For DIY home repairs, head to Home Depot or Lowes.

For protection in P-town, buy a decent handgun, get a CWP and head to A Place To Shoot to gain practice.

When seconds count, police are only a minute away, but might be off duty.

Gotta look at the bright side. Now another Portland citizen knows how to call 911. It was a learning experience.

Wasn't there a Monty Python song about always looking on the bright side?

What could possibly have kept the officer from at least pushing a button and telling dispatch about a citizen reporting a robbery in progress? That would have generated a significantly faster response by other officers in the area even if he could not act himself for some reason.

The union might not want to back someone who makes the bureau look so bad.

I can only hope that this isn't the whole story; but I can easily imagine that it is.

This is not Downtown's poshest corner. There's plenty of regular drug-related trouble here. Every sworn officer, most of the admin assistants, and half of the motor pool mechanics know this.

All of the competing political forces have removed most incentives -- and put up many more disincentives -- for PPB officers to do what you and I would consider normal policing.

The incentive used to be to crash and get on that sweet sweet disability gravy train, so good that they didn't ever want you to try to come back, even if you wanted to.

Now the incentive is to ... well I can't think of one. How about, videotape yourselves not being allowed to arrest Occupiers?

"Why I Moved Away", volume #.40S&W

The union might not want to back someone who makes the bureau look so bad.

Are you kidding? They back violent psychopaths -- goldbricks are nothing.

Oh my goodness. I just have to say when in Portland I called the police on a drug dealer. An obvious drug dealer right outside of 'big pink' at the bus stop [the US Bank tower, or is it Bank of America? Does it matter?].

So I called and waited around. Told the the 911 people I was standing there watching an obvious deal go down. The 911 people were rude, demanding and impatient. Like I was the one that was the problem. I thought I was a hero. I guess not.

I'm a bigger dude. Only 6 feet tall but I'm 280. Jack has met me. Pretty much all fat but city folks can't tell the difference. They act like I'm big and strong. It's hilarious. I can barely lift a pencil. I've often been accused of lifting weights. HA! Fooled you! The only weight I lift is my own fat butt.

Anyway, no cops were coming around after like 20 minutes and at least 5 drug deals. Then these 2 little girls came up to buy I just lost it. I told the girls to leave and told the tiny little dealer man to "F**k off or I'll smack you like a woman." You can guess how long I practiced that line...not my best line.

The dude just sort of tilted his head and walked off. The little girls walked after him. That sucked.

It was only a few months later when I witnessed two police officers tackle a pedestrian into some shrubs and beat the hell out of him with their sticks. Then get back into their car and drive away. One guy near me yelled something at the cops, they asked, "You want some too?" He replied in the negative and saved himself much grief.

Reason #290387 I don't move back.

What could possibly have kept the officer from at least pushing a button and telling dispatch about a citizen reporting a robbery in progress?

Maybe because, him already being right there, they would have told HIM to respond?