I believe Portland emergency response protocol is to send the police to such calls where weapons or threats are involved. If it were merely a mental health breakdown without danger to others, Portland Street Response would likely get the call. The first responder on the scene makes the decision as to whether force or supportive service is needed, and that decision has a cascading effect. PSR was apparently not called out on this one, so citizens filled their lane.
Actually, I'm pretty sure the two times I called them, the mentally ill people ended up at Unity. I can't swear to that, but they could not have been safely deposited at any other location and the PSR people seemed pretty competent to me(I waited around to observe).
Well they couldn’t transport people until a few weeks ago. From what I’ve seen they pass out granola bars and cigarettes to get people to move on—they can’t do mental health holds like Project Respond. So they’re not a lot of help. Until Gonzalez they also passed out tents & tarps (Multnomah County still does of course). A joint PPB/MHP team
Good to know. I'm sure the last guy I called them on had to have been taken somewhere because his stuff was neatly set aside and he was gone when I came back to check. The homeless rarely abandon their shopping carts full of junk, in my "lived experience".
Yes, we can thank Rene for finally standing up to Jessica and her Homeless Industrial Complex sycophants. If he were Mayor now, we would at least have some rational counterpoint to the blather that comes out of the new City Council. Thanks for filling out my knowledge of PSR.
They are in the process of implementing a new labor agreement thanks to the public safety unions coopération, in which they will be able to transport. But solely to shelters and other supportive facilities. No hospital transport, which obviously includes Unity. And still no hold.
Personally, I don’t care, if people there thought he was safe. My kids are often up there around that time. People with mental illness and /or drug use are unpredictable as our family knows very well to our loss. He should be offered services but he should not be allowed to wander the streets terrorizing the rest of us.
Absolutely, the Police were there to make sure he didn’t injure anyone. People who are upset about it don’t have a realistic understanding of human frailty and penchant for violence.
I take from this incident that we need to change civil commitment laws. Look up HB 2467. It's currently under consideration by the Oregon Legislature. Even Scott Kerman from Blanchet House supports it.
If Scott Kerman supports it, it’s probably watered down to such a degree it won’t help much. Kerman is a big enabler of cruelty in Portland. But hey maybe it can be a baby step in the right direction.
This person should have been disarmed by the police, arrested for creating a public disturbance, jailed, punished for his crime, and then sent for mandatory treatment to a general hospital psychiatric unit for a maximum period of six weeks. HB2467 is not a good foundation for civil commitment. A better plan is one I have devised which is the Portland Oregon Civil Commitment Plan. It just needs a lawyer to write it up into bill for consideration by the legislature. The person in question has a severe mental illness and was demonstrably unsafe to others by any reasonable interpretation of what happened.
It's really interesting to read the "public interviews". As a neighbor with full front seats to the event, nobody asked our opinion. But they asked a woman who arrived mid-action and who is not a resident. Journalism in Portland is an absolute joke. One of the big news outfits had their silly reporter stand in the bus shed that was shattered several days ago, alledging that the less lethal shot did this. Just BS, all day, every day.
So a man with arrestable warrants then assaults police with pepper spray, resulting in an armed standoff, which ends with the police retreating. This is why I'm amazed Portland still has police officers willing to work there.
I believe Portland emergency response protocol is to send the police to such calls where weapons or threats are involved. If it were merely a mental health breakdown without danger to others, Portland Street Response would likely get the call. The first responder on the scene makes the decision as to whether force or supportive service is needed, and that decision has a cascading effect. PSR was apparently not called out on this one, so citizens filled their lane.
PSR simply enables this type of behavior…at best they just move violent troubled individuals from one neighborhood to another.
Actually, I'm pretty sure the two times I called them, the mentally ill people ended up at Unity. I can't swear to that, but they could not have been safely deposited at any other location and the PSR people seemed pretty competent to me(I waited around to observe).
Well they couldn’t transport people until a few weeks ago. From what I’ve seen they pass out granola bars and cigarettes to get people to move on—they can’t do mental health holds like Project Respond. So they’re not a lot of help. Until Gonzalez they also passed out tents & tarps (Multnomah County still does of course). A joint PPB/MHP team
would be a lot more effective.
https://www.portland.gov/police/divisions/behavioral-health-unit
Good to know. I'm sure the last guy I called them on had to have been taken somewhere because his stuff was neatly set aside and he was gone when I came back to check. The homeless rarely abandon their shopping carts full of junk, in my "lived experience".
Yes, we can thank Rene for finally standing up to Jessica and her Homeless Industrial Complex sycophants. If he were Mayor now, we would at least have some rational counterpoint to the blather that comes out of the new City Council. Thanks for filling out my knowledge of PSR.
They are in the process of implementing a new labor agreement thanks to the public safety unions coopération, in which they will be able to transport. But solely to shelters and other supportive facilities. No hospital transport, which obviously includes Unity. And still no hold.
Yeah the entire PSR should be transferred to Project Respond and PPB. They’re just expensive granola bar distributors currently.
Personally, I don’t care, if people there thought he was safe. My kids are often up there around that time. People with mental illness and /or drug use are unpredictable as our family knows very well to our loss. He should be offered services but he should not be allowed to wander the streets terrorizing the rest of us.
Absolutely, the Police were there to make sure he didn’t injure anyone. People who are upset about it don’t have a realistic understanding of human frailty and penchant for violence.
I take from this incident that we need to change civil commitment laws. Look up HB 2467. It's currently under consideration by the Oregon Legislature. Even Scott Kerman from Blanchet House supports it.
The only party that seems to be against it is Disability Rights Oregon, Megan Moyer’s old outfit.
Here’s hoping it passes.
If Scott Kerman supports it, it’s probably watered down to such a degree it won’t help much. Kerman is a big enabler of cruelty in Portland. But hey maybe it can be a baby step in the right direction.
Read the bill. It's better than what we have now.
https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2467/A-Engrossed
Sure but not as good as it should be. Look at the “repeal” of Measure 110…..how is the whole deflection program working for us in Multnomah County?
This person should have been disarmed by the police, arrested for creating a public disturbance, jailed, punished for his crime, and then sent for mandatory treatment to a general hospital psychiatric unit for a maximum period of six weeks. HB2467 is not a good foundation for civil commitment. A better plan is one I have devised which is the Portland Oregon Civil Commitment Plan. It just needs a lawyer to write it up into bill for consideration by the legislature. The person in question has a severe mental illness and was demonstrably unsafe to others by any reasonable interpretation of what happened.
Hi Thomas,
Could you explain why you think HB 2467 is not a good foundation for civil commitment?
That visitor from Seattle sounds like she's got a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome.
A shirtless guy having a manic episode with a knife in his waistband is a threat. Full stop.
It's really interesting to read the "public interviews". As a neighbor with full front seats to the event, nobody asked our opinion. But they asked a woman who arrived mid-action and who is not a resident. Journalism in Portland is an absolute joke. One of the big news outfits had their silly reporter stand in the bus shed that was shattered several days ago, alledging that the less lethal shot did this. Just BS, all day, every day.
So a man with arrestable warrants then assaults police with pepper spray, resulting in an armed standoff, which ends with the police retreating. This is why I'm amazed Portland still has police officers willing to work there.