The Property Crimes Unit of the Portland police will be disbanded due to staffing issues, according to a statement.

The PCU of the Portland, Oregon police department is being disbanded due to staffing problems.

Portland police spokesperson Terri Wallo Strauss confirmed to Planet Chronicle Digital that the department is not at its full staffing level.

Positions are frequently moved around, and this is simply a redistribution of work and resources. It's not unusual for this to happen. However, it only makes the news if it's significant, as Strauss pointed out.

The bureau's PCU examined burglaries, car thefts, organized retail crime, and identity theft.

The addition of a gate and cameras to enhance security prompted concern from business owners.

According to Nienburg, business owners are the lifeblood of the city.

""Small business owners are facing challenges, and it's important to consider their struggles when dismantling property crimes units," she said, becoming increasingly frustrated."

The police chief's decision was based on a plan presented to him by the Bureau's investigative branch leadership to efficiently allocate their resources, as stated by Strauss to Planet Chronicle Digital.

The Portland police department has been grappling with a police shortage since 2020.

The number of sworn officers in the department has decreased from 1001 in 2019 to 801 this year, with 80 sworn vacancies.

"As a result of retirements and promotions, we concluded that our community's most vulnerable individuals required additional detectives to investigate their cases," Strauss stated.

The police department's backlog of trainees is the source of the current vacancies, she stated.

Currently, we have 94 officers in various stages of training, and although we have experienced a wave of retirements and separations in recent years, our recruitment and hiring efforts are keeping up with attrition. However, it takes 18 months to 2 years to train officers.

Despite the dissolution of the unit, the police will still investigate property crimes.

The three officers from the disbanded unit will be transferred to the Special Victims Unit and Sex Crimes Unit, as Strauss informed Planet Chronicle Digital.

Strauss stated that the Special Victims Unit assists survivors of domestic violence, vulnerable adults, and elder crime victims.

The Sex Crimes Unit investigates Measure 11 sexual assaults in the City of Portland involving victims aged 14 to 64, where the suspect is known to the victim, a stranger, or in a non-family role.