Portland Oregon Mayor Ted Wheeler and Chief Chuck Lovell, along with other members of the Portland City Council, welcomed 15 new police officers and 9 professional staff members to the Portland Police Bureau just recently. Commissioner Dan Ryan and Commissioner Rene Gonzalez also attended the ceremony and shared remarks with the new hires.

The Portland Police Bureau now has 810 sworn members.

This includes all ranks from the Chief to the 551 officers. Of those officers, 108 are in training.

There are currently 314 patrol officers assigned to precincts.

PPB says it is building back from its lowest number of sworn members, which was 773 in September 2022. This was the fewest sworn members since 1989. The lowest number of members at the rank of officer was in May 2022, when there were 509 out of 609 authorized.

PPB is stating that the recruiting and hiring efforts continue to yield results. PPB has hired 96 officers and 31 Public Safety Support Specialists since January 2022. Four former PPB officers have applied to return and are in the rehire process.

PPB says that eighty-three officer applicants are in the background investigation process right now.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Over the past year, (March 16, 2022 – March 16, 2023), there have been 1519 police officer applicants. The PPB Personnel Division has refined the hiring process and shortened it substantially, 6 months or less in most cases.

PPB says it takes some time before new officers are fully trained and working by themselves in patrol cars. The training process for a new hire is 18 months, including the Basic Police Academy at the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training in Salem, a PPB Advanced Academy, and field training with a coach.

Also just recently, the Bureau also hired 9 professional staff, including Police Records Specialists, 2 Mental Health Crisis Responders for the Behavioral Health Unit, a Training Analyst, a Property Division Public Safety Aide, a Crime Victim Advocate with the Detective Division, and a Police Administrative Support Specialist. PPB also promoted two Police Records Specialists to Police Records Training Coordinators.

The Portland Police Bureau says that they still have sworn vacancies and they continue hiring both lateral and entry level community police officers. Salary ranges $75k-$107k per year plus pay incentives. Benefits are 95% paid by the city.


--Ben Fisher

Post Date: 2023-03-24 22:19:46

Last Update: 2023-03-24 22:37:23