Black Helicopters Over Portland
On Monday night, the US Department of Defense decided to hold training exercises in Downtown Portland and in other areas of the city. The first indication of the event was when people looked up over Downtown and in areas of Southeast Portland and saw four helicopters flying around at under 500 feet. Some were merely startled by the noise, while others were startled by the fact that the helicopters were each flying from rooftop to rooftop among the tallest buildings Downtown.
Even more curious for some was the fact that each of the helicopters was unloading and loading military troops in full gear and weapons. Certainly even a reasonable person might be concerned that an emergency situation might be going on around them.
No, I am not a conspiracy theorist who thinks that black helicopters are the work of a sneaky government. However, I am concerned when citizens call the police and their city council members to find out what is going on, and no one does have an explanation for low-flying military aircraft and an assault on Downtown buildings. The police claimed not to know what was going on. A response from Councilman and mayor-elect Sam Adams on the night of the incident indicated that he had no idea at the time what was going on.
Eventually, Mayor Tom Potter announced that this was a training exercise that he had given permission for. He, along with the military, had felt it to be inadvisable to tell the public what was going on. This was, of course, all in the name of security. He felt it would be safer if we didn’t know what was going on.
I do understand the need for our police and for the military to train in a variety of environments so that they can be prepared if they are ever needed to perform in a real emergency. Additional parts of this training exercise did happen in an abandoned hotel in North Portland and elsewhere mostly out of public view. But if we are going to have training exercises in full view of all in the center of the city, it would seem appropriate to alert the public to the fact that nothing is wrong, or at least alert our public leaders and the police we trust to keep us safe, so we can be assured that nothing is amiss.
If I see firefighters rushing down the street, I know to stay out of their way because their is an emergency. If I see a number of police cars rushing to a site and getting out with their guns drawn, I know to get out of the way and perhaps even find cover so I am out of the line of fire. Their have been times when these agencies have performed “disaster drills” that have been announced ahead of time, so the public is not concerned when they see our police and firefighters in action.
That being said, why wouldn’t my reaction be to be greatly concerned when I see armed military troops coming out of helicopters on the rooftops of buildings. In the absence of any announcement of a drill taking place, and with no one knowing what is going on, my reaction is certainly similar to that of seeing the police racing up and drawing their weapons in anticipation of the need to defend themselves or others from an attack.
Perhaps there could have been some information ahead of time. If secrecy or security were an issue, perhaps those in a position of trust in the community could have been informed to let the public know that all was well and what they were seeing was simply a drill. One way or the other, this could have been handled very differently as to not frighten the citizens of Portland. As it was, it took a couple of days before local media outlets had full information on what had happened on Monday and Wednesday evening this week.
As the person who extended the invitation to the military and knew ahead of time what was going on, it is the responsibility of Mayor Tom Potter to have coordinated a plan to let people know that nothing was amiss as needed. If there is a next time, perhaps he should do something differently.
Or perhaps the military should not be undertaking an assault on Portland unless it is necessary.
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