After more than 25 years with the Portland Police Bureau, Traffic Division Commander Bill Sinnott will move on to a new career.
Sinnott was a tremendous ally of the bike community. He was open and sincere about working with us to find solutions and ease the sometimes tense relationships between cyclists and cops. He regularly attended meetings with Critical Mass participants, and his work with the Critical Mass Working Group was recently recognized with an Alice Award nomination. He was also instrumental in the Bureau’s free bike light program, which was covered nationally by CBS Sunday Morning.
What I appreciated most about Bill was his willingness to meet and the time he took to respond to my questions and requests for information. Actually, he would often respond with intelligent questions of his own about various aspects of our bike culture. It was this interest and willingness to figure out what made bikers tick that made him such a great partner to bike advocates.
His presence will be missed and we can only hope that the next commander is as cool as Bill. Lieutenant Mark Kruger will become the acting commander until a new one is named.
Sinnott will step down on April 14th and will assume the role of managing the Downtown Clean and Safe program on April 17th.