Why report a percentage rather than absolute numbers ?
Might there be some other factors involved ? Was dismantling this Team de-funding ?
"Portland isn't exceptional: Violent crime has risen nationwide during the pandemic, as young people find themselves with no work, no school and few prospects. But in this city, the shooting wave occurred after the dismantling of a Portland police squad called the Gun Violence Reduction Team, which had a history of disproportionately arresting Black people."
"This is a complex topic for which there is no easy answer," says bureau spokesman Lt. Greg Pashley. "The PPB is interested in community input on this topic, not just for information after the fact, but we would like to hear from the community as to what their expectations are of the police regarding shooting violence, especially in light of the record number of shootings last year."
Brian Renauer, director of the Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute at Portland State University, says the disparity in violence has been developing for years, dating back to previous economic recessions."
