Lessons Learned: City’s response to protests exposed vulnerabilities in Portland’s police accountability system

Thousands of Portlanders took to the streets in 2020 to protest racial injustice. Protesters and law enforcement officers from various agencies interacted night after night in downtown Portland and other locations. Police officers used force at unprecedented levels. Community members filed hundreds of complaints with Independent Police Review, and it initiated additional investigations. This report looks back at 2020 and what the protests taught us about the City of Portland’s police accountability system. We make recommendations to the Police Chief for operational and policy improvements to strengthen the accountability system.