PORTLAND, Tx — Portland Chief of Police Mark Cory says that the Police Department has seen a decrease in crime over the past 18 months.
“I don’t think the bad guys want to come into our city, go through that gauntlet of officers out there on the highway, commit a crime, and then leave," Chief Cory said, describing the decline in property crimes, one of the more common crimes he has seen in his ten years with Portland PD.
“You know, with the combination of what all we’re doing, law enforcement-wise, it’s having a great effect.”
Chief Cory believes that much of the decline is due to the increased police presence on the Harbor Bridge when entering and exiting the city. Besides active officers with Portland, he also attributes the success to troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).
“Because of the wrong-way drivers that were coming over the Harbor Bridge into Portland, we had to take action on, and ram those vehicles, and get those vehicles stopped with whatever methods we could use," Chief Cory explained. “DPS working the highway, our units working the highway, and our units in the high-visibility patrol have had a direct impact on minimizing the criminal activity in our city.”
The DPS deployment was ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott to combat the aforementioned "wrong-way drivers." On Tuesday, Gov. Abbott gave a fireside chat with the Portland Chamber of Commerce. Chief Cory was also in attendance for the governor's visit and thanked him for his support.
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