PORTLAND Oregon (KPTV) – Portland police are preparing for potentially violent protests that will break out on or around Election Day.

“I think there’s a heightened sensitivity to the election and the attention that people and communities across the country are feeling, not just in Portland,” Portland Police Chief said, Bob Day.

Downtown Portland is building its walls in preparation.

“I fully understand the need for this preparation. The responsibility they have to their own business to their customers.

On Tuesday morning, Chief Day said his agency had been preparing for more than a year, had sent outreach officers to national training in Ohio and had their incident commanders attend international conferences in London.

“We can confidently say that we are studying best practices at all levels,” Day said. “We engaged an independent consultant who reviewed our actions over the course of 2020, took the feedback, incorporated it and became part of the process.”

In July, the Oregon Department of Emergency Management (ODEM) enhanced election security across the state, and with funds from the Homeland Security Grant Program, ODEM activated its Coordination Center in preparation for the elections.

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Day said there will be state police teams on the ground and PPB personnel will work 12-hour shifts over an extended period.

“We’re not going to burn out our people to a level like we did in the past, we’re really paying more attention to preparation and well-being to be able to take us for an extended period of time,” Day said.

Day said peaceful protests are welcome but violence will not be tolerated.

“We cannot promise that there will be no violence. We cannot promise that there will be no vandalism. We have made it clear that we are going to pursue this behavior to the best of our ability and put an end to it as soon as possible, and ensure that people are arrested and charged appropriately,” Day said.

PPB asks anyone who sees anything suspicious to contact them immediately.

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