PRIVATE SECURITY PORTLAND BUSINESSES SHOULD INVEST IN RADICAL COMPASSION
JEREMIAH HAYDEN For the past few years, downtown Portland businesses have increasingly begun to hire security guards in order to protect their property from those most affected by the many crises of our world. This is a mistake. I work and attend school downtown and, like many people, I am afraid at times. But the decision to contract with armed, unaccountable, minimally-trained private security companies is as dangerous as it is commonplace, and the impact it has on employees and the community in which many of us live and work is real. It is important to understand the current context of Portland and to consider how the Portland Business Alliance, Portland Police Association and conservative Political Action Committees (PACs)—like People for Portland—have engaged in a full-court press intended to control the levers of power in our
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OPINION
city. These organizations have consistently used their resources on disingenuous ad campaigns meant to skew perceptions of Portland as they continue to over-police people who lack resources. On the other side of houseless sweeps and the general criminalization of poverty is a vulnerable community—a community that is, as ever, disproportionately made up of the very people who are represented in the flags flown by these same businesses from time to time. With the expansion of the freshlyminted Portland Street Response, there has been some hope for a more compassionate strategy moving forward. Researchers at Portland State found that by sending social workers to meet people who are in crisis where they’re at and help solve underlying structural issues, the program has shown
amazing results without criminalizing mental illness and poverty. To hire private security— despite reports on the counter-productive practices employed by these private security companies—is, at best, to neglect the safety of the communities in which Portlanders work and do business. Worse is to read the available data and believe that this brand of violence is the right thing to perpetuate. Some might be surprised to learn how low the bar is for those who want to become security guards in Oregon. The Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) sets the minimum standards to begin an Armed Security Professional application. One must be over 21 years of age, have earned a GED or higher and be able to pass a background check. If those standards are met, they can then enter a required 14-hour unarmed training
program before continuing on to a 24-hour armed training program—altogether less than one full-time workweek. Without proper and consistent training, security guards may themselves be in danger while simultaneously endangering the public. The presence of a weapon alone can be a catalyst for a negative outcome in an escalated situation. This past June, a Southeast Portland security guard was shot with his own gun during a midnight fight over a trespassing violation. In this case, no one else was around. But what happens in a similar situation in which bystanders are present and stray bullets are flying around our city? In July, a security guard in Seattle was arrested for stabbing a man over a trespassing violation. Police found the security guard’s knife hidden in a bag of chips in a break room
PSU Vanguard • AUGUST 3, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
