Mike Benner: I'm Mike Benner, Portland Police Bureau Communications Manager. I want to thank you all for being here and also thank you for your flexibility — a lot of moving parts today. Obviously, you're aware that DHS Secretary Christy Noem is visiting, and that includes a stopover at the ICE facility where earlier today she met with Chief Day along with other law enforcement partners, to include OSP Superintendent Casey Codding as well as Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrissey O'Donnell. Late this afternoon, the Chief accepted a second meeting with her at the ICE facility alongside Mayor Keith Wilson. You’ll be hearing from his office shortly via email. Obviously, there’s a lot of public interest about her visit and these meetings, and so we wanted to provide a little context for you. With that, I’ll turn it over to Chief Day. Chief Bob Day: Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it. I get asked almost every day why I came out of retirement for this job, and I will tell you this is one of those days where I ask myself the same thing. It has been quite an experience and an opportunity to fulfill this role on behalf of the City of Portland and the Portland Police Bureau — and representing the brave men and women of the Portland Police Bureau who are once again stretched so thin today as we try to manage overall safety and security for all Portlanders. I'm grateful for the opportunity to have met with the Secretary today. I appreciate having lines of communication. The meeting also included several federal law enforcement officers as well. I believe that communication is the first step to resolving our differences — that without communication, we can’t learn ways to move from our protect state to a level of expansion and maybe evolve into a new way of thinking, a new way of believing. So I will always accept those opportunities, regardless of our opinions, backgrounds, or beliefs. I want to thank the Secretary for that time today. We anticipate there may be some more public order events throughout the course of the day. I've been told that we've made one arrest today down near South Waterfront of somebody that was causing a disturbance. I don’t know that it was directly related to the South Waterfront event or if it was separate, but I do know we made one arrest in the area. I also want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the numerous other agencies that are supporting us today. We have a number of outside agencies supporting us from the tri-county area. It’s not only important to thank them, but also to recognize what that represents — a regional response toward public safety that I’m very proud of. We’ve been working on that for the last couple of years, and to have numerous chiefs and sheriffs reach out and say, “Hey, how can we help?” should give great encouragement not just to Portlanders but to the region as a whole as we work together to provide an environment of safety and security. So with that, I’ll try to answer a few questions. Question: Hi, good to see you, Day. I'm just curious about what the tone of that meeting was today. I know it’s been much anticipated, especially since she kind of last minute decided to show up. How did that go? What are the steps moving forward? What was the tone of the meeting? Chief Day: Yeah, I would say that, you know, there are clearly some differences of opinion — if anybody’s been paying attention to the national conversation. I wouldn’t say that we’re all in alignment or agreement on every point, but I can say that we continue to be professionals and strive for a shared value of safety. The Secretary, obviously and understandably, is very concerned for the safety of her employees, her officers, as well as the building itself and the ability for it to function. So we really tried to look for ways and solutions that might allow us to reduce some of the conflict and the dissonance down there in a way that’s primarily for the safety of all. Question: So those conversations — both of you were at the ICE facility. What did she see? Because obviously she didn’t have any videos. What did she see when she was there? Did she address any of that? Chief Day: Uh, no, you’d have to ask her specifically what she saw. I mean, we have the area right now, as we would do traditionally for any dignitary visit, we have the area cordoned off. So, there are people — I’ve been down there a couple times now — there are some people on Macadam and some of the other side streets, but in regards to what she’s actually seen or been made aware of, I’m not sure. Question: Other outlets and conservative influencers mentioned you looked defeated after the meeting. What’s your response to that? Chief Day: I’m 57 years old and I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately. If people want to suggest that I look defeated, then that’s certainly a perception. But the reality is, there’s a great deal of responsibility that comes with this position, and I do not feel defeated. I’m actually encouraged by the continued opportunity we have as a city to step forward and create a different narrative. And I don’t say that lightly, because it’s not easy. It’s not something to throw around. This really needs to be a holistic approach — from the Governor to the Mayor to the County to the Council to our community to the Police Bureau to regional partners. This really is our time to stand together. And to do that, we’re going to have to give a little bit. We’re going to have to give a little bit. This attitude of certainty — this binary conversation — will not move us forward. The only way that’s going to happen is when each of us focuses on that shared value of safety and then looks for ways to find a way to meet in some particular context to make that successful. Question: One quick clarifying thing and then my main question. Mike said that you had an initial meeting with the Secretary with OSP Superintendent and the County Sheriff, but you had or are having a meeting with Mayor Wilson and the Secretary? Chief Day: Mayor Wilson and I just left the Secretary like 15 minutes ago. Question: Okay. And then the main question is — one of the partners in that meeting was Federal Protective Service, and you’ve repeatedly communicated with them, especially since these protests began. You’ve conveyed that the Bureau has been able to handle the incidents happening at the facility. And again, I wasn’t in the building, but people with the Secretary — she’s saying, “I’m going to get you more help,” referring to federal law enforcement there. Where is the dissonance? They feel they need more help, but you feel you’re able to handle it? Chief Day: Yeah. So, I look at it from a more holistic point of view, going all the way back to when we first started having disturbances there. There’s no doubt that, particularly in June, a significant amount of damage was committed against the building and a variety of assaults were committed — and the Portland Police Bureau was engaged, and we made a number of arrests. Over the past few months, there’s been a significant decrease in that violent activity, which we have focused on. To say that there has been no crime would not be accurate — there are always potentials for different types