The Portland Police Bureau reported a significant rise in traffic stops last year, totaling more than 24,000 as officers targeted speeding and distracted driving.
This marks a remarkable 41% increase from 2023, attributed largely to the Police Bureau’s reinvigoration of its traffic division.
In 2024, the division’s officers accounted for 11,410 stops, an increase from 6,425 in the previous year, according to newly released data.
Last year was the first complete operational year for the re-staffed traffic division, aimed at addressing traffic issues amid a backdrop of rising fatalities on Portland’s roads.
The traffic division had been disbanded in 2021 by then-Chief Chuck Lovell, who needed officers to respond more effectively to 911 calls during a period of escalating violence in the city.
Following an increase in fatal crashes, Lovell reintroduced the traffic division on a limited scale in May 2023, acknowledging the necessity for officers to hone their traffic enforcement skills.
Under current Chief Bob Day, the division has expanded its personnel to 25, including three sergeants and one civilian staff member, as detailed by spokesperson Terri Wallo Strauss.
A lieutenant also dedicates part of his time to oversee both the traffic division and the narcotics and organized crime unit.
Traffic officers concentrate their patrols on what the city classifies as the “high crash network,” comprising the 30 busiest and most dangerous roadways and intersections in Portland.
Most of the traffic stops made last year were due to speeding and distracted driving.
Assistant Chief Amanda McMillan discussed these priorities at a city council committee meeting, emphasizing the significance of addressing serious violations like speeding and impaired driving, which are closely linked to traffic fatalities.
The overall traffic stops across all divisions of the Police Bureau rose to 24,182, an increase from 17,113 in 2023.
While the traffic division played a central role in this surge, other divisions contributed significantly, accounting for over half of the total stops with 12,772.
The data presented comes from the Police Bureau’s annual traffic stops report, which aims to identify any potential racial or demographic disparities in traffic enforcement.
To examine disparities, the bureau compares the percentage of drivers of specific races or ethnicities stopped by police against the proportion of those groups involved in injury collisions, known as the injury collision benchmark.
The report indicated that last year, no racial or ethnic group experienced over- or under-representation in traffic stops compared to the benchmark.
However, there were slight increases in the percentage of Asian and Latino or Hispanic individuals stopped by traffic officers over the last five years, with rates rising from 5% to 6.2% and 11.1% to 15.5%, respectively.
Conversely, the share of white drivers stopped has decreased from 69.5% in 2020 to 61.6% in 2024.
The proportion of Black drivers stopped by traffic officers remained relatively stable since 2020, averaging around 13%, with the exception of a drop to 10% in 2022 when traffic stops were at a historic low.
image source from：oregonlive
