One of the big problems is policing in Portlandia has become so onerous for the cop on the beat that they are bleeding staff at lightspeed. Also the word may be out and no one qualified wants the job, so you’re left with the barrel scrapings.
Cops will avoid a bad department like the plague if possible. A department infested with politics is headed for disaster. My late uncle was a chief in our small town and a new mayor took office and one day the mayor came in and said i want to talk to you about two officers and he called their names and my uncle said good I was about to come to you about them. I want one fired for drug abuse on duty and the other for criminal behavior, stealing on the job. The mayor said you will not fire them, you WILL promote them. One gets me so many votes in this area and the other, a black officer, gets me votes in this area.
My uncle said sorry I can’t in good conscious promote these men, you will have to do it over my objections and the mayor did and my uncle had his time in and put in for retirement the next week. That department was later nearly destroyed from and FBI sting and several officers went to prison for using, buying and selling drugs on duty and for out right stealing some businesses blind.
Portland you treat your cops like crap and tie their hands, your barrel scraps will end up being horrible officers and your abuse complaints, with actual real abuse will sky rocket. You have your major and council to blame, good luck on the coming new paradigm in your city, the law of the jungle.