Following months of protests seeking justice and a systemic overhaul following the death of George Floyd, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced important changes aimed at decreasing racial disparities in policing. “One, officers are no longer going to focus on enforcing low-level traffic violations, like expired tags and equipment issues, and will instead focus on enforcing traffic violations that are a direct threat to public safety,” Wheeler said in a Twitter thread on Tuesday. “Two, officers will follow new consent search procedures that create more documentation and provide more information to people who are being asked for their consent to a search.”

That new protocol consists of three key changes. “First, officers will make an audio recording of their request when they ask for consent to search,” city officials said in a news release. “Second, officers will submit the recording with the report they will be required to write about the consent search.”

City officials continued: “Third, officers will provide information in writing about the right to refuse a consent search to any person who has been asked for their consent to search. In short, people will be informed that consent is theirs to grant or revoke, and the whole interaction will be documented.”

Of the 33,035 drivers Portland police officers, patrol workers, and investigators stopped in 2019, 22% of them were Black even though Black people only make up 6% of the city’s population, The Oregonian reported of police data.

Still, it took 150 days of protests against police brutality and racism last summer in Portland for the changes to happen. At that time, protesters accused law enforcement workers of further brutalizing them and violating their rights. Portland officials filed a lawsuit last July accusing federal authorities who intervened of failing to identify themselves then unlawfully arresting protesters in downtown Portland.

Stated in the lawsuit:

In another incident, Demetria Hester, a Black activist and founder of Moms United for Black Lives Matter, was arrested on accusations of disorderly conduct and interfering with a police officer, but video from the incident shows Hester remaining calm as officers told her she was under arrest, grabbed her wrist and bookbag, and ushered her away from a crowd of protesters. “We just got there,” she said. “I did nothing, and you just grabbed me. This is what we have to go through just to get justice.” Prosecutors refused to charge Hester in the encounter, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

Warning: This video contains profanity.

“We have more work to do,” Wheeler tweeted, “but these changes reflect calls from the community, particularly from Black Portlanders, to change how PPB conducts traffic stops and consent searches. We will track resulting data and ensure these changes have the intended outcomes of increasing equity and safety in our city.”

The changes in Portland mimic those California cities made earlier to no longer stop drivers for low-level traffic offenses in Berkeley and Oakland, The Oregonian reported. Police Chief Chuck Lovell also mentioned that more limited funding contributed to the city’s reimagined priorities, which was a central aim of the defund the police movement. That is to force police departments to prioritize high-level crimes. Portland cut $27 million from its police budget last year, with $11 million being tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, and $15 million in response to the defund the police movement, ABC News reported.

“We know policing must continue to evolve and adapt to changing times, and we have made substantial changes in our organization over the last decade,” Lovell said in the city’s news release. “We also know that we have limited resources and must direct those resources appropriately.

”So far this year, 28 people have died in fatal crashes—which is significantly higher than in 2020 at this time. We need to focus on behaviors that result in serious or fatal crashes, such as speeding, driving while impaired, distracted driving, etc.” Lovell added. “Stops for non-moving violations or lower level infractions will still be allowed, but they must have a safety component or have an actionable investigative factor to it.”

Portland fire and rescue Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty tweeted: “It’s no secret I’ve had disagreements with Mayor Wheeler & Chief Lovell as to how we as a City respond to this unique moment in history demanding racial justice & transformation of community safety. However, when the Mayor & PPB make good decisions, they will have my full support.”

Hardesty added: “Historically across the nation and here in Portland, traffic stops have led to unjustified police violence that have too often turned deadly for Black, Indigenous, and all Communities of Color.

“Even less violent encounters have contributed to a feeling of being profiled and thus losing trust in law enforcement—feelings supported by the data that shows Black people make up a disproportionate rate of traffic stops here in Portland.”

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