Residents press Umatilla council for more patrols, lights and cameras after shootings

Umatilla residents on Thursday pressed city officials for faster action on neighborhood safety after a string of shootings, pressing for more police patrols, improved street lighting and expanded use of cameras near schools and sporting fields.

At a special afternoon meeting focused on recent shootings, residents described dark alleys, frequent speeding and limited police presence. "I think more presence is going to stop [the violence]," said resident Glenn Bradley of 732 J Street, urging the council to fill staffing gaps. Another resident, Jeff of 838 Street, said he had installed solar lights and cameras after a break-in and that patrols had not consistently responded; he added, "I still keep loaded guns at my house because they're still there." Angel, a resident of 1080 Street, said two streetlights near her home were out for months before she received a response from Public Works.

City staff described a two-part short- and longer-term approach. Staff said the city has purchased roughly $20,000–$25,000 of LED fixtures to replace older amber lights on 7th and 8th Streets and will supply them to Pacific Power for installation; staff said Pacific Power committed to replacing about four or five lights per week and the city expects the immediate replacements to be completed "by the end of the month." Staff advised residents to report outages to city hall (the recorded number cited at the meeting) so Public Works can log and, where possible, schedule replacements.

Police Chief Bridge described staffing constraints and enforcement activity as context for residents’ concerns. Bridge said the department has 16 sworn positions on paper but is down several officers due to vacancies and leave; he said increasing officers would improve patrol coverage but also noted the cost implications. According to the chief’s presentation, moving-vehicle citations the city issued rose markedly in recent years — the chief cited roughly 392 citations in 2023, about 1,700 in 2024 and approximately 1,228 so far in 2025 — and he told the council a fully burdened patrol officer costs about $140,000 annually, with first-year hiring, training and vehicle costs raising year-one expense closer to $250,000.

Staff and police also discussed surveillance technology. City staff described the existing camera budget (roughly six to 10 cameras purchased per year) and said the 7th/8th Street corridor currently lacks municipal cameras. A city/police speaker described a commercial license-plate–reading system (referred to as Flock) used in other jurisdictions that records plates into a 30-day rolling database, saying it can help investigators follow vehicles across jurisdictions when footage from standard city cameras only shows taillights.

Residents and council members raised the role of utilities in maintaining streetlights. Staff said most poles on the affected streets are maintained by Pacific Power under a franchise agreement; the city’s attorney and staff said the franchise requires maintenance but lacks strong enforcement remedies for noncompliance. The city said it will pursue options to amend franchise agreements (using an available amendment process with notice periods) to add clearer maintenance deadlines and possible remedies, and it will explore recouping replacement costs from the utility.

Council action: A motion was made and seconded asking the committee to recommend increasing funded police full-time equivalents, create a grant and application process to help residents install lights and cameras, and pursue amending the city’s franchise agreements with utilities to strengthen maintenance requirements. The motion was seconded and a roll call was taken; the meeting transcript records the motion and roll call but does not provide a complete yes/no tally in the public record excerpt.

What happens next: City staff said they will continue to push Pacific Power to follow its franchise obligations, will document outages reported by residents and will draft amendment language and grant parameters for council consideration. The mayor also announced a public open house on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, from 6:30–8:00 p.m. at the police station to discuss the police-station building project and continue community engagement.

Reporting note: Articles quote residents and staff as recorded in the meeting transcript. Where numeric figures were given by presenters, this article reports them as the presenters stated them during the meeting.