According to a retired Marine Corps officer Gabriel Johnson on ” Fox & Friends, ” officers in Portland, Oregon, are leaving the department because “they are not supported,” according to retired Marine Corps officer Gabriel Johnson “Fox & Friends.”
On Tuesday, retired Marine Corps officer Gabriel Johnson appeared on “Fox & Friends” and revealed that many police officers in Portland, Oregon, are leaving the department.
Exactly what we’ve been warning since July of last year. #defund in Portland will prove to be the example of what NOT to do to save a society.
So sad for the good people in Portland. https://t.co/5wtfgfTbZJ
— Law Enforcement Loyalty PAC (@LELPAC) April 6, 2021
According to Johnson’s account, in July, living only a block away from the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland, which has become an epicenter of violence in the city, he marched into the chaos carrying his American flag.
“I was being called the N-word by Black people. People were chasing me around with baseball bats,” he told Fox News.
Johnson also said to have witnessed a 65-year-old Black veteran who tried to stop the burning of Johnson’s flag, only to be beaten by alleged Black Lives Matter protesters.
“I was actually kind of surprised because I was greeted with this hatred, hatred for the American flag and for what it stands for, and for me, it was really a symbol of justice and a uniting symbol that people should remember to bring us back together,” Johnson told Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt.
Johnson added that people in the city really have “lost a sense of community and the community for everyone, including the officers that are out there serving in and night.”
According to Portland’s police department reports, late last year, it received an “unprecedented” number of officers leaving their jobs mid-career to take lower-paying jobs somewhere else.
The Oregonian reported that a total of 115 officers have left the department since July 2020, representing “one of the biggest waves of departures in recent memory.”
A retiring detective wrote that the community showed officers “zero support.”https://t.co/lNKwyuHMmq #portland— H L Wegley (@hlwegley) April 6, 2021
Then on Sunday, an article was published by the city’s main newspaper, offering a glimpse into the reason why police officers decided to leave.
The Oregonian reported that since July 1, 2020, there were a total of 115 officers that have left the department. This number represents “one of the biggest waves of departures in recent memory.” Accordingly, the city’s main newspaper also stated that it reviewed 31 exit interview statements from these police officers. The exit interviews showed a certain level of disillusion with the job. For instance, a retiring detective reportedly wrote in one that the community showed officers “zero support.”
“The city council are raging idiots, in addition to being stupid. Additionally, the mayor and council ignore actual crime and policing facts in favor of radical leftist and anarchist fantasy. What’s worse is ppb command (lt. and above) is arrogantly incompetent and cowardly.”
Meanwhile, Johnson reiterated the same sentiments as he stated that he believes “the massive exodus” is due to the lack of support. He said, “We knew going into the new year that we were going to have a massive retirement, but now what we’re seeing is a massive exodus, and I think it’s purely just from the way that they are not supported.”
Johnson added, “This is one of the only cities in America where you can actually throw Molotov cocktails at police officers and expect them not to do anything, but what we’ve seen in return from them is professionalism. These folks have stood there. They have taken it.”
He continued, “They’re human just like us and believe me, it does affect them.”
In 2020, Portland, Oregon, was the center of some of the country’s most destructive protests. According to the paper, this also coincided with the city’s largest jump in homicides in 36 years.
According to the report by KOIN, the homicide rate in the city continues to be high, and detectives are having a challenging time keeping up with the workflow.
In 2020 alone, the city experienced 55 killings, and the paper pointed out that the victims ranged from eight months old to 71 years old.
