{"id":637569,"date":"2021-08-12T14:51:48","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T18:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=637569"},"modified":"2021-08-12T14:51:51","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T18:51:51","slug":"armed-private-security-now-patrolling-portlands-downtown-after-city-slashes-police-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/armed-private-security-now-patrolling-portlands-downtown-after-city-slashes-police-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Armed Private Security Now Patrolling Portland\u2019s Downtown After City Slashes Police Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Farmed-private-security-now-patrolling-portlands-downtown-after-city-slashes-police-funding%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=637569&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Fire-scaled-1.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Armed private security forces, hired by local businesses, are now patrolling Portland, Oregon\u2019s, downtown to keep the peace amid a crime spree, following a Portland city government decision to slash police funding by $16 million.<\/p>\n<p>According to local news sources, Portland, like most major cities, is suffering from a spike in crime. \u201cHomicides in Portland increased from 28 in 2019 to 54 in 2020. Among cities similar in size to Portland, Seattle saw an increase from 34 to 53 homicides, in Minneapolis, a spike from 48 to 82, and Milwaukee saw homicides increase from 97 to 190 from 2019 to 2020, \u201d KGW reported earlier this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Portland, the outlet added, is likely on track to see around a thousand homicides this year.<\/p>\n<p>The city is also still reeling from an extended spate of demonstrations \u2014 a 100-day streak of protests that caused an estimated $23 million in damages, $2 million in damages to federal buildings in downtown Portland alone.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the protests, which demanded that Portland \u201cdefund the police,\u201d the city slashed law enforcement\u2019s budget by $16 million, a move \u201cwhich included stripping Portland of its Central Precinct Entertainment Detail. Nine officers used to be assigned to Portland\u2019s nightlife scene, but now, only two officers patrol the area,\u201d according to Fox News.<\/p>\n<p>That central entertainment district has responded by hiring private security to fill the void, per Fox, particularly after dozens of officers departed the force, either by resignation or retirement. There are now around 120 fewer Portland police officers on the force than there were last summer. The Old Town entertainment area was recently the scene of a mass shooting that left seven people wounded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrivate armed security outfits have been hired to patrol a popular section of Portland known for its bars and nightlife after the city slashed police funding and saw a year of violence in the area,\u201d the outlet reported, citing Willamette Week. \u201cThe decreased police presence created what business owners describe as a public safety vacuum. Private security companies arrived with rifles, metal detector wands, and Kevlar vests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Portland\u2019s] clubgoers are met by a heavily armed guard. He stands beneath the Hung Far Low sign, clad in a bulletproof vest and desert-tan tactical pants, with a 9 mm pistol strapped to his leg and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder,\u201d according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wweek.com\/news\/courts\/2021\/08\/11\/old-town-clubs-reopen-amid-gunfireand-ex-soldiers-stationed-in-the-street\/\">Portland local outlet<\/a>. \u201cHis name is Jean-Pierre LaFont. He\u2019s a 45-year-old veteran who lives in Gresham. He says he did a tour of duty in Bosnia with the Navy SEALS. He\u2019s 6 feet tall, wears black gloves outlined with white bones, and is delighted to talk about his work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy job is to get you home safe,\u201d LaFont told Willamette Week. \u201cUnless you\u2019re the perpetrator. The only way for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing. So I\u2019m going to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LaFont, Willamette Week notes, works for \u201ca private military contractor\u2014the kind of firm that operates in war zones.\u201d Instead of keeping the peace in foreign lands, though, LaFont and his group are keeping the peace in Portland\u2019s Old Town district.<\/p>\n<p>Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler recently said that he was fed up with the violence that has dogged the city since last year, but the change did little, it seems to impact violence.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">member<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Armed private security forces, hired by local businesses, are now patrolling Portland, Oregon\u2019s, downtown to keep the peace amid a crime spree, following a Portland city government decision to slash &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-637569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}