Policing the Progressive City

The dangers of "progressive policing" as told through a study of Portland, Oregon.

This is a story of Portland, Oregon, from an outpost of the Hudson's Bay Company, through its founding as a city and the long and lively twentieth century shaped by organized crime, labor unrest, and waves of migration. But more so, this is a story of how over the course of nearly 200 years, the city has pursued "law and order" under the influence of business interests, political climbers, and social campaigners. By maintaining the Portland Police Bureau, a body that has time and again proved a law unto itself, the powers-that-be belie the city's reputation for liberal values and civic mindedness.

An expert chronicler of police abuse of power, Kristian Williams now turns his focus to law enforcement in his own backyard. It is the city's progressive veneer, this book argues, that allows the repressive core of its policing machinery to function so effectively, weathering scandals, co-opting critics, and periodically renewing police legitimacy with well-timed and carefully limited reforms.

Williams's meticulous research and expert storytelling lay bare the Portland Police Bureau's legacy of bigotry, corruption, and violence. The most well-intended efforts to address the community's needs have resorted to the criminal justice system, incarcerating and killing those they purport to help. Portland was among the first in the US to hire a female officer and the first large city with a female police chief, as well as an early and enthusiastic proponent of community policing. Yet the city's public record comprehensively shows racially discriminatory (and disproportionately violent) encounters with law enforcement, a department that commits racist and sexist abuse both inside and outside its ranks, and persistent criminal and retributive actions on the part of its officers. The PPB is an institution impervious to reform, let alone common decency.

Amid the 2020 protests that swept the nation, and after decades of grassroots organizing against police killings in the city, Portland saw almost 200 days of mass uprising against police brutality and far right extremism--exposing the depth of anger aimed at the outrageous actions of the PPB. Policing the Progressive City adds to our understanding of how the US police system perpetuates racism, violence, and exploitation, even in one of America's most loudly liberal environments.