#police-funding

#police-funding

A staffer in Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards' office who ran a controversial political action committee that often skewered county leadership has been fired. Vikki Payne, a communications and project manager who worked for Brim-Edwards since she began her term as commissioner in 2023, is no longer employed with the county, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. Payne was terminated on August 4.

The union is proposing to civilianize five desk-bound positions currently filled by police officers, including four intake technicians handling misconduct complaints and one IT worker.

Wednesday's budget discussions resurfaced tensions over police funding, particularly after a few councilors threw around the word "defunding" to describe the shift of an extra $2 million from the Portland Police Bureau's budget to the parks bureau. Councilors Angelita Morillo and Candace Avalos chastised their colleagues who used a boogeyman approach to drum up public fear over the move. "I'm not interested in slogans that are just trying to make political tension out of what is a fiscal responsibility," Avalos asserted.

Oakland Interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins unveiled a proposed budget addressing a $265 million shortfall, emphasizing fiscal stability and strategic spending for public safety.

As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolutely autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world's problems.