Private security officers trying to fill the gap with less police in Portland
Portland OR July 31 2021
The city of Portland, once known for its beauty and easy living, is now seen as a battleground. With more than 18 months of continual protests, riots, violence and attacks on law enforcement,
peace and law and order doesn’t seem to be on the horizon anytime soon.
Private security officers there have also come under attack leaving at least one dead and nine injured during the violence.
There is a noticeable lack of police presence, especially in the city’s nightlife district and in other areas of the city. This is where private security companies have been called in and tasked with the duties of keeping the peace and protecting the public and the properties of businesses.
The Police Bureau and Mayor Ted Wheeler received criticism last week for deploying few officers to the city’s “entertainment district,” despite a citywide increase in young men shooting each other. In response, Portland police pledged to pair their uniformed officers with FBI agents on Friday night. The police reinforcements were highly visible. The feds weren’t.
At least two incidents of serious violence occurred early Saturday morning. Police taped off a block of Southwest Washington Street in front of Kelly’s Olympian, saying a shooting had occurred. The bureau later confirmed the victim’s injuries were not life threatening. And police said a man died shortly after an ambulance driver found him bleeding from stab wounds at the intersection of Southwest Pine Street and 3rd Avenue at about 12:47 am.
The streets outside Old Town nightclubs saw far more officers last night than on the weekend prior.
Daniel, an armed Clean and Safe security officer on a bike, hadn’t heard there would be FBI officers in Old Town to help with the shootings, but he welcomed it. “This was once a beautiful place and it can be again,” he said.
Asked what the difference is between a police officer and a Clean and Safe security officer, Daniel said that, rudimentarily speaking, police “have the authority to intervene. We can just be a good witness. As I am an armed officer, I can also intervene if I see people are in danger.”
“Back the blue!” a man yelled, stumbling past and walking in the road. “We need more of you!” Then, as he receded, he added: “Portland is a shithole! Portland looks like shit!”
But there have been problems with the use of private security to do the job of law enforcement.
On the evening of May 29, gunfire echoed across a North Portland shopping plaza.
Around 6:30 p.m, an armed security guard on patrol at Delta Park Center fatally shot Freddy Nelson Jr., 49, four times through the windshield of Nelson’s Nissan Frontier as he sat in the plaza’s parking lot, according to interviews with eyewitnesses and family members.
Records show the shooter, identified by OPB as 28-year-old Logan Gimbel, was one of at least three guards working for Cornerstone Security Group, a company that states it only provides armed security, who did not have a license to carry a gun while on the job.
