The Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division will no longer be in charge of Portland’s Critical Mass ride.
Seeking to remove a layer of management, the Bureau has decided to give the duty of patrolling the monthly ride to Southeast Precinct Lieutenant Bob Heimbach.
Local lawyer and Critical Mass veteran Mark Ginsberg said the change came because,
“Since they’ve only been patrolling the ride by bike and most of the bike officers were from Southeast Precinct, there was really no reason for TD (Traffic Division) to be there.”
The former officer in charge of Critical Mass, Traffic Division Lt. Mark Kruger, introduced Lt. Heimbach to Ginsberg today at the monthly Critical Mass meetings he holds in his office above Pioneer Square. Ginsberg says that Heimbach will stay the course and that we should not expect any change in how they deal with the ride.
For many months now, only bicycle mounted officers have attended Critical Mass.
But does any of this really matter?
Since December, the police have not patrolled the ride at all. Ginsberg says they’ve been showing up to the ride, but upon seeing just a handful of riders (only ten in March), they turn around and head back to the station.
However, despite this dwindling number of participants, the cops will likely continue to show up…just in case.