Recently I described the unfathomable decision by the Portland Police Bureau, with the support of Mayor Ted Wheeler, to allow far-right street gangs to brawl with counter-protestors on Portland streets without the intervention of law enforcement. In the ensuing chaos, gunfire was exchanged between participants downtown, while neighbors in the Parkrose neighborhood were traumatized by rolling fights and property damage.

Amazingly, in the immediate aftermath of the violence, Wheeler insisted to the public that the police strategy had actually been a success. As I wrote at the time, “It is startling that the mayor thinks that the terrorization of a Portland neighborhood counts as a success if actual casualties were confined to the brawlers.”

Now, weeks later, Wheeler has reversed his previous assertions that the police adopted the correct strategy. At a city council meeting on Wednesday, he said that, “It is clear based on the public outcry, on the media outcry, on the national front, that that strategy was not the right strategy. I think we can all acknowledge that. I take full responsibility for it.” Oregon Public Broadcasting also reports that, “Wheeler said he’s asked the police bureau to provide a ‘thoughtful, dispassionate analysis’ of the bureau’s approach to the demonstrations. ‘We’re still trying to find the right recipe,’ he said.”

While Wheeler’s acknowledgment of obvious error is welcome, it needs to be weighed against his nonsensical earlier response to the clear failure of the police strategy, as well as his mistaken endorsement of it prior to implementation. It should not require a “public outcry, media outcry” for the mayor to recognize facts as plain as these. Alongside reports that the PPB will be exempted from the covid vaccine mandate that supposedly applies to all city employees (according to OPB, this makes Portland the only major U.S. city with a special vaccination exemption for police officers), Wheeler seems once again unable to provide proper oversight or control over the police bureau he heads. If the mayor is truly unable to direct Portland police to perform such an unobjectionable task as protecting Portland residents from terrorization by violent street gangs, he should seriously consider looking for another line of work.