Suspect Suspects

By scrapping its gang database, is Portland putting political correctness above public safety?

- Josh Saul

HE WAS BUSTED FOR HIS FLANNEL coat—and not by the fashion police. The authorities stopped him on his way home from work and thought he was in a gang. Or so the man realized after police in Portland, Oregon, sent him a letter saying they’d added him to a list of known gang members. “I did tell the cops that I use[d] to bang,” the man wrote in a 2015 appeal letter obtained by Newsweek (his name was redacted from it). “But I am no longer active and…[am trying] to get my life straighten[ed] out and take care of my two kids…. I should not have to stop wear[ing] my coat (that keeps me warm) for people not to discriminate against me.”

He isn’t the only one complaining. For about three decades, police departments have used databases to keep track of suspected gang members, often sharing their lists with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who target those on the list for deportation. Police officials say the databases help detectives quickly determine which witnesses or suspects they should focus on after a violent crime, identify rival gangs that might be responsible and build larger cases—whether it’s gunrunning or human trafficking—by making connections between street-level crooks and kingpins.