Sow the Wind

A favorite pundit of ours, H. L. Mencken:

• Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard

Portland is about to reap that whirlwind:

• Portland just lost a huge chunk of its police presence. On Friday, Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts wrote an email to his deputies, stating his concern for their safety. “I will not place you at unnecessary personal and professional risk,” the email read.
  
  The city of Portland is largely patrolled by the Portland Police Bureau and receives support from neighboring counties like Clackamas Sheriff’s Department. With this decision, remaining officers in the area will no doubt feel the stress of being understaffed.

The sheriff determined that his officers faced a hostile populace on one hand AND a hostile local government on the other:

• Portland officer have repeatedly been told to stand down during past protests. Mayor Wheeler tends to side with the liberal agenda, taking protests as just people expressing their feelings. But things have gotten violent a number of times.

And rather than see his deputies sued into oblivion and his employers (the county voters) footing the bill for frivolous suits, Sheriff Robert's severed his department's relationship with Portland.

To this we say, "Well played Sheriff." This is disengagement on a scale unseen in this country for decades, maybe ever. It probably wouldn't affect a municipality like Chicago - adequate local resources - but for Portland? It could be (will be?) devastating.