Councilor Murillo proposes $1 million for police program evaluations; council asks study of an "asset forfeiture fee"

Councilor Maria Murillo on Wednesday asked the Portland City Council to direct $1,000,000 from the Portland Police Bureau’s special revenue (asset forfeiture) fund to pay academic contractors to evaluate bureau programs, and separately asked the city to study an “asset forfeiture fee” that would redirect part of forfeiture receipts to the general fund.

The proposal matters because the police special revenue fund — dollars from state and federal asset forfeiture — totals millions of dollars and is subject to federal and state restrictions and oversight. Council members pressed the bureau and the city attorney’s office for legal and operational details before putting either request to a formal vote.

Murillo said budget note 7 would direct the Police Bureau to use $1,000,000 of the bureau’s special-revenue balance to contract academic researchers for program evaluations. “These evaluations are just as much of a priority as getting new equipment,” Murillo said, arguing the work would make policing more evidence-based. She described the request as a one-time use of forfeiture funds for external evaluation, not a change to the bureau’s base budget.

At the same meeting Murillo also introduced…