https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2022/01/portland-police-bureaus-new-focused-intervention-team-hits-streets-to-address-gun-violence.html
When Portland Police Bureau leadership asked officers to staff a new squad designed to address gun violence and the proliferation of the deadly weapons, only four people initially raised their hands.
Officer Chris Baten was one of them.
But Baten — who spent 14 years as a detective assigned to a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives task force in Florida — said he was eager to apply last year, seeing an opportunity to make the city safer.
“I know how to deal with this problem,” said Baten, who joined the Police Bureau two years ago. “It is going to be a much harder job, but it’s a needed job. And I’m prepared for it.”
Their mission? Curb the city’s epidemic of gun violence, which has left five people dead so far this year. At least 92 people were killed in Portland homicides last year, far exceeding the previous record of 70, and more than three-quarters of the victims were slain by gunfire.
Asked if the new team has the support of elected leaders, Police Chief Chuck Lovell answered bluntly in the affirmative. He said the team will focus on guns, not gangs, but acknowledged that “we’ve done this work before.”
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2022/01/portland-police-bureaus-new-focused-intervention-team-hits-streets-to-address-gun-violence.html
When Portland Police Bureau leadership asked officers to staff a new squad designed to address gun violence and the proliferation of the deadly weapons, only four people initially raised their hands.
Officer Chris Baten was one of them.
But Baten — who spent 14 years as a detective assigned to a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives task force in Florida — said he was eager to apply last year, seeing an opportunity to make the city safer.
“I know how to deal with this problem,” said Baten, who joined the Police Bureau two years ago. “It is going to be a much harder job, but it’s a needed job. And I’m prepared for it.”
Their mission? Curb the city’s epidemic of gun violence, which has left five people dead so far this year. At least 92 people were killed in Portland homicides last year, far exceeding the previous record of 70, and more than three-quarters of the victims were slain by gunfire.
Asked if the new team has the support of elected leaders, Police Chief Chuck Lovell answered bluntly in the affirmative. He said the team will focus on guns, not gangs, but acknowledged that “we’ve done this work before.”
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