'Without action, we can expect worse to come': Sheriff calls for urgent solutions as violent crime in America's woke capital of Portland soars 30% in a year after city's council cut the police budget by $15million in 2020

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A Sheriff in Oregon has called for urgent solutions to violent crimes as offenses including murder soared 30 per cent in a year after the city's council cut the police budget by $15million in 2020.  

Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese warned in an open letter published on Friday that 'without action, we can expect worse to come' as he said 'the data reflects... record-high levels of gun violence, traffic fatalities and overdose deaths'.  

The liberal Pacific Northwest city, which slashed its police budget in the wake of protests over George Floyd's murder, set a record last year with 92 homicides - the highest since there were 70 homicides in 1987.

But the state capital is on track to tie or surpass the record in 2022 with 25 homicides reported in in January, February and March this year - the same number for the period in 2021.  

It comes despite Portland City Council's decision in November to refund the police service, adding back $5.2million to the force's budget after more than $15million was cut in 2020. 

Reese works in Multnomah County, a police district encompassing much of Portland city and rural communities up to the state border with Washington. 

Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese has called for urgent solutions to violent crimes as offenses including murder soared 30 per cent in a year after the city's council cut the police budget by $15million in 2020

Reese wrote that at the start of the month, there were 102 people being held in Multnomah Country jails on murder-related charges - the highest number since the mid-1990s. 

'This is not the only serious threat to public safety, however,' he wrote. 'Record-high levels of traffic fatalities and overdose deaths are jeopardizing personal safety and devastating families and social support networks.' 

Robberies have increased 56 per cent year-on-year, rising from 234 in January to March 2021 to 366 for the same period in 2022. 

Similar rises took place in drug crime numbers which rose 30 per cent this year up 146 in 2022 on 108 in 2021 and assault cases which were up six per cent year-on-year. 

Reese called for 'urgent action' and pointed to the rise in the number of people held in County jails on serious charges - up to around 370 in 2021 from less than 330 in 2020. 

He said a response should be 'collective' and 'include a wide umbrella of programs and services from across the community' - and listed five possible solutions.

'Increase gun dispossession efforts and remove firearms from individuals prohibited by law from possessing them.

'Engage in focused traffic enforcement in high-crash corridors to reduce reckless and impaired driving. Base the deployment strategy on time-of-day and day-of-the-week when traffic fatalities and gun violence are most likely to occur and overlap.

'Create and fully staff multi-disciplinary teams of responders using our successful Homeless Outreach & Programs Engagement (HOPE) team model to address livability concerns.

'Increase accessibility to funding for neighborhood and community groups helping to reduce justice-involvement among youth and communities of color.

'Increase resources for specialty teams, similar to MCSO’s Special Investigations Unit, focused on investigating criminal organizations– that are flooding the community with illegal firearms, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl.'

The Portland Police Bureau suffered through a rash of retirements and resignations after Portland politicians embraced calls to defund the police. 

A total of $15million was initially chopped from the city's budget, with progressive Portland prosecutors also blamed for the spiraling crime for refusing to charge 70 percent of people arrested by the city's police.

The record violence comes despite the police department introducing a new Focused Intervention Team that hit the streets in January. 

The team is designed to address gun violence and the proliferation of the deadly weapons in a city where around 75 per cent of victims are killed through gun violence.

The unit was initially met with backlash, as some believed the police were reviving the Gun Violence Reduction team, which was accused of racial profiling, but Police Chief Chuck Lovell assured the public the team would focus on guns, not gangs. 

The holistic approach has yet to yield results.

In addition to the surging murder rate, the city has also seen a significant number of shootings in the first two months of the year, totaling 264, up from the 190 during the same time last year. Gun-related injuries are also up - 68 compared to 64. 

Portland saw a dramatic increase in shootings and murders after Floyd's death. The city saw a 250 percent increase in murders within the first six months of Floyd's death and shootings rose almost 175 per cent.

In 2019, there were only 36 murders throughout Portland, but that increased to 57 in 2020 and 92 in 2021 - breaking the historical record.

Violent crime has risen across the board throughout the Rose City, with assaults, kidnappings and rape all seeing sharp increases. The total number of crimes rose from 9,600 in 2020 to 10,200 in 2021, an almost six percent increase.