Portland police hamstrung by 2020-era reforms

The Portland Police Bureau is fending off attacks on several fronts from antifa’s forces laying siege on government property on a nearly nightly basis, to the public claiming that the police department is increasingly politicized, and not handling emergencies efficiently.

But the bureau’s problems, critics say, date back to soft-on-crime initiatives brought by anti-police activism and an institutional rot that has had a sprawling effect.

Riot response hampered by police reform

Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith, spokeswoman for the National Police Association, noted that the law enforcement agencies serving the Portland area were once nationally recognized as leading crowd-control experts, primarily because Portland has been dealing with antifa’s forces for decades. Portland, a hotbed of antifa activity, is home to Rose City Antifa, the oldest-known antifa chapter

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