Armed Security Guards Help Southern Oregon Police to Keep Tabs on Crime

Police in Southern Oregon are increasingly relying on the services of armed security guards to help them keep crime under control.

There are 2,300 Armed Guards Patrolling Oregon Streets

In the last year, the number of armed guards assisting the police has grown by 10% to 2,300, while the ranks of unarmed security officers have also swollen by 10% to 17,000.

Statewide Demand for Private Security Guard Assistance

The increasing demand for private security guard assistance is statewide, according to Sam Tenney of the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards.

He says the majority of private security guards work in Portland, a city besieged by drug abuse and homelessness and where the police battle to cope with the volume of calls involving theft and trespassing.

Gunshots and open drug dealing in Portland’s historic downtown, coupled with increased trespassing, prostitution, minor crimes, and slow police response rates, prompted business owners and landlords to appoint private security guards to protect their properties.

The guards patrol the area between Union Station and Southwest Ash Street.

Tenney says Southern Oregon police departments cannot appoint enough officers because of budgetary constraints.

He says some departments have not recovered from the decline of the timber industry and its contribution to local government coffers. Tenney says the police do not have unlimited resources, even when they are fully staffed.

Sgt Brent Mack of the Medford Police Department (MPD) explains that theft and trespassing complaints are earmarked as minor events that do not receive immediate police attention. However, the MPD has developed a working liaison with a private security company that acts as its ‘eyes and ears’.

Mack says the MPD has an online reporting system on which security guards can submit information, including photographs of suspects, about minor crimes that police can investigate later.

He described the working relationship between the police and private security as a ‘well-oiled machine’.

Private Security-Police Liaison is Not Without Criticism

However, the police-private security relationship is not without criticism.

In 2021, a private security company in Portland came under fire for illegally removing homeless people camping on the city’s public sidewalks. Questionable reports by Echelon Protective Services prompted the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office not to bring criminal charges against the suspects.

The DA’s office said it would not rely on testimony from the security guards unless they could provide corroborating evidence.

In another event in mid-2021, the use of private security guards came under scrutiny after the fatal shooting of Freddy Nelson (49) at Portland’s Delta Park Center. The armed security guard responsible for the shooting did not have a license to carry an armed weapon.