Portland Police Bureau (Oregon)

The Portland Police Bureau is the law enforcement agency of the City of Portland, the biggest city in the U.S. state of Oregon.

History

The Bureau, first named the Portland Metropolitan Police Force, was created in 1870 by the Portland City Council. The Council chose Phillip Saunders as its first chief of police. He was in charge of a force with six patrolmen and one lieutenant, at a time when the population of Portland was 9,000.^[1] The first member of the force to die in the line of duty was Officer Charles F. Schoppe, who was shot to death in 1874 while trying to disarm a drunken saloon customer.^[1] On April 1, 1908, the Bureau became the first in the United States to hire a female police officer, Lola Baldwin, who became the Superintendent of its newly created Women’s Protective Division.^[2] In 1915, the "Metropolitan Police Force" changes its name to the Bureau of Police.^[1] Four years later, the Bureau becomes the first in the USA to use police radio.^[1] In 1985, Penny Harrington becomes Portland’s first woman Chief of Police, and the first to head a major U.S. police department.^[1]

Portland Police Bureau (Oregon) Media

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Officers from the Traffic Division
Officers of the PPB Bike Squad
Officers with the now-defunct Mounted Unit
An officer with the SERT team, along with Federal Protective Service agents, responding to protest in Downtown Portland in 2017.