Who We Are
The Disabled Parking Enforcement Unit is comprised of citizen volunteers educating the public on disabled parking and enforcing disabled parking permit violations allowable under ORS 811.632. The unit focuses on parking lots throughout the City of Portland with properly designated disabled parking.
Laws Enforced
- Cars parked with no permit.
Cars parked with a permit, but, the permit does not belong to the driver.
Cars parked with an invalid, stolen or disfigured permit.
Car parked in a Disabled Parking space marked for Wheelchair User Only & the permit is not for Wheelchair user.
Cars blocking an access aisle. Parking any part of a vehicle in the access aisle, could prohibit the use of a ramp and is a violation that can be cited.
History
The Portland Police Bureau’s Disabled Parking Enforcement Unit was established in 2003 with Officer Stanley Harmon.
On August 13, 1977, Officer Harmon responding to a call of a drunk male who was arguing with his girlfriend and began firing his .22 caliber bolt-action rifle out his second-story window onto Southeast Belmont Street. Officer Harmon was the first officer to arrive and was hit by gunfire and was almost instantly paralyzed. Rescue workers and other officers arrived and pulled Officer Harmon out on a stretcher behind a human shield, no other officers were injured. Officer Harmon harbored no bad feelings for the suspect, just sorrow that a young man let himself get that far out of control. Officer Harmon donated the rifle and the bullet fragments removed from his body to the Portland Police Bureau Museum. Officer Harmon returned to the police bureau in March 1978 as a crime analyst. He was one of the first Portland Officers to return to a police job full-time after being seriously injured in the line of duty. When he retired in 1981, he had the same job at North Precinct, where he was transferred after the police bureau installed an elevator. And when the Oregon Paralyzed Veterans of America (OPVA) started lobbying for a change in disabled parking laws in 1991, Mr. Harmon, a member, was the first to volunteer to actually enforce the resulting lawOregon Paralyzed Veterans of America has been involved in the volunteer disabled parking enforcement program from the beginning. OPVA introduced and was successful in having legislation passed in 1991 that created laws that allowed citizens to be trained as volunteer enforcement officers authorized to issue citations for laws pertaining to disabled parking violations.
Mission Statement – Educations & Enforcement
The Disabled Parking Enforcement Unit volunteers meet the public on a face to face basis with the primary intent, which is education. We are in the field to help the public understand the law and their responsibilities.
Areas Enforced
The Disabled Parking Enforcement Unit enforces the Disabled Parking Laws of Oregon in the City of Portland, outside of the downtown area, on private property parking lots.
Contact Us
503-823-2232