Has the PDX Police Department robbed Peter (gang taskforce) to pay Paul (methamphetamine cleanup)?

Today’s 0 article provides this interesting fact (buried near the end of the article, of course): “As the gang activity has spread in the city, the Police Bureau’s gang enforcement team has shrunk. In 1998, the team had an afternoon shift of two sergeants and 20 officers; today, it has one sergeant and eight officers working afternoons.”

And then frequent downtown visitor PDXFoodDude offers his observations in the comments to a previous post of mine:

I have noticed a tremendous drop in meth-heads in the downtown area over the past year. All you have to do is look around and you can tell the police crackdown has really gotten results. I just wonder if this hasn’t been at the expense of the gang detail.

I, for one, would really be interested to find out just why the taskforce shrank, and where those extra officers have been assigned.

Related posts:

1. It’s gang wars vs. voter-subsidized elections…
2. Meth labs and pot heads and cops, oh my!
3. Safe on MAX? Who Knows…
4. Meth and Milquetoast Movies - A Rant in Two Parts
5. Welcome to Oregon: air bad, meth problem not so bad