Portland PD Chief Steps Down So Black Officer Could Fill Job

Portland, Oregon police chief Jami Resch announced on Monday (June 8) that she was stepping down amid protests against police brutality, ending her tenure after less than six months on the job.

According to the Oregonian, Chuck Lovell, the former captain of the Police Bureau’s Community Services Division, has been named chief, becoming the city’s fourth African American to hold the position.

Resch, who is white, said she asked Lovell to take her place and described him as “the exact right person at the exact right moment.” Lovell has been a member of the Police Bureau since 2002, according to the newspaper.

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“She felt like now was the right time for her to step back and for me to step forward,” Lovell said at a news conference. “It was a shock for me, I’ll be honest. But when your boss comes to you and she says, ‘The community needs you. The police bureau needs you.’ To me, I felt like it’s not the time to shrink and back down.”

She continued: “Leadership’s necessary right now. There’s a lot of hurt people. There’s a lot of healing that we need to start moving towards. I felt like if I in some small way can be the start of the community starting to feel some of that healing, it was my duty to do that.”  

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon released a statement on Sunday calling the Police Bureau’s response to protesters “excessively violent and dangerous.” 

“The role of police is to facilitate, not disperse, peaceful protest,” the organization wrote. “But in Portland for the last several years, the police consistently approach people gathered to protest against the police and white supremacy with intimidation and excessive force.”

George Floyd was killed by former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin on May 25. Four former officers have since been arrested and charged for their involvement in the 46-year-old’s death, including Chauvin, who was initially charged with third-degree murder and second degree manslaughter. 

Last Wednesday, Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison upgraded the charges against Chauvin to Second Degree murder for the death of Floyd on and also charged the three other officers involved, J Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane with aiding and abetting murder. The three officers were fired and have remained under investigation since the day after Floyd died.