Why Portland Police Deadly Force Persists Despite Federal Pressure
By Darius Spearman (africanelements)
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The city of Portland, Oregon, finds itself trapped in a cycle of violence that federal oversight has struggled to break. For over a decade, federal watchdogs have barked at the heels of the Portland Police Bureau (PPB). Yet, reporters and community activists observe that deadly encounters between officers and the public continue to rise. While city leaders argue over the fine print of reform, families are left mourning loved ones killed in the streets. This crisis is a deep-seated struggle over who controls the narrative of safety and justice (wordpress.com).
To understand why federal pressure fails, one must look at the history of these “street killings.” These are not isolated events. They are part of a long-standing pattern that the Department of Justice first identified years ago. The current tension reflects a broader struggle regarding federalism and Black politics, where local resistance often meets national mandates. In Portland, this resistance has turned the road to reform into a legal minefield (wordpress.com).
Portland Police Bureau Budget Growth
Despite federal oversight, funding for the bureau has reached record highs (wordpress.com).
The Roots of the Crisis: The Killing of Aaron Campbell
The formal history of federal intervention in Portland began with a tragedy in 2010. That year, a PPB officer named Ron Frashour shot and killed Aaron Campbell. Campbell was an unarmed Black man experiencing a mental health crisis. He was shot in the back while his hands were behind his head. This killing ignited a massive outcry from civil rights organizations and the Black community. It forced the Department of Justice to launch a formal investigation into the entire police department in 2011 (wordpress.com).
By September 2012, the DOJ released a “Findings Letter.” This document was a harsh indictment of the bureau. Federal investigators concluded that there was “reasonable cause to believe” that the PPB engaged in a pattern and practice of unconstitutional force. Specifically, they found that officers used excessive force against people with actual or perceived mental illness. This finding is critical. It moved the conversation from “a few bad apples” to a systemic failure in training, policy, and oversight (justice.gov, wordpress.com).
The significance of a “Pattern and Practice” investigation cannot be overstated. It is a civil probe authorized by federal law. It allows the government to look for widespread misconduct rather than focusing on one incident. If systemic violations are found, the DOJ enters into a settlement agreement with the city. This agreement serves as a court-enforced roadmap for reform. However, in Portland, this roadmap has led to a decade of legal gridlock (justice.gov).
The Settlement Agreement and the Failure of Early Watchdogs
In 2014, the City of Portland entered into a Settlement Agreement with the DOJ to avoid a federal lawsuit. This agreement mandated 187 specific reforms. These reforms covered everything from use-of-force policies to how officers are trained to handle mental health calls. To monitor this progress, the city established a Compliance Officer/Community Liaison (COCL). For years, this watchdog served as the primary set of eyes for the federal court (portland.gov, wordpress.com).
However, the COCL role had major limitations. It was an advisory body that lacked the power to discipline officers. It could not change police policy on its own. Critics likened the COCL to a baseball umpire who could only call “balls and strikes” but could not change the rules of the game. Because the watchdog had no teeth, the PPB could remain in “compliance” on paper while street killings continued to pile up. This lack of real authority is why many reporters say the pressure failed to stop deadly force (wordpress.com).
This struggle for justice is part of a longer history of systemic failure and resistance that Black communities have faced since the Civil War. In Portland, the “reinstatement loophole” became a prime example of this failure. Officer Ron Frashour was fired for killing Aaron Campbell, but he was eventually reinstated with full back pay by an arbitrator. This outcome showed that even when a city tries to discipline an officer, union contracts and state laws often stand in the way (wordpress.com).
The 2025 Reality: New Tragedies and Broken Promises
As of late 2025, the situation has reached a critical boiling point. High-profile deaths continue to occur despite years of federal monitoring. In June 2025, the death of Damon Lamar Johnson shocked the community. Johnson was a 52-year-old Black man who was the subject of a “welfare check” for a mental health crisis. Instead of receiving medical help, Johnson ended up pinned to the ground by officers until he became unresponsive. Body-camera footage showed that officers kept him in handcuffs even after he lost consciousness (kgw.com, wordpress.com).
The death of Damon Lamar Johnson highlights a terrifying reality. Even with body cameras and new training, the “mental health disparity” remains. People in crisis are still being met with lethal force instead of care. This incident occurred while the city was supposedly in a “self-monitoring” phase of the DOJ agreement. This phase allows the city to grade its own progress. Critics argue that letting the police monitor themselves while unarmed men die in custody is a recipe for disaster (wordpress.com).
In September 2025, another shooting further strained public trust. Officers shot Bryan Velasco-Ruelas during a traffic stop at a gas station. While a grand jury later found the use of force to be “justified” because Velasco-Ruelas allegedly fired at police, the incident added to the perception that the streets of Portland are increasingly violent. The frequency of these encounters suggests that federal pressure has not changed the daily tactics of officers on the ground (kgw.com, kgw.com, wordpress.com).
