Portland Street Response Advisory Committee Report
At a glance
Based on uploaded (human-made) captions.
- What: the Portland Street Response Advisory Committee's report of eight recommendations to make the 911-dispatched, non-enforcement crisis response program permanent, including a new bureau (suggested name "Portland Cares").
- Where it stands: presented to the Community & Public Safety Committee on October 20, 2026. No vote; Councilor Kanal spoke of accepting the report and building on it, and the committee voted unanimously for the recommendations the week before.
- Next: council would need to bring a City Code ordinance for recommendations 1, 2 and 8 (draft code is in the report appendix). Next committee meeting is November 17. Cost and funding are tracked on Portland Street Response Funding.
The eight recommendations
- Designate Portland Street Response within a distinct bureau, alongside gun violence reduction and the Office of Violence Prevention, as a co-equal branch with Portland Fire and Rescue and Portland Police (as council resolved in June 2025).
- Codify it as a non-enforcement model.
- Support expansion and organization of call types: welfare checks (about 23,000 a year go to police; about 14,000, or 61%, could move), continued call reallocation studies, field mediation (Dayton model), possibly youth crises.
- Expand to 24/7 (now 6 a.m. to midnight).
- Continue developing the training academy (currently built with a Portland State University social work partnership).
- Culturally responsive, multilingual outreach and community education.
- Budget for recruitment, retention and wellness of staff (secondary trauma, burnout).
- Make the advisory committee permanent: meets at least four times a year, once in each district, with a published annual report and lived-experience members.
Operations
- Since October 1, 2026 the single call type is split into six (person down and unchecked, wellbeing check indoors and outside, mental health crisis, partner agency request, among them); a dedicated Portland Street Response dispatcher starts at the 911 center on December 1.
- The committee asked that each call also be tracked by what it would have been if police responded, so diversion rates can be measured.
Sources
- https://www.portland.gov/council/agenda/community-and-public-safety-committee/2026/10/20
- Video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=GdJHDMGINsU (uploaded human captions)
Discussion time
About 50 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).
| Meeting | Minutes |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-20 - Community & Public Safety Committee | 50 |
Log
- 2026-10-20 - Community & Public Safety Committee - Report presented by co-chair Kaia Sand and Beatrix Lee; questions from Councilor Novick, Councilor Kanal, Councilor Smith and Councilor Morillo; staff lead Stephanie Howard answered on call coding and dispatch. No vote.