Family stopped alleged child kidnapper as police say staffing shortage delayed response up to 40 minutes
Portland police say a staffing shortage contributed to a 30- to 40-minute response to an alleged attempted kidnapping of a 7-year-old tourist at a downtown waterfront park over the weekend, with newly released police data showing the city typically has about 59 patrol officers on the streets at any given time.
The Portland Police Bureau recently released new staffing and response-time data as officials seek to explain how limited patrol resources affect emergency calls and why response times can vary across the city.
Shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday, Portland police received reports of a naked man running through Tom McCall Waterfront Park, with one caller reporting the suspect had attempted to punch someone. Police previously said no officers were immediately available because they were responding to other emergencies.
About 12 minutes later, another 911 caller reported the suspect had grabbed a 7-year-old girl and attempted to pull her away from her mother.
Officers ultimately arrested 31-year-old Daniel Vasey after finding him swimming in the nearby Willamette River. He faces charges including attempted kidnapping in the first and second degree, first-degree custodial interference, third-degree assault and harassment.
Investigators said Vasey grabbed the girl's arm while her mother held onto the other arm, lifting the child off the ground during the struggle. The girl's father and several bystanders intervened, punching, slapping and pulling Vasey away before one witness used pepper spray to stop him, according to police.
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The family, police said, was visiting Portland from out of state.
Officers did not reach the scene for an estimated 30 to 40 minutes after the initial 911 calls because they were tied up responding to a barricaded suspect in Portland's Old Town neighborhood, according to FOX 12 Oregon. During a news conference this week, Deputy Chief Brian Hughes said major incidents can quickly consume available patrol resources.
"We don't have the appropriate amount of police officers to handle the amount of demand for police services," Hughes told reporters.
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Police said officers responding to a barricaded suspect in Portland's Old Town neighborhood were unavailable when roughly a dozen 911 calls began coming in about the naked man at Waterfront Park.
Sgt. Matt Jacobson, of the bureau's Major Crimes Division, said incidents like the barricaded suspect can quickly consume available resources.
"They're resource intensive. And so when you have a draw like that, it really puts a drain on the entire city, not just that precinct," Jacobson told reporters.
Hughes said the bureau was operating with 41 patrol officers across Portland that night, along with 10 officers working overtime, a roughly 24% reduction from planned staffing. He said there are no reserve patrol officers who can be called in immediately when multiple major incidents unfold at once.
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"Unless it's an on-call group of officers like the SWAT team or the traffic team, there's no additional officers that I can just bring in at a moment's notice," Hughes said.
According to the bureau's newly released staffing dashboard, Portland has 809 sworn members, including 572 officers. The bureau says 328 patrol officers are assigned to answer 911 calls across the city's three precincts.
Because patrol officers work rotating schedules, attend court, take leave, complete mandatory training and handle ongoing calls, the bureau estimates about 59 patrol officers are typically working on Portland streets at any given time.
The bureau says officers were dispatched to approximately 221,000 calls for service in 2025, about 605 calls per day, or one every 2.4 minutes.
Officials also released new response-time data showing that delays are driven primarily by calls waiting for an available officer rather than travel time.
According to the bureau, high-priority calls average 19.5 minutes from dispatch to arrival, including about 10.9 minutes waiting for an available officer. Medium-priority calls average 46.7 minutes, while low-priority calls average nearly 95 minutes.
Hughes said officers are often forced to triage calls because there are not enough available patrol units to respond immediately.
"It's just triaging calls as they come in on the street, as opposed to having enough officers to handle each call as they came in," Hughes said.
The staffing dashboard also shows the bureau has 68 sworn vacancies. Police estimate Portland has about 1.26 sworn officers per 1,000 residents, compared with what the bureau says is a national average of approximately 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Portland Police Bureau seeking additional information about its staffing shortages and response times.