Our Platform:
Care Not Cops is a campaign to reduce the violence of policing and build up community care. We work to dismantle Portland Police Bureau’s gang policing unit, reduce Portland Police Bureau (PPB) budget and staffing, and advocate for the redirection of public resources to community alternatives and programs that address harm with transformative responses and build strong communities.
Dismantle the gang policing unit(s) of the Portland Police Bureau
Demand the City of Portland develop and implement a plan to dismantle PPB’s gang policing unit: the Gun Violence Reduction Team (formerly called the Gang Enforcement Team).
Redirect funds allocated for gang policing towards anti-violence programs unaffiliated with law enforcement.
Scale back police presence in historically Black neighborhoods, communities of color, and areas with high houseless populations in order to reduce the fear, ongoing trauma, violence, and oppressive conditions which impede people’s daily survival.
Build a comprehensive understanding of policing in the greater Portland area, how anti-Black racial profiling figures prominently, and that those who are gang affiliated or perceived as such should not be profiled or forced to have interactions with the police.
Reduce public resources available to the Portland Police Bureau
Reduce the Portland Police Bureau budget by the amount allocated to the gang policing unit.
Demand an immediate freeze in Portland Police Bureau sworn officer hires.
Stop expansion of the Portland Police Bureau budget by ending annual budget increases.
End the use of police responders to health or mental health calls and implement alternative responses that are not led by or contingent on interaction with the police.
Grow resources to empower people, strengthen communities, and center self-determination
Expand definitions of care: Invest in life-sustaining and dignified resources such as housing, transit, food, and education that ultimately reduce people’s vulnerability to targeting by policing.
Disrupt and question who is seen by the state as deserving of care. The state wants us to believe that policing provides us safety and that some people, particularly those who are criminalized, should be denied access to life-sustaining resources and self-determination. We must challenge this punitive framework.
Build community relationships, networks, skills, and resources for mutual aid and transformative responses to harm.
