A Portland business owner says she's disappointed that the Oregon city’s Property Crimes Unit (PCU) has been disbanded, although the city says it's in no way abandoning the investigation of such malfeasance.
"That's disappointing because even though they are trying to assign it to an officer in each precinct, we're telling people, the criminals, ‘hey, go ahead and do your thing because we're really not going to do anything to stop you,'" Kay Newell, owner of Sunlan Lighting, told Fox News Digital.
"It's an attitude problem. And the only way you stop little kids from doing things is to have consequences. And the same thing applies to adults, they need consequences for misbehavior," she added.
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The unit investigated burglaries, stolen cars, organized retail crime, and identity theft.
Newell previously spoke with Fox News Digital about her windows being smashed after displaying religious-themed decorations in the front window last December.
She said that when she saw her store windows smashed, it made her "angry," adding this is a common occurrence in the city.
"I can understand that the police are so shortened," Newell said.
She went on to say, "We've had so much anti-police for such a long time that their numbers are down. We don't have the manpower. We don't have the budget that we should be spending on our mutual safety. I understand why they're doing it."
The Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Terri Wallo Strauss confirmed to Fox News Digital last week that "It is correct that we are not up to our authorized strength."
"Due to retirements and promotions, we determined there was a need for more detectives to investigate cases involving some of the most vulnerable persons in our community," Strauss said.
She explained further that the current vacancies come from the police department's backlog of trainees.
Strauss continued, "We have seen a wave of retirements and separations over the last few years, but we are doing well in our recruitment and hiring efforts and keeping up with attrition. However, it takes 18 months to 2 years to train officers. Currently, we have 94 officers in various stages of training."
The Bureau has been grappling with a police shortage since 2020.
The city’s public data shows that the department’s number of sworn officers per year has declined from 1001 in 2019 to 801 this year. There are 80 sworn vacancies as well.
Although the unit is being dissolved, the police said they will continue investigating property crimes.
"This is more of a shifting of the work and resources, which is not unusual. Positions get moved around all the time. It rarely makes the news unless it’s significant," Strauss said.
Newell said that neighboring businesses left because the theft of their merchandise was more than "could be tolerated."
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"We've just got a real problem in this. This whole community where we allow the negative behavior to occur without any consequences. Except the taxpayers who are pouring more money down the hole," she said.
"It's a sad story. But if we had sufficient officers to patrol the streets to maintain civil behavior, there were real consequences for people."
