Portland Police Overwhelmed by Street Takeovers

Portland police remain overwhelmed by illegal street takeovers, despite new laws that target participants and aid efforts to stop them, the Police Bureau said.

The bureau has seen a “dramatic increase” in street takeovers since the COVID-19 pandemic, said Lt. Chadd Stensgaard, who oversees Portland Police Bureau missions against the events.

Late-night street takeovers in Portland, with cars racing each other and doing donuts and other stunts, can range in size, Stensgaard told the Oregonian . Small ones draw crowds of 50 to 100 people; large events have hundreds of cars participating and upwards of 1,000 spectators. The Police Bureau documented 139 street-takeover events in the city last year, he said.

So far in 2024, 19 people have been charged in Multnomah County with misdemeanors under a Portland ordinance banning unlawful street takeovers, compared to nine people charged under the law in all of 2023, according to a newsroom analysis of Oregon Judicial Department data. And police so far have issued 62 traffic tickets under a state law banning street racing this year, compared to 71 such tickets all of last year.

Since a law Gov. Tina Kotek signed last year went into effect in September, police have been able to confiscate street-takeover participants’ cars. Street racing now is punishable by up to 364 days in jail. While observing street takeover events isn’t strictly illegal, spectators who interfere with officers’ work can end up arrested, as well as drivers who use their cars to obstruct a road so that participants can do their tricks.