I'd like to believe we're here to talk about, uh, the great work the Police Bureau's done recently. For example, the fantastic burglary ring we closed out yesterday, got several indictments on. Um, I'd like to be here to talk about the fact that we've had two of our—uh, four of our officers in the last two weeks—uh, endure deadly force incidents, and I'm so grateful for their safety and for their well-being. Um, I'd like to be here to talk about how proud I am and appreciative of the members of the Portland Police Bureau, both our professional staff and our sworn staff, who every day rise to the occasion to serve Portlanders at a level that is really exceptional. And I would put this Police Department up against any department in the country. I recognize that's not the case. I recognize that we are here to talk about a very small portion of the city of Portland that's receiving a higher degree of attention, and that's not lost on me. And last night we did make a series of arrests down there, uh, where we took, uh, people into custody who were engaging in disorderly conduct. We've referred those cases to the District Attorney's Office for review and evaluation. I want to be clear, and we have been clear since the beginning of the year, that we will not tolerate violence or vandalism. We've made over two dozen arrests down there in the last several months. We have invested hundreds of man-hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars in an attempt to provide a safe environment for all members of South Waterfront, and we will continue to do so. At the same time, we have a very under-resourced Police Bureau that is attempting to manage the needs and the expectations of the entire city of all of Portlanders. And so, have there been opportunities or times where maybe we were delayed in our response or not able to engage in the way that we would want to and provide that level of service? Certainly. But that argument could be made across the city. That's why I'm constantly reminding us about the importance of a well, fully funded, fully staffed Police Department. And finally, there is no political bias associated with our enforcement. Last night, the arrests that we made, we made based upon probable cause, not based upon individuals. The actions we've taken this week, although it has involved some high-profile folks, I've learned some names and learned some things about social media that I wasn't fully aware of. And the reality is, I know that those voices have impact. It is not lost on me the context in which we are working in and attempting to negotiate. But Portland Police Bureau is committed to the rule of law, which is applicable to all of us regardless of our political affiliation, our gender, our age, our race, our economic status, or our political leaning. It doesn't matter. And that's what we are going to stay adhered to. And we've done that since my tenure. We've done that in the 29 and a half years I served beforehand. And we're going to continue to do that. Thanks. I'll take questions. Reporter: What do you make of the Department of Justice saying they're going to launch an investigation into the Portland Police Bureau following the arrest of a conservative online influencer? Chief Day: Well, I would say that the Department of Justice has been investigating the Portland Police Bureau since 2012. And I would say that the actions and steps that we are taking now in the enforcement action around protest activity is actually designed and supported and created by their partnership with the Department of Justice under the settlement agreement. I would say that in 2020 under the original administration, we were harshly criticized for the way in which we responded. And so, five years later, as a learning organization taking their input and their response, we have changed our response. So I have always been very transparent and welcoming of critique and evaluation of the Police Bureau. This direction, um, that they are, uh, giving us, we will certainly comply with, and we will provide the necessary information. I welcome the scrutiny. I am proud of the men and women and the work we're doing. I mean, this is actually an opportunity for Portland Police and the City of Portland to highlight the exceptional professionalism that I see every day. Reporter: When we're talking about that online influencer, can you go into detail about what he's accused of and what he was arrested for? Chief Day: All I'm aware of is he was charged with disorderly conduct. I have not read the report, so I'm not familiar with the details of that, but disorderly conduct is typically associated with some kind of disturbance. Uh, my understanding is officers became aware of a disturbance in the crowd and then they went in and addressed that. And that's the approach we've been taking all along. And the reality is what's unique—and this is a learning thing for me, is a learning thing for us as an organization—is the high degree of visibility around the, um, activity in the South Waterfront has brought in a variety of points of view. I mean, the amount of dissidence that's being expressed down there not even directed at immigration or at the facility, but the amount of dissonance being expressed towards one another is at a fevered pitch. And that's where we need to start bringing the temperature down, because we are seeing all of these different perspectives and all of these different opinions gather in this small one-block area and then unable to manage that in an appropriate way. And so we have these acts of violence. We have these fights. We have these assaults. They are occurring. We are doing investigations. We are making arrests. And we are sending those over to the District Attorney's Office for evaluation and hopeful prosecution. And