On Saturday, August 23, 2025, PPB was alerted to advertised street racing and/or takeover events planned for early in the afternoon. Supervisors assembled a small crew of officers aimed at preventing this activity through high visibility patrols and enforcement where appropriate.
Officers spread out to try to locate street racers, do patrols, and conduct traffic stops when probable cause of violations existed. At about 5p, some vehicles associated with this kind of activity gathered and parked near Southeast Belmont Street and Southeast 3rd Avenue. Officers conducted proactive patrols in and around the area, and issued warnings to participants about the potential for enforcement should there be any street takeover and/or racing activity. After a couple of hours, the participants drove away.
For several hours, officers patrolled areas that are frequent locations for street racing activity. The mission led to 29 traffic stops. Six vehicles were towed for suspended driver licenses, driving without insurance, or hazards. Two people were arrested, one for Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants and another for Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle. Also, four citations were issued.
The proactive policework led to limited street racing activity and officers could no longer find anyone participating in such activity. The mission, which had already run for 10 hours, was concluded at midnight.
Within an hour, North Precinct officers were notified of street racing activity involving up to 100 cars in the 6800 block of North Fessenden Street, a densely populated neighborhood in St. Johns. At the time, every officer in the precinct was tied up on a tactical incident involving a man firing gunshots. A supervisor called people who were reporting the illegal activity to explain the delay in response.
By 1:54 a.m., the racers had moved to the Lloyd District Neighborhood, with well over 100 vehicles in the area. Some were doing donuts, speeding, running red lights, and zig-zagging through lanes of traffic. The only available police unit was a sergeant, who attempted to persuade the racers to leave via high-visibility patrols. However, at least one driver tried to bait the sergeant into a vehicle pursuit by preemptively speeding away from him. It was clear that the effort was not effective and was actually making things worse, so he disengaged.
By 3:26 a.m., calls started coming in about street racing activity in the area of Northeast Lombard Street and Northeast Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, and then up to Northeast Columbia Boulevard. While North Precinct officers were busy with emergency calls, some officers and a supervisor from East Precinct were available. So they moved into North Precinct to help. However, most of the street racers had sped away by then. The few that were still there left when they saw the police.
At 4:17 a.m., a sergeant responding to another call spotted a single driver doing donuts in the intersection of Northeast Killingsworth Street and Northeast 47th Avenue. The officer was able to stop the driver. The driver was cited for Speed Racing, Driving While Suspended, and Driving Without Insurance. His vehicle was towed and a stolen firearm was seized as evidence.
Portland Police will continue efforts to prevent speed racing and take enforcement action when it occurs.
Source: Portland Police