вЂњI believe if the proper tools were in place for our law enforcement officers, this wouldnвЂ™t even have happened.вЂќ вЂњLetвЂ™s please untie the hands of our law enforcement officers,вЂќ VasquezвЂ™s brother-in-law, Don Osborn, said outside the business where Vasquez was slain. Now, the liberal Pacific Northwest city is implementing novel solutions aimed at improving safety, including adding traffic barrels to prevent drive-by shootings and suspending minor traffic stops so officers can focus on immediate threats.Д«ut critics say OregonвЂ™s largest city - where the population has grown by nearly 50%, to more than 650,000, over the past few decades - is flailing. PortlandвЂ™s police department is struggling to keep up amid an acute staffing shortage and budget cuts. вЂњPeople should be leery because this is a dangerous time,вЂќ said Lionel Irving Jr., a lifelong Portland resident and a gang outreach worker. Unlike previous years, more bystanders are being caught in the crossfire - from people mourning at vigils and sitting in cars to children playing in a park. In a metropolis wracked by gang violence, fear and frustration have settled over Portland as stories like VasquezвЂ™s make some wary to go out at night.

And with more than two months remaining in the year, Portland will likely shatter its previous high mark. His killing in late September was one of the 67 homicides this year in Portland, which has surpassed its previous full-year record of 66 in 1987. In this July 17, 2021, file photo, police investigate an overnight fatal shooting in Portland, Ore.

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