I hope this happens every night
A crowd of 100 people wreaked havoc in downtown Portland, Oregon – smashing storefront windows, lighting dumpsters on fire and causing at least $500,000 in damage – but police officers didn't stop them. https://t.co/u1aY4c6k8h
— ABC News (@ABC) October 19, 2021
“The reason that we did not intervene goes back to what we talked about last month with House Bill 2928 and the restrictions placed on us in a crowd control environment,” KOIN reports that Portland Police Lt. Jake Jensen said in a neighborhood meeting Thursday.
The legislation in question is House Bill 2928, which prohibits the use of things like pepper spray and rubber bullets for crowd control. However there is an exception – when the circumstances constitute a riot and if the officer using the chemical incapacitant reasonably believes its use is necessary to stop and prevent more destructive behavior.
Cops can’t use less lethal for crowd control, violence escalates.
They did half a million dollars in damage in one night.
I hope this happens every night for weeks and months on end until there is nothing left.
Why?