Portland Police Bureau Faces Wave of Retirements

The police bureau gained 61 officers last year, but lost 72.

PULL OVER: Portland police officers at Northeast 82nd Avenue and Tillamook Street. (Brian Burk)
By Lucas Manfield

Mayor Ted Wheeler has been promising for years to hire more police officers. In September 2022, WW reported that the city’s 791 cops ranked Portland 48th among the country’s 50 largest cities in police per capita.

Now, 16 months later, an aggressive hiring effort has paid small dividends. Portland still has only 791 cops, according to a January staffing report from the Portland Police Bureau.

But Wheeler spokesman Cody Bowman pointed out that the problem isn’t that the bureau is failing to hire—it’s that so many cops are retiring. The bureau gained 61 officers last year, but lost 72.

“Mayor Wheeler is grateful for the Portland Police Bureau’s ongoing hiring efforts, which continue to show success,” Bowman said.

Capt. Brian Hughes gave city commissioners an overview of those efforts last November, which include advertisements at gyms and airport baggage claims, automated recruitment text messages, and practice rounds at the police training obstacle course.

Meanwhile, Hughes said, the bureau is bracing for another wave of retirements: Another 130 cops will be eligible to retire this November.

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