PORTLAND — A June 2026 report on Portland police staffing found that officers take an average of 20 minutes to respond to high-priority calls. The report noted that response times have doubled while overall calls for service have decreased. The Portland City Council commissioned the report in February 2026 and adopted a seven-minute response goal in April 2026.

The report indicated that current staffing levels result in about 80% of child abuse reports going unassigned to an investigator, with the majority of property crimes also uninvestigated. The Portland Police Bureau has 877 authorized positions for sworn officers, with approximately 100 currently in training. One out of every four trainees does not complete the probationary period, and the bureau maintains vacancies to afford overtime payments.

To address staffing challenges, the report projected that restoring staffing to 1,054 sworn officers by 2035 would cost an additional $37 million annually. Portland Police Bureau Chief Bob Day stated, "As immensely proud as I am of the Portland Police Bureau, I recognize that we are failing in many areas in the level of support we're able to provide Portlanders."