Portland Police Association Leader: Officer Morale ‘As Bad as It’s Ever Been’

Appearing Monday on NBC Nightly News, Portland Police Association Executive Director Daryl Turner warned officer morale is “as bad as it’s ever been” as the Democrat-run city experiences a sharp rise in violent crime.

A transcript is as follows:

GABE GUTIERREZ: We came to Portland because we were looking at police departments across the country and it’s no secret that morale is down. In fact, according to one recent survey, it’s having profound effects on police departments — 40 percent increase in retirements compared to the previous years, 18 percent increase in resignations. In Portland, the issue is especially pronounced. You’ve had about 115 officers either resign or retire since July of last year. With that in mind, we wanted to come to the city and speak with a few of the officers. We spoke with the executive director of your police union, Daryl Turner, and we put to him that question how morale was in that city. Take a listen.

DARYL TURNER: Morale is as bad as it’s ever been before. We’re dealing with rioting at a level and sustained violence that we’ve never seen before, we’re looking at violence in our city, gun violence in our city, like we’ve never seen before. We’re looking at the most catastrophic staffing levels that we’ve ever seen before; we’re looking at budget cuts to defund us at levels never seen before.

“All of those things play into the morale of a part into the morale of a police officer coming to work every day, trying to do your job, trying to do it right with all these roadblocks in your way,” he concluded.