Board of Clackamas County, Oregon, Commissioners Emergency Meeting
There are lots of confirmed reports of looting, mostly in the outlying areas, Estacada, Colton, Molalla, Sandy, mostly in the outlying areas. Lots of looting has been taking place, burglaries and whatnot. There’s reports of — and this is not specific to an area but all over the county, both outlying and even closer into town — of people of extremist groups staging gas cans for later destruction. And equally concerning is there are reports of people from other extremist groups, it’s not confirmed Antifa but suspected Antifa — this is more specific to the Estacada area — reports and sightings of people armed with chainsaws. And the goal was to fall telephones poles in hopes of starting further fires.
– Captain Jeff Smith, Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department
After hearing that from Capt. Smith here I’m inclined, Jim [Bernard, Clackamas County Commission Chair], we’ve got to make an appeal to the governor to call in the National Guard. That’s critical information that is very unsettling. There’s not enough law enforcement resources in the sheriff’s department to handle all that. And I’m fine with the curfew county-wide now more so than I was fifteen minutes ago but for crying out loud, we can’t allow a deliberate attack on property and people’s lives and just somehow leave the National Guard out there, sitting at home waiting for the call.
– Commissioner Paul Savas
The issue, and I’m tied in, I’m sure we all are with our connections in the outlying areas of Clackamas County but it’s not only “Is this Antifa?” but it’s people’s perception that there’s a threat and so we have very strong members of our community that believe in protection of life, property, and we could have some unrest which we need to be measuring the pulse of that in our community. And so it’s beyond a specific group.
– Commissioner Sonya Fischer
Yes, I tend to anticipate that if people perceive a threat that is actually confirmed to be a threat that there just might be a little unrest if the authorities refuse to take any steps to address it.
UPDATE: In the meantime, Oregon’s catch-and-release policy for Antifa arsonists doesn’t appear to be working very well.
Portland police arrested a man for starting a fire with a molotov cocktail and released him, only to take him into custody again the next day for allegedly setting six more fires. Domingo Lopez Jr., 45, was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on Sunday evening after police discovered a blaze set on the side of a freeway. A witness identified the suspect, who admitted to police that he’d set the fire.