Talking Beat - from the Portland Police Bureau City of Portland, Oregon

Chief Bob Day discusses his reasons for coming out of retirement to lead the Portland Police Bureau. He talks about his hope for the organization and the community, and his sense of responsibility to make a difference. He also reflects on his personal experiences, including the loss of his son to cancer, and how it has shaped his outlook on life. Chief Day emphasizes the importance of community relationships, reducing crime and the fear of crime, and organizational growth and development. He encourages curiosity, patience, and open-mindedness in order to create positive change.

On this special edition of Talking Beat, we're talking about the recruiting and hiring of entry level police officers. PPB’s Recruitment Officer Patrick Johnson sits down with two of these officers, recently off probation, Officer Badri and Officer Hamilton, to discuss their perspectives of the bureau as newer additions. In this episode, they will review their firsthand experiences going through the hiring process, as well as their views on training in the academies, culture, time off, and what it’s like on patrol in Portland.

As a reminder, the Portland Police Bureau is currently hiring new and lateral officer positions. A six-figure law enforcement career with a $5,000 signing bonus in Oregon’s largest city is available. Top step officer pay is $113,131. That is before the vast amounts of overtime opportunities, before guaranteed extra incentives that can exceed 30% in more pay and even before the chance to participate in our three-track promotional process (criminalist, detective and/or sergeant) after just 4.5 years of service. In 2022, criminalists made an average of $134,723, detectives made an average of $162,486 and those in the sergeant rank made an average of $183,041.

PPB has the best training on the west coast, likely the country. We have the best-looking badge, best looking uniform, solid gear, a new batch of 70ish technologically advanced patrol cars being rolled out, a 4/10 schedule, over 40 assignment opportunities and we will even pay you while you work out during every shift.

It goes without saying, but Oregon’s backyard is unmatched in its beauty…the ocean, the gigantic mountains, the rivers, the lakes, a desert, a gorge, the waterfalls, the forests, etc. We give you more paid time off than most know what to do with to enjoy life outside of work. Want to travel outside of Oregon? PDX was just rated #1 for on-time departures and is consistently rated the best US airport over the past decade.

We will even reimburse up to $10,000 for your move to the Pacific Northwest while buying everything you need to work the street as one of Portland’s finest!

The hiring process is streamlined and now takes about 5 months, sometimes quicker. To learn more, contact a recruiter or visit https://joinportlandpolice.com

On this special edition of Talking Beat, we're talking about the recruiting and hiring of experienced police officers. PPB's Recruitment Officer Patrick Johnson sits down with two of those lateral police bureau members, Officer Aaron and Detective John, to discuss their perspectives on the bureau after working for other agencies. In this episode they will discuss their firsthand experiences going through the hiring process, as well as their views on training, pay, benefits, culture, time off and what they enjoy about living in the Portland Metro area.

As a reminder, the Portland Police Bureau is currently hiring new and lateral officer positions. A six-figure law enforcement career with a $5,000 signing bonus in Oregon’s largest city is available. Top step officer pay is $113,131. That is before the vast amounts of overtime opportunities, before guaranteed extra incentives that can exceed 30% in more pay and even before the chance to participate in our three-track promotional process (criminalist, detective and/or sergeant) after just 4.5 years of service. In 2022, criminalists made an average of $134,723, detectives made an average of $162,486 and those in the sergeant rank made an average of $183,041.

PPB has the best training on the west coast, likely the country. We have the best-looking badge, best looking uniform, solid gear, a new batch of 70ish technologically advanced patrol cars being rolled out, a 4/10 schedule, over 40 assignment opportunities and we will even pay you while you work out during every shift.

It goes without saying, but Oregon’s backyard is unmatched in its beauty…the ocean, the gigantic mountains, the rivers, the lakes, a desert, a gorge, the waterfalls, the forests, etc. We give you more paid time off than most know what to do with to enjoy life outside of work. Want to travel outside of Oregon? PDX was just rated #1 for on-time departures and is consistently rated the best US airport over the past decade.

We will even reimburse up to $10,000 for your move to the Pacific Northwest while buying everything you need to work the street as one of Portland’s finest!

The hiring process is streamlined and now takes about 5 months, sometimes quicker. To learn more, contact a recruiter or visit https://joinportlandpolice.com

This episode of the Talking Beat contains sensitive information and frank discussions of potential and past violence. If this is something that may not be appropriate for you and your mental health, please check the show notes for more detailed descriptions before listening to this program. Active shooter incidents are often unpredictable and evolve rapidly. The Portland Police Bureau's Community Active Shooter Preparedness presentation is designed to provide community members the skills to react to an active shooter situation.

This episode of the Talking Beat features a discussion on fentanyl. Fentanyl is prevalent in Portland, crossing all demographic boundaries. It affects all races, all socioeconomic groups, and can be a deadly choice.

Terri Wallo-Strauss from our strategic communications unit talks with Lt. Chris Lindsey of PPB's narcotics and organized crime unit and Eric Kilgore, founder of Henry's Uncle, a local nonprofit and host of a podcast by the same name, about the life-changing effects of fentanyl. We hope you'd take away some important information from the show.

"We see a lot of cases where people who purchase from a dealer and they say, "Oh, I thought we were buying Oxycontin," or, "I thought we were buying Xanax." A lot of times, the purchasers don't know what they're getting, and they could be getting a very lethal dose of a highly, highly lethal drug." - Lt. Chris Lindsey

Links:
https://www.henrysuncle.org/

A conversation about recruitment and hiring with Chief Chuck Lovell and PPB's Recruitment Sergeant Trevor Tyler. We receive a lot of questions about our recruitment and hiring efforts and our plans to build the bureau back up in regard to staffing. We hope this provides some good information.