we're going to continue to do that. Reporter: Chief, the notice from the Department of Justice is, um, you know, towards you and, uh, City Attorney Robert Taylor. Have either of you received notice? Have you talked with, uh, City Attorney Robert Taylor about it? Chief Day: Yeah, we've received notice, but that's the extent of it. Um, we haven't had any other discussion about that, but we have received notice, yes. Reporter: You mentioned bringing down the temperature. So after seeing clashes between protesters and counterprotesters the last couple of nights, does PPB plan on changing their approach from the reactive targeted arrests that we've seen the last few days to more of a proactive approach to keep these two groups separate? Chief Day: Yeah, so historically I have stayed away from commenting on operational strategies for a variety of reasons. One is safety of our members, as well as, you know, it is an ever-evolving situation. So it's difficult to, you know, predict or promise. But our dialogue officers have had a lot of success over the last few weeks and really over the last several months developing relationships, stepping into this space. Even earlier this week, when there was high degrees of tension, our dialogue officers were instrumental in getting a vehicle out that had driven into the crowd, etc. So we're going to remain on track with that. We are definitely, um, staffing in a way where we believe we can handle and manage the events down there and make arrests. If it requires a shift, I will be relying upon my incident management team to give me recommendations about what that might look like in terms of visibility, in terms of segregation of the groups. There's always challenges that go with that. And then finally, I've been in touch with all of our regional law enforcement partners. I have tremendous support and confidence that, you know, if need be, we can call upon them. Um, the governor has been very supportive with the state police, and I'm in regular contact with the mayor. So, we have, um, a system in place and a process in place to deal with these challenges. The difficulty is they're not simple. They're very complex. And, you know, we have tried to boil this down to, you know, a he said, she said or a very binary conversation. That's not what this is. This is a very complex environment in a very tightly confined space. So, it's very challenging to police in the traditional way. And I love the Police Bureau because I know we've got innovative, creative leaders and officers that will always be looking for suggestions about how to improve that. Reporter (Shelby): There have been a lot of comments on both sides since last night. Is there anything that your team has seen, or that you've even seen yourself, that you feel the need to clarify or say, "Well, that's just not true"? Chief Day: Um, personally I have not seen a lot of comments because it may not come as a surprise to many of you, but I'm not glued to that. I did watch football last night and I didn't see a lot on there. Um, but I have heard many comments, and, um, the part that probably brings me the greatest deal of frustration or sadness—whatever that emotion would be—is the, um, accusation that our Portland police officers are making decisions based upon a political affiliation. You know, the irony here is we were condemned in 2020 for our approach towards the left, and now we're being condemned in 2025 for our approach to the right. So, I would say we've landed right in the middle of the fairway. And this is the nature of the rule of law. This is the appropriate application of the rule of law—that it is equitable across the board. It is also not lost on me that we have a lot of Portlanders who, for a lot of years, have suggested that we have been, uh, overzealous or targeting them or discriminatory in our approach to them, usually based upon housing status or race or whatever it might be. So this is not unfamiliar territory for me, or unfamiliar territory for the police. And I have stepped into those spaces boldly and welcoming to hear those voices, and I'm willing to do that now with others. Um, but I'm actually somewhat, uh, confident that we are actually doing the job that needs to be done—and that's asked of policing in our society today—because we are being consistent and transparent with the application of the rule of law. Reporter (Joey): On top of what the DOJ is saying, the White House press secretary told reporters this morning that this incident in particular is a troubling trend in Portland where left-wing mobs get to decide who can visit and live in their city. What's your response? Chief Day: Yeah. Well, that's just inaccurate. I mean, there's really not much of a response to give to that. I mean, look outside today. I've been all over the city. It's not left-wing mobs. This isn't—you know, I'm standing up here. I'm not standing up here with a governor or the mayor or anyone else. I'm standing up here as the Chief of Police of a major American city telling you that we are doing the job that's expected of us as it applies to the application of the law. And that's what we're doing. The purpose of, uh, policing in America is to provide support and service to communities to allow for a level of predictability. None of us want to feel unsafe. What is universal for all Americans is the desire to feel safe. This is biological. It's natural. It's human nature. And when we don't feel safe, when it feels uncertain, when it feels unpredictable, we withdraw. We pull back. And then we don't engage in the social contract. And we don't establish relationships. And we don't learn from one another. And we have created such an attitude of certainty and lost the art of curiosity that we are struggling to find a way to affirm