PORTLAND, Ore. — The shooting of a 16-year-old student outside Cleveland High School on Monday came just weeks after several Jefferson High School students were injured in separate shootings near that school. The shootings have redoubled conversations about school safety in Portland.
"If there's one place in the community that people should feel safe above all else it's the kids in our schools — and they clearly don't and they're clearly exposed," Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said.
Mayor Wheeler revealed during a press conference Wednesday that the Portland Police Bureau and Portland Public Schools are in talks about putting school resources officers back in schools.
"Definitely we are very mindful of the need to keeping our kids safe in the school setting and we're excited to have any discussions that could potentially lead to the return of officers in schools," PPB Chief Chuck Lovell said.
Lovell admitted that these discussions are still very early in the process, and nothing has been decided yet. But the idea has its advocates.
"It's proven they belong in schools," said Sgt. Aaron Schmautz.
Sgt. Schmautz is currently the president of the Portland Police Association, but he used to oversee the SRO program with Portland police. In fact, he was at the helm when it was disbanded in June 2020. George Floyd had just been murdered by police in Minneapolis, and race and policing were top of mind.
"It's one of those times you'll never forget because you realize something significant was happening," Sgt. Schmautz said.
Sgt. Schmautz thinks it is time for SROs to return to schools, with the right training, because a lot of today's violence, he said, involves people who experienced violence or engaged in violence as a young person.
"We have to reach these kids young, help them, divert them from the criminal justice system, and get them off this pathway to violence," he said.
But the idea that PPS is considering the return of school resource officers wasn't widely known prior to Wednesday's briefing.
"The news is news to us," said Angela Bonilla.
Bonilla is the president of the Portland Association of Teachers. Bonilla said the union does not have an official position on SROs right now, but she said teachers would like a seat at the table if district leaders and police are talking about the issue.
"We understand there are some folks in our community that feel safer when there are police and there are also several folks in our community where police presence does not increase their sense of safety, and we know in order to learn you need to feel safe," Bonilla said.
Nobody from PPS was available for an interview, but a spokesperson sent KGW a statement.
"PPS looks forward to continued discussions with the Portland Police Bureau," the statement read. "We are committed to keeping our schools safe, while working collaboratively with our students and members of our community to find a solution to the senseless gun violence."