PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) – Elmer Yarborough received a terrifying call from his sister: he cried as he told her that two of his nephews could have been shot in broad daylight as they were leaving a bar in Portland, Oregon.
He drove there as fast as he could. One officer told him that one of his nephews was on his way to the hospital and the other, Tyrell Penney, had not survived.
“My sister, Tyrell’s mother, was on the phone; I just said, ‘He’s gone.’ And I just heard the most horrible scream you could ever imagine, ”Yarborough said.
When Penney was assassinated last summer, riots were plaguing Portland Liberals as protesters took to the streets every night to demand racial justice and riot police. At the same time, one of the whitest cities in America experienced its deadliest year in more than a quarter of a century – a trend seen across the country – with traits that overwhelmingly affected the black community.
In response to requests for a change of police, the mayor and council cut several budget cuts, including one that Yarborough believes could have saved his nephew. A specialized unit focused on curbing gun violence, which had been criticized for disproportionately confronting people of color, disbanded a month before Penney, a 27-year-old black man visiting Sacramento, California, was killed. on July 25th.
Yarborough and some other families wonder if ending the unit is partly to blame for Portland’s dramatic shooting, but officials and experts attribute an increase in armed violence in cities across the country to the pandemic’s difficulties. of coronavirus, unemployment, economic anxiety and stress on mental health.
“I certainly think it’s possible that my nephew is still alive if (the gun violence reduction team) didn’t disband,” said Yarborough, a Portland police crisis response volunteer who responds to shots to support the families of the victims. .
“I can’t say for sure if I would, but what I’m going to tell you is that if it hadn’t been for my nephew who was saved, I probably could have saved someone else’s life,” he said.
Last year more people were shot dead in Portland (40) than the previous year’s total homicides. The number of shots (900) was almost 2 1/2 times higher than the previous year. The rise has continued this year, with more than 150 shots fired, including 45 wounded and 12 dead so far.
Police had warned of possible repercussions at the end of the unit, pointing out precautionary stories in other cities that had made a similar choice.
Portland police quoted former Salinas, California police chief Kelly McMillin as saying: “Don’t be overly dramatic, but if you lose the unit that focuses on taking guns out of the hands of violent criminals, people he will die. It ‘s really that simple. “
Stockton, California, began disbanding and defunding police units engaged in gun violence in 2010. In 2011 and 2012, the city’s homicide rates reached record highs. After the restoration of the city, homicides decreased significantly, according to data reported by police.
Although police have been reoriented in Portland, experts and officials say these changes are unlikely to lead to spikes in gun violence.
“I think if (the gun violence reduction team) were (around) today, we would still see a substantial, if not identical, increase in gunfire in Portland,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said in January. . “This is clearly part of a larger national trend.”
Wheeler, who is also a police commissioner, announced the disbandment of the unit last June and reassigned its 34 officers to patrol. He described it as an opportunity to re-imagine the police and redirected $ 7 million in police funds to communities of color.
The push was led by Jo Ann Hardesty, the first black woman elected to City Council. He cited a 2018 audit that shows that nearly 60% of people detained by the armed violence team were black, even though they represent less than 6% of the city’s population.
According to city statistics, nearly half of the total 55 homicide victims in 2020 were people of color, many of them from Portland’s historically black neighborhoods.
So far this year, there have been 17 homicides, a worrying number considering that only one homicide had occurred in the same period in 2020.
Among the people of color shot last year was a 23-year-old Iraqi refugee who stopped to pick up an Uber fare; a recent 18-year-old high school graduate; and a 53-year-old woman trapped in a crossfire between gangs and killed in front of her husband.
The violence has left leaders and community members looking for solutions. Some say the loss of the unit’s experienced detectives has hurt the city, while others are pushing for new approaches.
Last month, police launched a squadron of 15 officers and six detectives focused on investigations into gun violence. Officials say it’s only part of the solution, as leaders partner with community groups, work to increase transparency, and use proactive approaches that are not based on stopped tactics.
This is a small consolation for Penney’s three children, friends he visited in Portland or his family, who moved to California when he was little to avoid the exact reason for his death: gun violence.
Yarborough, Penney’s uncle, was a member of a gang in the 1990s and had been arrested by officers from the Portland Armed Violence Team. Despite this, he described the unit as “the CIA” of the police department and said they often stopped firing before they went through their deep knowledge of the community.
“They established relationships with band members and they knew who the perpetrators were,” Yarborough said. “They … were able to come together to stop it, or at least refer affected people to programs to help change their lives.”
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