The Associated Press
Portland, Oregon -- A new report says Portland may be the only cities in the country that allows its police officers to use profanity on the job. The Portland Police Bureau condones the use of profanity by its officers in certain limited circumstances as a tool to de-escalate volatile encounters.
But a report released by two police review groups says foul language by Portland officers is one of the public’s top complaints and must be curtailed.
The city’s Independent Police Review Division and the Citizen Review Committee discovered that Portland may be unique in using profanity as a policing tool.
Of the 26 police departments across the country that responded to the groups’ survey, none had policies that allowed the use of profanity by officers as a control tactic.
Four had no profanity policy, and 22 explicitly banned it.