As a resident (I live in the suburbs but have a Portland mailing address) I am always dismayed by the bad news coming out of Portland. Today I was pleased by this good news story:
You’re no doubt familiar with the violent protests in Portland, but unless you live here and follow the local news you probably don’t know about how much non-political violence there is in the city.
Rehiring retired police officers, expanding street response team: Here's what Portland's mayor and police chief want to do to curb rising gun violence
Our progressive city also has a severe homeless problem: Why Portland’s Homeless Problem Is the Worst in the Nation.
The paradox of Portland has prompted articles like these:
You can see why I was pleased to read the news about the court ruling which hopefully will serve to stop the police practice of taking live videos of protests. Unfortunately this won’t change the behavior of those individual police officers who were attracted to police work because of the power it gave them, who are prejudiced, and who are used to violating the civil liberties of people they encounter.
Full Disclosure: In addition to having been a psychotherapist I was a reserve police officer for 20 years in two departments (photo) where I put in thousands of hours riding with regular officers. I was friends with or acquainted with numerous excellent police officers who went into law enforcement to protect and serve everyone and weren’t on what could be called a power trip.