PPB Mobile Precinct aims for ‘confidence in neighborhood safety’

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Parked outside the Lan Su Chinese Gardens, the Portland Police Bureau’s newest mobile police unit is in use even though everything is quiet at this time. This van will be used at community engagement events (like this one), for major crimes and as remote office space for officers at a crime scene.

“I’m hoping all of those things will give people a little more confidence in the safety in this neighborhood,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler told KOIN 6 News.

Wheeler announced the newest addition — this mobile precinct unit — as part of his action plan to increase safety and livability in Old Town.

The mayor said the mobile unit will be placed in “proximity to the lands to guard. You’ll see it throughout the broader community as well.”

PPB also activated a new satellite office at NW 3rd and Davis, he said. “So I think it’s pre-existing, but it hasn’t been staffed. Now it will be staffed and you’ll see a presence there supporting the heightened police presence throughout the neighborhood.”

Brian Hughes, the acting commander of the Central Precinct, said the bureau will “be strategic in how we place it, how we deploy it.”

This van replaces two units that are decades old and cost the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in repairs over the past several years.

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