The Battle Over Oversight: Measure 26-217
The most intense “arguing over fixes” centers on the Community Board for Police Accountability. In 2020, following the George Floyd protests, 82% of Portland voters approved Measure 26-217. This measure was supposed to create a new, independent oversight board with the power to investigate and fire officers. It was intended to replace the old Independent Police Review (IPR), which many felt had no real power (wordpress.com).
However, the Portland Police Association (PPA) has fought this board every step of the way. The union has used legal challenges and ballot measures to try and weaken the board’s authority. One of the biggest points of contention is the “Objective Demonstration of Bias” standard. This rule says that board members must not show bias for or against police. While that sounds fair, civil rights groups worry it will be used to keep people who support social justice movements off the board (wordpress.com).
The struggle for a voice in policing is a modern chapter in the history of African American families and their resilience against state violence. In Portland, the debate over who gets to sit on the oversight board is really a debate over who is considered “neutral.” If a person believes that Black Lives Matter, does that make them biased? The police union argues yes. Community members argue that lived experience is not bias, but expertise (wordpress.com).
Viewpoint Discrimination and the Current DOJ Stance
Under the current administration of Donald Trump, the DOJ has taken a new and controversial direction in Portland. In October 2025, federal officials sent an extensive records request to the city. They are investigating allegations of “viewpoint discrimination.” This investigation does not focus on excessive force against minorities. Instead, it looks at whether the PPB unfairly targeted conservative journalists and activists during protests at federal facilities (justice.gov).
This shift in focus has created a deepening friction between the city and federal overseers. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has accused the Portland police of being “woke cops” who allow “left-wing mobs” to dictate who can document public events. This new investigation looks at the arrest of conservative media figures while other protesters were allegedly ignored. The City Attorney’s Office has responded by treating these federal demands as standard public records requests, signaling a breakdown in cooperation (justice.gov, wordpress.com).
This political tug-of-war complicates the path to reform. While the federal government focuses on the rights of conservative journalists, local organizations like the Albina Ministerial Alliance continue to focus on the deaths of Black men. The city is being pulled in two different directions by two different versions of federal pressure. This confusion only makes it harder to achieve the “substantial compliance” required to end federal oversight (wordpress.com).
Mental Health Disparity in Fatal Force
Half of all fatal police shootings involve a mental health crisis (wordpress.com).
The Rising Cost of Failure
The failure to stop deadly force is not just a human tragedy; it is also a financial one. Despite the ongoing reform efforts, the Portland Police Bureau budget has reached record highs. Between 2017 and 2025, the budget jumped from $200 million to nearly $250 million. Much of this increase went toward personnel costs, union-negotiated raises, and the cost of mandatory reforms like body cameras. This growth shows a pattern similar to the struggle for economic justice, where systems often require more resources even when they are not producing better results (wordpress.com).
At the same time, the cost of legal settlements is skyrocketing. In 2025 alone, the city paid out $3.75 million for a single case involving the death of Immanueal Clark. Historically, the city paid about $4 million total over an entire decade for such cases. Now, a single shooting can cost nearly as much as ten years of previous incidents combined. These settlements are paid by taxpayers, meaning the community is effectively paying for the failure of the very reforms they voted for (wordpress.com).
Furthermore, the 180-day deadline for investigating police misconduct is consistently missed. According to the Independent Police Review, over 60% of cases take longer than the mandated six months to complete. Some investigations take nearly a year. This delay is often caused by union protections, such as the “48-hour rule” that gives officers two days to prepare before being questioned. When justice moves this slowly, it is often denied altogether. These delays are a major reason why the community has “deep distrust” in the current system (wordpress.com).
Conclusion: The Stalemate of Reform
The “history behind the headlines” in Portland reveals a story of institutional inertia. Federal pressure has changed the policies in the handbook, but it has not changed the outcomes on the street. Officers now wear body cameras, but they are still involved in fatal encounters with people in mental health crises. The city has a new oversight board on the way, but its powers are being stripped away before it even begins its work (wordpress.com).
While leaders argue over the legal definitions of “bias” and “viewpoint discrimination,” the death toll continues to rise. The transition to “self-monitoring” is seen by many as premature. Until the Portland Police Bureau can demonstrate that it can handle a mental health call without ending a life, the watchdog’s job is far from over. The residents of Portland are still waiting for the day when the headlines report on peace rather than another pile of street killings (wordpress.com).
About the Author
Darius Spearman is a professor of Black Studies at San Diego City College, where he has been teaching for over 20 years. He is the founder of African Elements, a media platform dedicated to providing educational resources on the history and culture of the African diaspora. Through his work, Spearman aims to empower and educate by bringing historical context to contemporary issues affecting the Black community.
