Two Portland residents, with the backing of the police union, want voters to force the city to hire more cops .

Bob Simril, a former city council candidate who ran to represent District 2 , and Portland resident Juanita Swartwood filed a petition Wednesday for a ballot initiative that would require the city to divert money to police from its clean energy surcharge on large retailers .

The initiative would change the city charter to require at least two Portland police officers per 1,000 city residents, a feat that petitioners say will demand at least 400 additional officers. Backers argue that Portland’s police force is woefully understaffed compared to other large cities and that the agency “cannot achieve the outcomes Portlanders reasonably expect and deserve.”

The Portland

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