BY BETHANY BARNES and GORDON R. FRIEDMAN

Portland's police chief says her department's inability to provide victims a copy of their police report in less than six weeks is a "huge issue" that the agency must change.

"We don't want to re-victimize anyone again by making them wait for a long time and charging them for it," Chief Danielle Outlaw told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Thursday.

The interview followed up on the news outlet's recent investigation that found people face high fees and long waits to get their own police reports from Outlaw's department largely because the function has been relegated to a skeleton crew.

Read "On Hold: Crime victims, public wait 6 weeks or more for Portland police reports" HERE.

"We have to make sure our staffing meets demands," Outlaw said Thursday. She said she doesn't know how many additional employees that will require, but it's possible the workforce in records may need to double.

Outlaw's remarks signal the strongest stance Police Bureau top brass have taken to date on the issue. Her comments come days after Mayor Ted Wheeler and a majority of commissioners, in direct response to The Oregonian's reporting, said Portlanders deserve better service and Wheeler announced victims would soon no longer be charged $30 or more for a copy of their reports.

The Oregonian/OregonLive investigation found people struggled to get information about events that upended their lives because of delays that went on for weeks, months and in some cases more than a year. Fees and delays also stymie people trying to solve some of the city's most pressing issues, including pedestrian deaths. The average wait for a police report in 2017 was 133 days, and that slow service comes with an upfront cost of at least $30. Meanwhile, Portland's metropolitan neighbor to the north, Seattle, produces simple police reports in under a week for $1.

Wheeler's announcement last week appeared to happen on the fly in response to the realization that a reporter planned to ask him about the October investigation.

"When I heard you were going to ask me about that, I was a little surprised we didn't already have a plan in place to execute on that," Wheeler said at a scheduled interview that occurred minutes after his announcement.

Wheeler's staff denied that the change was spur-of-the-moment and insisted the announcement had been in the works for a while. Outlaw backed up that assertion Thursday and threw her support behind the change.

"It didn't come as a surprise," she said. "I was very aware – and it's the right thing to do."

That's a major departure in thinking for police bureau leadership. In October, Assistant Chief Chris Davis, who oversees the records division, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that victims who can afford to pay should do so because the bureau needs the money to operate. Also, while Davis said the backlog is a problem, he was hesitant to say the records division deserved more resources.

Sgt. Chris Burley told The Oregonian/OregonLive the goal is now to complete 95 percent of public records requests within 15 days by the end of 2019.

Wheeler's announcement that crime victims won't be required to pay for their own police reports starting Jan. 1 came at a time when his office was under fire for its effectiveness and commitment to transparency, particularly as it relates to police matters. Willamette Week had just published a story about his office's failed attempt to get reporters to sign non-disclosure agreements, so the city could direct their coverage in exchange for access to police operations.

It's unclear how long efforts to fix the records backlog have been in the works. The Police Bureau and mayor's office haven't offered specifics. But officials didn't include the matter in their November request for mid-year budget increases.

Wheeler's office has also ignored an offer for free outside help from public records experts. A University of Florida-based think tank that specializes in public records twice reached out to the mayor's office to offer technical assistance, but was ignored.

Frank LoMonte, director of The Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, said he had hoped center experts could come to Portland to provide free diagnostics to help the bureau look for efficiencies and hunt for ways to help Portland become a model agency for police records.

The mayor's office did not so much as acknowledge the offer, even though the cash-strapped Police Bureau is trying to find ways to make the records division function better. Outlaw in her interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive said in her experience police departments often struggle with records backlogs and she'd be interested to know more about anywhere that's found good solutions.

The Oregonian/OregonLive asked mayor's office spokeswoman Eileen Park why the city didn't respond to an offer of free help on an issue that officials keep saying boils down to a lack of resources. Park offered this statement, "We appreciate Frank LoMonte for reaching out to us to offer his help. We have been planning internally and speaking with local journalists about improving public records disclosure citywide and understand that the police records division has its own unique challenges. When the time is right we'll engage with experts and leaders in this field and seek their input."

— Bethany Barnes, bbarnes@oregonian.com

— Gordon R. Friedman, gfriedman@oregonian.com