“The part of GVRT that was objected to was that there was not community oversight, there was not a clear objective.”įor years, community members objected to the GVRT, formerly known as the gang enforcement team, because it lacked transparency and disproportionately impacted people of color. “We are not bringing it back,” Wheeler said of the GVRT at a March press conference announcing his new plan. By this time last year, there had been 200 shootings.Īlthough some have tied the uptick in shootings in Portland to the decision to disband the Gun Violence Reduction Team, it’s a trend that began many months before that decision was made.ĭespite the similarities with the GVRT, Wheeler has insisted the new team’s oversight group makes it different from its predecessor. There have been 460 shootings in Portland this year and 145 people injured by gunfire. The renewed focus on gun violence comes as cities across the country are experiencing dramatic increases in shootings and homicides. The Focused Intervention Team will join the newly created enhanced community safety team a 24/7 team of on-call investigators charged with responding to and investigating shootings, giving the city two dedicated gun violence teams. Wheeler and city council disbanded the GVRT in response to protester demands during last summer’s racial justice protests, almost a year to the day before Friday’s oversight group meeting. That mission is nearly identical to the controversial Gun Violence Reduction Team which community members said – and data proved – had overpoliced the Black community. That means proactive policing to get guns off the street, and identifying people involved in shootings in order to interrupt cycles of retaliatory violence. Once it’s stood up, the bureau’s new Focused Intervention Team will be tasked with interrupting cycles of gun violence in the city. “This group is going to be hiring police that apply to be part of the Focused Intervention Team and meeting with them weekly to provide the operational intelligence where others in the community believe they can offer the greatest value to interrupt the socially connected gun violence that’s going on in the community.” “We’re offering them an opportunity to operationally provide direction to the police bureau in their efforts to reduce gun violence,” Wheeler’s director of strategic innovations, and former mayor, Sam Adams said.
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