Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty

We are seeing the dangerous effects of villainizing protesters – every night we see videos of police brutalizing protesters, last week a pipe bomb was thrown at protesters in Laurelhurst Park, and over this wkend a demonstration ended with a right-wing counter protester.. 6/15

shooting a gun towards protesters downtown. Just yesterday, a man wielding a baseball bat ran into multiple businesses displaying Black Lives Matter signs, threatening staff and ripping the signs off. 7/15

We also had incidents including the one over the weekend where a truck driver was beaten up after an altercation with a protester, or last night’s break-in and fires started at the Multnomah County building. 8/15

These actions are all inexcusable. I’m thankful that the Multnomah County building fire did not spread to damage the millions of pieces of PPE for the community to fight the COVID19 pandemic, but if it had, more harm would have been done to the community. 9/15

These fires also put my firefighters at risk and as the Commissioner in charge of Fire that is not acceptable. 10/15

As a child of the Civil Rights movement I have made my philosophy of non-violent direct action abundantly clear. I will consistently call out bad actors when I see them. While I call out PPB and condemn the nightly police violence... 11/15

... the pipe bomb thrown at protesters, and the gun shots towards protesters, I also condemn the small group of protesters’ last night at the MultCo building, and the several protesters who beat up the truck driver over the wkend. 12/15

We face an uphill battle to undo centuries of racist policies and governing and in absence of being Police Commissioner I will continue working with the community and my colleagues to build a future that is more just and safe for everyone. 13/15