There is no sheriff in Wheelerville

When you think of all the things that have been normalized in Portland over the last few years, it's quite a depressing list:

• Street camping
• Untreated mental illness
• Drug abuse and addiction
• Gang warfare
• Political rioting
• Car theft
• Burglary
• Dangerous driving
• Unregistered vehicles
• Vandalism
• Graffiti

I haven't kept up on prostitution. I assume that probably belongs on the list, too.

But I would have thought that the cops would have time to work on stalking cases. This national story, of a world-class athlete whose career has been derailed by a stalker who moved to Portland to torture her, shows me how wrong that assumption would be. As recounted in Willy Weed:

Multnomah County charged Donnelly with six counts of violating the protection order. But he fled the state, and Portland police repeatedly told Infeld they couldn’t take any further action when he was outside the state, ESPN reported. The bureau blames low staffing and resources strapped by responding to 100 consecutive nights of protests.

“I know that a lot of crime victims felt as though their cases weren’t being followed up on and, in many cases, they weren’t,” police spokesman Sgt. Greg Pashley told ESPN.

Portland city government has always been weak, but these days it seems nonexistent. Blame whomever you want, but the police force is now officially, completely worthless.