Portland Public Safety Commissioner Tells Residents not to call 911
Portland, Oregon’s 9-1-1 emergency service hotline is under immense pressure due to a spiraling drug crisis, prompting the city’s Public Safety Commissioner to urge residents to only call 9-1-1 for life-or-death emergencies or active crimes in progress.
Commissioner Rene Gonzalez took to X (formerly Twitter) this week to explain that Portland’s 9-1-1 system has been overwhelmed with calls due to the large number of drug overdoses in the city:
“Our 911 system is getting hammered this morning with a multiple person incident – multiple overdoses in northwest park blocks. Please do not call 911 except in [the] event of life/death emergency or crime in progress (or chance of apprehending suspect),” Gonzalez said on X.
Gonzalez’s announcement comes just hours after a recent incident in which eight individuals experienced life-threatening overdoses on the city’s streets, likely the result of cocaine tainted with fentanyl.
Three years ago, Oregon voted in favor of decriminalizing several hard drugs for recreational use. This policy shift has now emboldened drug use and exacerbated public safety concerns. In September, the Portland City Council unanimously passed a measure prohibiting the public consumption of hard drugs. However, the city’s ability to enforce this law remains contingent on the passage of state legislation granting local authorities the necessary regulatory powers.
Commissioner Gonzalez recognized the challenges posed by a combination of legal changes, including Oregon’s legalization of drugs and the state’s lack of outdoor camping restrictions for the homeless. These changes have left the city with limited options for addressing issues that affect the overall quality of life for its residents. For example, last July Portland opened a “park” for homeless residents to set up camp. This immediately resulted in the area being filled with rampant drug use and a series of overdoses.
“The combination of Measure 110, 9th Circuit law on outdoor camping has really tied the city’s hands to address these issues,” explained Gonzalez. “And frankly, we were probably too tolerant and accepting as a city, even without those things, on some of these behaviors that really destroyed the livability for everyone else.”
In response to this crisis, many are calling for a reevaluation of Oregon’s drug decriminalization policies and an examination of their unintended consequences. While harm reduction remains an important goal, critics argue that these policies have led to a surge in drug-related problems, the very problem it was attempting to solve.
