Anew poll found that, despite a summer of protests against the police last year, a vast majority of residents in Portland, Oregon, don’t want to see a decrease in law enforcement presence.
According to a survey commissioned by The Oregonian/OregonLive, 75 percent of Portland-area residents said they don’t want policing in the city to dip below its current levels. Half said they want more cops on the streets, while 24 percent said they want policing levels to remain the same.
Less than a quarter of Portland-area residents believe there should be fewer cops on the streets. Just 15 percent of respondents living in the city proper said they wish to see a decrease in police presence.
The findings come after a year of local protests during which “defund the police” became a major rallying cry. The protests were sparked by the death of George Floyd, who died at the hands of police during an arrest in May 2020.