Scofflaw City

It's been three years and change since I wrote about the increase in cars tooling around Portland with no license plates, and although the numbers may be down somewhat, I'm still seeing them regularly. They're hard not to notice, in that they're typically being driven in a dangerously aggressive manner.

The trouble started when the pandemic hit, and the Oregon DMV, which is run poorly enough in normal times, pretty much shut down entirely, for months. License plates, driver's licenses, they all became optional. Then came the George Floyd murder and resulting riots, at which point the Portland police quiet-quit. The place became pretty lawless, and although it's recovered a thin veneer of normalcy, it's still a rough city in many places. Including on the roads, where crash fatalities remain at record levels.

The city recently announced that they're going to have the meter maids start towing vehicles that don't display proper plates. But when you read the fine print, you see that if the vehicle has a vehicle ID number showing (typically on a tiny label under the front windshield), they won't tow. That guy who cuts you off at high speed in a car with no license plates or trip permit? He's still cool if the VIN is still on the car.

The point of the city tow program, you see, is to hassle homeless people living in zombie RVs. It won't do anything to stop the armed creep blasting through town in a stolen car selling drugs, robbing pot stores, and doing God-knows-what-all else.

Enforcement of traffic laws is life-and-death important, but you'd never know it by the cops in Portland. They can't be bothered. Last month they actually did it for one day, in one of their ballyhooed special operations, and lo and behold, the state police even showed up! State police don't usually work in Portland. We just get to bankroll most of their budget.

The mission resulted in one towed vehicle, four arrests, 150 citations, 116 warnings and 189 traffic stops.

Portland police thanked OSP and said they “look forward to future joint missions aimed at reducing traffic fatalities and keeping the public safe.”

The "missions" crack me up. This is work that should be done on a routine basis every day, but in Portland, when it happens it's like Christmas. The same goes for busting retail thieves and drug dealers. These things take place only on special "mission" days. The rest of the time, there never seem to be any cops around when you need them. I don't even see them in Starbucks any more.

We sure could have used some Joe Friday action just before the election, when that crazy guy in the Volvo was firebombing ballot boxes in Portland and Vancouver. A Volvo with no plate on the front and a bogus plate on the back. If cars without proper identification weren't so commonplace, maybe this guy would have been on somebody's radar screen before he blew up democracy.

If you haven't seen it, the FBI has posted some pretty interesting video of the Portland bombing. You can make out a little of the guy's face, and between that and that car, they ought to be able to catch up to him eventually.

They say he's a welder or a metal fabricator, which seems like a strong clue. For my money, he's from the 'Couve or thereabouts. The video of the bombing up there indicates to me that he was pretty familiar with the place where that crime occurred. He seems to have been a little slower in Portland.

Anyway, there are so many things that would have to happen in order for Portland to feel safe. Having fewer maniacs on the road would be a start. But I am not holding my breath.