Public Safety for Gresham

Our Police need to be properly funded so they can keep our community safe and combat the crime wave we’re experiencing.  We need to bring staffing levels up, work to bring our specialty law enforcement teams back, and create a long-term sustainable financial plan.  This expansion of our police force should include violence prevention programs for our youth, ongoing community engagement, and enhancement of the police behavioral unit to ensure Gresham’s police force is made up of individuals the community can continue to count on.

What We’ve Done

• Allocated $5.2 million of federal ARPA funds used to support public safety.
• Hiring incentives for Police officers and six non-sworn police department positions
• Supported expansion of the Police Mental Health/Services Coordination Team to add two new clinicians.
• Supported an additional four firefighter limited-term positions.
• $1 million Federal ARPA funds toward the youth violence prevention Program.
• Supported funds to support community-based organizations that provide services for youth.
• Fought to ensure Gresham led the region in getting $500,000 ARPA grants to small businesses quickly during COVID to protect jobs during shutdowns.
• Led the way for continued incentive programs for small and large companies, extended the garage to storefront program, and supported the enterprise zone program which creates higher wage jobs and training programs for Gresham’s residents.