of crime. Ours is focused on violence and vandalism. As I explained to the Secretary today, we’re managing an entire city here. We prioritize to the best of our ability the resources we have to meet those demands. And frankly, we need more. We need more. And not only do we need more police officers, but we need other areas of support to deal with crime. I think the dissonance is that certainly over the last 10 days, the energy level has gone up, the amount of conflicting points of view has increased greatly, and this has created an environment that’s equally, if not more, challenging for us because of the dynamics in the crowd — not just intent against what was originally the conversation of protest, which was immigration. Question: Did you talk to the Secretary at all about the impact that the administration’s statements have made on what’s going on down there? Chief Day: We did mention briefly the importance of our words, conversations, and statements. You know, we’re all adults. We’re responsible for what we say and how we say it. It was not a good use of our time to determine whether or not perceptions are accurate. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time diving into those specifics. We did speak holistically about the need for a change in the environment and behavior down there, and I’m in agreement with that. I appreciate that over the last couple of days, I’ve been speaking regularly with Casey Codding from the State Police, Superintendent Codding, and other law enforcement leaders — trying to think about what that might look like. What could that mean in terms of not only a law enforcement role, but a community and political role as well? Question: Did anything you shared with the Secretary today seem to open her eyes to what’s happening on the ground now versus the rhetorical descriptions going around in Washington? Did she seem to find new perceptions of the city versus what she may have had before landing today? Chief Day: Yeah, I can’t comment on what that may have been perception-wise. This was really an operational focus and operational conversation about safety for her employees and for the role of the Police Bureau, the State, and the region in this area. Question: You mentioned conversations about what change might look like — to bring people together, especially down at the South Waterfront where things have been contentious. What are you looking into to calm people down and get things back on track? Chief Day: Yeah, it really varies. My hope would be that we could have a community-led conversation about how we want to continue to express our First Amendment rights. We have a model for that — for the last several months, we’ve seen demonstrations numbering in the tens of thousands, and we’ve not had nearly the police presence that we’ve had down there. So I’d love to see a community-led conversation around safety and public order. This will also require a renewed commitment by our electeds to set a tone and expectation around that. Then, I would anticipate us continuing to focus on ways to limit the violence and vandalism we’ve seen in the last few days. I think we have to look carefully at how we can create space in that very confined area so that we aren’t seeing those responses. All of that’s on the table. Question: Did both of you talk about any specifics regarding troop deployment? Did she seem interested in that still after visiting and having those conversations? And can you dive more into that cooperation with Tri-County and OSP and their role? Chief Day: Yeah, I did not discuss troop deployments — that’s part of an ongoing litigation matter, so it wasn’t discussed. When I talk about a Tri-County or regional approach, there are a variety of ways that could look. State Police historically have always been a great partner — they were obviously involved in 2020 helping us navigate that — and of course our relationship with Multnomah County agencies. What we’re experiencing today — and I support from outside agencies — is they’re providing additional cars to cover and support Portland Police officers. We have Portland officers assigned to these details, but we still need Portland officers to respond to calls for service, so outside agencies are providing cover for those cars. Ongoing discussions about that as a region are important, especially if we need to continue to put extra resources in that area. Remember, there’s a lot going on in the city today — it’s a unique day with the anniversary in Israel as well — we’ve had two or three other public order events occurring along with the visit. Today is sort of top of the thermometer as far as resource intensity. My hope is that after the Secretary’s visit is over, we’ll have a roadmap and ability — knowing her expectations, the Mayor’s, and the Governor’s — to have a conversation with the Superintendent and put some plans in action. Question: Chief, logistical question — you talked about the Secretary’s visit and the area in South Waterfront still cordoned off to vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Is the Secretary expected to return tonight? How long do you expect the Bureau to keep that area closed? Chief Day: All of that’s operational, so I can’t comment on it. I’m not aware of the Secretary’s intent in that regard, but she can change that at a moment’s notice. In regard to the area, I know we’ll have it secured for the next several hours, and at some point we’ll evaluate again based on activity level, resource availability, etc. Question: Chief, the Portland Police Bureau has been historically kind of hands-off on its approach when it comes to policing specifically around the ICE facility. What part of PPB’s involvement in the South Waterfront will change now after your meeting with the Secretary? Chief Day: Yeah, well, I’d like to correct that — I don’t believe we’ve been hands-off necessarily. We’ve made almost 40 arrests since June. So, we have been present and engaged. I would anticipate continued outreach as we’ve been doing. I’d like to see the potential of increased police presence. We’ve been trying to coordinate that with the federal response because we have differing policies and expectations around procedures. So we have to work more closely with them, and I have had those conversations as a result of today. We also have to look at the space itself — the uniqueness of that location — and really prioritize safety first. From there, we’ll look at all the other components: free speech, ingress and egress from the facility, traffic patterns, or whatever it might be. We’re going to be driven by a key desire and value — that we have a responsibility to provide safety for everyone in South Waterfront. Mike Benner: Thanks, Chief. Thank you very much. I just want to wrap by saying — there have been some questions we’ve gotten about the motorcade support. What we’ve done today and what we’ll do through the duration of her stay is provide support consistent with any dignitary visiting our city. In no way, shape, or form has PPB been involved in any of her transportation through immigration enforcement, which is circulating on social media — that she is engaged in some of that — and PPB was not involved. That’s important for everyone to know. Thank you.