Over the weekend, the Portland police faced a troubling delay, taking 30 to 40 minutes to respond to a reported attempted kidnapping of a seven-year-old tourist at a downtown waterfront park. This delay, as stated by the force, stems from a staffing shortage, with recent police statistics indicating that the city generally has around 59 officers patrolling at any time.

In an effort to shed light on how limited resources impact police response times to emergencies, the Portland Police Bureau has unveiled new data on staffing and response schedules. The aim is to provide a clearer understanding of how these limitations affect service across the city.

At approximately 7 p.m. on Saturday, police dispatchers received calls about a naked man causing disturbances at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, including a report that he tried to assault someone. At the time, officers were busy with other priority calls, unavailable to immediately respond to the scene.

Just 12 minutes after the initial disturbance call, another person dialed 911, reporting that the same suspect had tried to drag a seven-year-old girl 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.

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.

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.

“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.

News Media reached out to the Portland Police Bureau seeking additional information about its staffing shortages and response times.

In a recent ruling from South Carolina, Alex Murdaugh’s journalist and podcast creator, Mandy Matney, has been sanctioned by a judge for civil contempt. Judge R. Keith Kelly decreed that Matney must cover $171,500 in legal fees and associated costs, alongside a $5,000 penalty. This decision came after the court determined Matney intentionally defied a subpoena linked to legal proceedings involving the infamous Murdaugh family.

A comprehensive 22-page decision was filed on Monday, wherein Circuit Judge Kelly highlighted Matney’s willful neglect of a legitimate subpoena. The court’s prior order had mandated her presence for a deposition. Matney had argued that her refusal was motivated by safety concerns, a justification that the judge found unconvincing.

This contempt ruling is associated with a protracted series of legal battles that emerged following the 2019 boat accident, a tragic incident that claimed the life of Mallory Beach.

Among those accused in the lawsuit are Parker’s convenience stores. They allegedly provided alcohol to an underage Paul Murdaugh prior to the devastating crash. Matney had been called as a non-party witness in connection to this case.

Mallory Beach, just 19 years old, lost her life in a boating accident that occurred in February 2019 in Beaufort County, a tragedy that continues to ripple through the legal system.

Paul Murdaugh was later charged with boating under the influence, but those charges were dismissed after he and his mother, