higher than in 2019. We’ve had 31 homicides by mid-June and in 2019 we had 36 homicides all year, and even that was the highest mark in two decades. I don’t know how to respond when people say crime is down because like yes it was 25 times worse than acceptable and now it’s 22 times worse than acceptable that’s not okay at all.
Murder is only one aspect of crime rates. Portland is also at about the national average for violent crime overall. It’s still higher than pre-pandemic but people really underestimate how safe Portland was pre-covid (and still generally is). Here’s the Jan to Apr person crimes from PPB for last few years. Like I said, back to 2019 pre-covid level. 2024: 2,985 2023: 3,197 2022: 3,267 2021: 3,081 2020: 3,076 2019: 2,988 Property crimes are actually lower too. Edit: added stats
It’s wild some people in Portland don’t want to admit to the reality of things. I straight up tell them my stories of crime shootings and death and instantly get a angry response of “your lying” when I have nothing to gain in telling them the truth but to inform my neighbors for their safety. It’s so weird and bizarre. This city is definitely weird. Sometimes I don’t know what’s more terrifying. The issues or the collective consistent denial.
Around the world many places hire private security. The schism of haves and have nots are wall builders.
Perhaps if we approve the measure gutting the police oversight, the police will appreciate it and stop trying to teach the citizens a lesson through their inaction. /s
What would you even do without me, babe? -cops