that safety and vulnerability for all of us. And that, to me, is the crux of the issue. I absolutely, um, welcome the opportunity to address crime and public safety in Portland. And some of that has to be done through enforcement. Some of that has to be done through arrest. But that is really not going to fix it. There's a difference between crime suppression and problem-solving. And we can suppress crime, and we can be that, and we can be overt, and we can be, uh, intentional, and we can suppress crime. But let's really, while we're working to reduce crime, look at those systemic issues that feed it as well. Reporter (Claire): Will Portland Police release body camera video of the arrest last night, including the arrest of— Chief Day: Yeah, I would like to be able to release that. There's a process around redaction and, you know, faces and names and so forth, but I'm very open to releasing footage. I can't give you a time frame on that, but we will be trying to, uh, to make that happen. Reporter (Z): Chief, like you said, the temperature is really up in the area. There's been developments happening day after day. You know, Assistant Chief Dobson said in court about specifically what you touched on—that the more that officers are down there, it pulls resources away from other parts of the city. How—what are you thinking about how long officers are going to be out there, whether that's DLOs, FIT, squad, RT? Like, that can't—I imagine that can't be, you know, a long term— Chief Day: Yeah, we have to remember the human element in this, right? I mean, this—we are all struggling to find our way here, you know, regardless of individuals' roles and responsibilities. And I'm highly sensitive to the ask that I'm already placing upon a very stretched Police Department just in terms of meeting the basic day-to-day functions. As I mentioned earlier, we made some great burglary arrests this week. We've made some great arrests in major crimes. We're, you know, doing good work all across the board. And now we are pulling those members to do extra work and focus on a specific part of the city, which we do at other times and other places. So, that's not unusual. But sustainability is a concern of mine, and I want to be sensitive to the demands we're asking of the officers. I want to be sensitive to the fiscal responsibility. This has a cost associated with it. And I also want to be sensitive to the impact on the people of South Waterfront. I would never, um, want to convey to anyone in that part of Portland that it doesn't matter, or it's not important, or there hasn't been discomfort or disruption or loss. I'm sensitive to that. I also know that as I look across the city, there's a lot of places where that's occurring. And it breaks my heart that we can't meet all the demands that are asked of us, but know that we are committed to doing the best that we can. And we will take all that into consideration as we manage this incident. Reporter (Joey): A lot of people are pointing to what happened here in 2020 as they're critical of what's going on right now outside the ICE facility. You said that you welcome the scrutiny and you've changed in the five years since then, particularly in your response to the situation. So what—I guess—talk about those changes that you've made as you deal with what's happening right now. Chief Day: Yeah. So we have, you know, first of all, we brought in a lot of outside resources to do an independent critique of us, and that came back with numerous recommendations of which we've applied. Second of all, we did work with the Department of Justice around our use of force policy and our crowd response and so forth. So we've been in regular communication with them. The creation of our Dialogue Liaison Officer program—really proud of those men and women. The work they do taking on this additional responsibility. They weren't told to do it. They asked to do it. They lean into it with all their heart and soul and have received additional training. We identify them differently with their white shirts and just super appreciate that. We have more of a stair-step approach to enforcement. We use our bicycle officers more. They're highly visible in their yellow uniforms. So we may be visible, but less of a, uh, perceived confrontational standpoint. Oftentimes in police work, we talk about visibility, and visibility means a lot of different things to different people. For us, being visible in a uniform is something that I've done for over three decades, so I'm used to it. But for other people, seeing a uniform can maybe sometimes be offsetting. So we understand the impact of visibility. But we try to be visible, try and be present, try to offer warnings. You know, then we make announcements if we are going to move on people or if we are going to have to, um, direct folks. We make announcements, try and be clear in our communication, and then we make those targeted arrests. I think that's really key—to know that when we move in, we're moving in to make a specific arrest. We're not looking to disrupt the whole thing. We want people to be able to express their First Amendment rights. We want people to be able to get their message out. So instead of looking at the whole crowd as a simple one, you know, organism, we are looking at the individual problem people. And then finally, we do have the capability on a larger scale with more hard gear—the more traditional protest tactical response. We still have that available to us. Fortunately, we have not had to use that, um, to a great extent. But I will always make sure our officers are 100% protected and safe in the job they do. And sometimes that gear is required. We haven't seen the level of violence down there yet to reach that. But, you know, that is a final piece, and