Coos Bay more crime than Portland? — Claim likely false

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation,

A security company is saying that Coos Bay is Oregon’s most burglarized city, far worse than Portland.

The claim is being used to discredit President Trump, who called Portland “lawless”.

Here are problems with crime statistics.

#1. When you defund police, you defund the people recording crime statistics.  Portland defunded its police and cut 100 law enforcement positions.  Surely, this impacted their crime reporting.   This is why cities that defunded their police (LA, Chicago) saw drops in crime during the past few years.

#2. When you defund police, police reduce their response to crimes.   Portland is full of stories of people who called for help, and the police did not show up.  Portland Police stopped showing up to car thefts and directed people to a website.

#3. When liberal judges and prosecutors drop criminal cases in wide numbers, people stop reporting crime.  When people see criminals not getting convicted, they stop reporting lesser crimes like theft, because they feel it will not help.

#4. When you have a criminal backlog crisis, you have more criminal cases being dropped, which impacts how people feel about reporting crime.   Again, when Portland suffers from a lack of public defenders, it causes mass criminal cases to be dropped, and people respond by reporting fewer crimes.

#5. When you have a 911 voicemail, you have fewer people who report crimes.  Portland is famous for people calling 911 (for minor crimes) and getting long delays, and at times a voicemail.

#6. When you make victims go into a police station as opposed to having a visit by police, you will see a reduction in people reporting criminal acts. Defunded police departments are receiving more and more requests from victims to come into a station to report a crime.  This creates fewer victims coming forward.

These are all key reasons why crime numbers get skewed — especially in defunded police departments and places with progressive prosecutors/judges.  This fits Portland.