Beaverton police review finds low use-of-force rate; city outlines phased response to 59 recommendations

The Beaverton Police Department and city staff told the City Council on April 15 that they have begun implementing recommendations from a Polis Solutions review of BPD use-of-force policies and practices, moving 34 recommendations into an implemented category, 24 into in-progress work and identifying one recommendation as not workable.

The Polis report, presented to the council in April 2024, identified 59 recommendations across nine categories, Deputy Chief Alan Jolfes said. “BPD’s use of force rate is 0.17 percent, which is well below the national average of 1 to 3 percent,” Jolfes said. He told councilors the review also found “a strong internal culture at BPD of training and accountability.”

City and department leaders said the report highlights both strengths and areas for improvement. “The command team spent time reviewing all of those for viability and implementation,” Jolfes said, describing a green/yellow/red framework the department used to prioritize the recommendations. The green category represents items that are readily implemented or already completed; the yellow items are in process or dependent on further work; and the single red item was judged not workable.

Why it matters: Councilors pressed for specifics because many recommended changes — particularly around training, equipment upgrades and data analytics — require staff time and budget commitments. Police officials said some items will take longer because of budget limits and the need to negotiate policy changes with labor representatives.

City staff said priorities include upgrading taser platforms, improving analytics capacity to make better use of existing crime and body-worn-camera data, and increasing grant-writing capacity. Deputy Chief Jolfes said equipment upgrades have become more expensive: “Our current taser platform … we’ve been carrying for probably over 10 years. The cost per unit to upgrade … is triple what it was when we purchased these.” He also said a simulation trainer the department used previously now costs about $16,000 and up.

Councilors asked for follow-up data and comparisons. Councilor Kimmy said she wants the department to use data to identify geographic “hotspots” for social-service responses and asked for training budget comparisons to similar cities. The department acknowledged it has “one crime analyst” and said better analytics would help drive patrol decisions and connect the council with targeted social-service needs.

Deputy Chief Jolfes and Chief Stacy Jepsen described community-engagement steps taken since the report, including outreach to Afghan, West African immigrant and refugee groups and the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. Jolfes said Polis suggested BPD strengthen defensibility of written policies for litigation and make better use of data to drive patrol responses.

Public commentary and follow-up: During the question period councilors discussed the Police Activities League; Jolfes said PAL previously existed in Beaverton but was largely funded by the police budget and was wound down after it proved financially unsustainable. Councilors also asked staff to return with more data on domestic-violence reporting trends and training investments as budget deliberations approach.

What’s next: The department said it would continue reporting progress to the council and expects some items to require labor negotiation and budget allocations before full implementation. Councilors signaled they will scrutinize training and budget requests during the upcoming budget process.