XPost: or.politics, alt.crime, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.politics.trump, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   From: democrat-criminals@mail.house.gov   
      
   https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/493642-396291-91-of-portland-protest-   
   arrests-not-being-prosecuted   
      
   Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has vowed to crack down on "antifa anarchists"   
   after a riot on New Year's Eve, but months of catch-and-release policing   
   has skeptics wondering if anything will change.   
      
   "Right now there's a lot of people that are emboldened to just do whatever   
   they want," Gabe Johnson, co-founder of the Coalition to Save Portland,   
   told KOIN 6 News. Johnson feels city and county officials have set a   
   precedent that will be hard to reverse, and thinks the mayor's   
   announcement is "just more words."   
      
   Out of more than a thousand arrests reported by the Portland Police Bureau   
   and other local law enforcement since late May 2020, only about 8.4% of   
   cases are still open, according to court records. The rest have been   
   dismissed or listed as no complaint, which means authorities are not   
   currently pursuing charges. Multnomah County District Attorney Mike   
   Schmidt has repeatedly argued cases could be reopened later, but KOIN 6   
   News could only find a handful of instances where that has happened in the   
   past seven months.   
      
   Meanwhile, demonstrators have embraced the lack of prosecutions as a win.   
      
   "If (the police) want to arrest 50 people a night, then, OK, that's what   
   they're going to do," Braxton with Black Unity PDX told KOIN 6 News in   
   December. "Their jail is too small. They don't have room for that many   
   people and the DA isn't prosecuting anymore. So we won that, too."   
      
   Braxton hasn't been arrested at the protests, but said he knows many   
   people who have. He described PPB's process as "BS."   
      
   "They just arrest you, you get let out in the morning, depending on how   
   much they hate you they'll either let you out at like 3 a.m. or like 9   
   a.m.," he said. "Like if there's somebody who always yells at them and   
   they know you, then you're not getting out until sometimes the afternoon."   
      
   First timers or people who aren't being "obnoxious" often get let out   
   right away, Braxton observed.   
      
   "Then you get a no complaint on your court date," he added. "So it's like,   
   why are you arresting people?"   
      
   "I'm prosecuting cases where people are breaking things," Schmidt told   
   KOIN 6 News in December.   
      
   The cases his office has presumptively declined to prosecute are ones that   
   don't involve property damage, theft or the threat or use of force against   
   another person. Interfering with a peace officer and disorderly conduct   
   are the most common charges associated with the unrest in Portland.   
      
   "Just because there was an arrest, it is not, and should not be assumed   
   that there was damage because the vast, vast, vast, overwhelming majority   
   of the cases referred to our office during these protests have no evidence   
   of that," Schmidt said.   
      
   Some of the cases his office is prosecuting include the use of high-   
   powered lasers, felons in possession of body armor and arson.   
      
   There are instances where charges like criminal mischief (vandalism), riot   
   or assaulting an officer have also been dropped. Schmidt said PPB   
   sometimes refers cases to his office without enough evidence to prosecute.   
      
   When KOIN 6 News spoke with PPB spokesman Greg Pashley in December, he   
   didn't disagree with the district attorney. Pashley said many of the   
   arrests had to do with public order, such as blocking streets, and   
   therefore did not involve damage. He also said many arrests happen late at   
   night, when it's difficult to contact victims or collect video   
   surveillance or other evidence to refer to the DA's office.   
      
   "From the police standpoint, we could make an arrest based on probable   
   cause in the middle of the night, but still have follow-up to do in the   
   days and weeks following in order to make that a good case," Pashley said.   
   "And the district attorney has of course a slightly different view of that   
   case and then has to make decisions based on the information that they're   
   provided after that initial arrest.   
      
   "It seems to be that you can almost get away with anything in this city,   
   and this is what we're not OK with," said Angela Todd, cofounder of the   
   Coalition to Save Portland. "It's OK for everyone to feel like they have   
   rights, but as soon as those take away rights of other people, we have   
   some concerns."   
      
   The coalition's other co-founder is Johnson, a Marine veteran who made   
   headlines by placing American flags on the fence surrounding the Federal   
   Courthouse over the summer. Johnson and Todd call the unrest in Portland   
   riots, not protests, drawing a line when lawbreaking begins.   
      
   "Free speech is not breaking the law," Todd said. "Lighting something on   
   fire is breaking the law, busting windows, looting ... We have laws on the   
   books. I suggest we just enforce those."   
      
   The Coalition to Save Portland has gotten particularly involved in the   
   situation with the Red House on North Mississippi Avenue, where people   
   barricaded streets in a neighborhood after deputies arrested alleged   
   trespassers in early December. Though the most dramatic parts of the   
   standoff have ended, residents say some demonstrators continue to occupy   
   the property.   
      
   Johnson went beyond the barricades in early December and claims he was at   
   one point surrounded by 12 to 16 "armed militants." He said he filed a   
   police report the next day and was told the probability of it being   
   prosecuted was "next to none."   
      
   "If I were to arm myself and walk down the middle of the street in   
   Portland and forcibly keep somebody against their own will, I would be   
   arrested and prosecuted," Johnson said. "So what does that tell you?"   
      
   KOIN 6 News asked PPB about the incident Johnson mentioned. A spokesman   
   said he could not provide additional details because the reports have not   
   been processed. PPB also could not immediately provide details on the   
   status of dozens of other calls for service related to activity at the Red   
   House.   
      
   Todd said people in the neighborhood have been threatened with firearms,   
   harassed and intimidated to the point where they're afraid to speak out   
   for fear of retaliation.   
      
   "There has been no prosecution. I'm a hundred percent sure," she said. "If   
   our district attorney Mike Schmidt is not going to prosecute people for   
   threatening people with firearms … then how do we close the loop on that   
   type of behavior? There's not a way to do it."   
      
   The total number of arrests associated with demonstrations and occupations   
   has steeply declined since the summer, but a riot on New Year's Eve in   
   downtown Portland added another three to the tally and prompted a three-   
   part commitment from Mayor Wheeler.   
      
   He said he wants federal, state, county and local law enforcement to   
   convene to deal with "anarchist violence" as soon as possible. He wants   
      
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