that's kind of the more traditional approach that people maybe have remembered or looked at in the past. Moderator: Well, I'll do a couple more questions out of respect for Chief's time. Troy, did you have anything? I know you haven't asked one yet. Reporter (Troy): No, I'm all right. Thanks. Moderator: All right. Uh, we'll go—wow, okay. Blair had her hand up. Go ahead, Blair. Reporter (Blair): Just quickly, we've been hearing a lot that a lot of the starting of the clashes, I guess, between federal agents and protesters have been coming from outside conservative agitators. Is that something that your police officers have witnessed or seen? Chief Day: Well, I can't speak to the, uh, affiliation of the agitators—whether they're conservative or liberal or left or right or whatever that moniker is. What I know is that we are seeing an increase of people down there who appear to be intent on agitating the crowd and agitating the environment. Um, what their motivation is, I don't know. I don't really care. The point is we are not going to be accepting of violence in the city of Portland. It's just not acceptable. And can we get to every violent encounter in the city? No, we can't. And I wish we could. I wish we could be Johnny-on-the-spot on all of them. But when we're present, when we're available, when probable cause exists, we will interdict that behavior. We will make arrests regardless of their intent or affiliation. Reporter (Cler): What is your plan with the Department of Homeland Security planning to surge more officers here? Chief Day: Well, we're going to stay the course. I mean, I've been that since the beginning. We're going to stay the course. Portland Police Bureau is going to continue to show up every day and do the good work that it's been doing for over a century now, and the good work it's going to be doing—Lord willing—a century from now, because we cannot, uh, vary from our values. We cannot vary from our mission, which is to provide the highest level of safety to the city and to all of Portlanders. With that being said, I'm also in regular communication with our federal law enforcement partners. I've said that for months now. And we will talk to them. We will work with them. We will try to deconflict information the best that we can. I have, uh, been very grateful for the conversations I've been able to have with federal law enforcement leaders in the area, many of which are, you know, from the area and engaged and want to see what's best for Portland. You know, the noise that's happening and the political theater that's happening—I can't do anything about that. That's just the world we exist in. And the unique thing about being a Chief of Police is I'm the most political position in the city, but I'm the only one that doesn't get elected. And in my job, politics and operations collide every single day. And so I'm going to understand and be in the political spectrum, but I'm going to focus on operational support so that Portlanders can be safe. Reporter (Joey): And then Shelby, as we've tried to track what's going to happen with this National Guard deployment, has your Bureau been given a firm timeline of when we'll see boots on the ground here in Portland? Chief Day: No, we have not. I would anticipate in the coming days, much like everyone else, but we don't have a start date. Reporter: Is that something that you've been trying to get from the Department of War, whoever's in charge of this mission? Chief Day: Well, we've been having conversations, but that's not been a priority of mine. I mean, I know that they've been, you know, assigned and mobilized. That's been well publicized. Um, as I said, I mean, that doesn't change how we show up. That doesn't—I'm sensitive to the fact that their arrival may spark maybe some greater unrest or some greater response, but we are going to be consistent. And we can't just, um—I don't want to be reactive. I want to be consistent. Reporter: Earlier this week, you said that we were talking about just one city block. But what do you have to say to the people who say, "Well, exactly. We're talking about one city block and Portland Police haven't been able to control it"? Chief Day: Yeah, that's a great comment, and I've thought about that comment a lot. I want to clarify a couple things. One, you know, as I said earlier, that city block matters. So please don't infer in anything, you know, shape or form that it doesn't. I was saying "one city block" in reference to the deployment of the National Guard. We don't need the National Guard for that city block. That was my intent. Um, the ability to, you know, maintain, support, control, change—whatever the terminology is—for that city block, yeah, it's equally as frustrating to me as it is to a lot of people. Unfortunately, there's a lot of city blocks in the city of Portland that we're not able to meet that standard. And I hear from Portlanders every day—whether it be downtown, East Portland, North, Northeast, etc.—who would welcome the attention and the effort and the investment that we are making in that particular area. Some of these problems that we're talking about—not just down there, but really citywide. I mean, as I said earlier, these are system issues. These are system issues. These are not just, you know, clear out this or clear out that. This is system issues, and we need to have the whole conversation. We need to be able to talk about these competing truths and be able to hold them in a way that allows us to maybe find some paths forward. But as long as it's binary, as long as it's certainty, then, you know, we're going to continue in sort of this circular motion of make arrest, make arrest, make arrest. Moderator: Thank you. Reporter: All right. Moderator: Thank you, Chief. Chief Day: Thanks a lot.