Oregon Training Rules Could Prevent Portland from Hiring More Officers

Portland's mayor wants to add 200 sworn police officers and 100 non-sworn positions to the police bureau over the next three years, but is it possible to do that?

The first hurdle, of course, is finding 200 qualified candidates who want to be police officers and can pass the background testing and the mental and physical tests. The second hurdle is getting them on the force.

There are three clear options to find new officers: recruit officers already trained in Oregon or another state, bring back retired Portland officers for a limited period , or hire new officers who need to go to the police academy,.

The state requires that all new officers go to the state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, and the academies the officers are required to complete are held at certain times with limited enrollment, KATU reports.

Every agency in Oregon fights for one of 40 spots in academies held by Oregon’s DPSST. The centralized training ensures that every law enforcement officer in Oregon receives at least the same basic level of training, the state said. It would take some near-perfect logistics to pull off hiring and training 200 officers under the current system within three years.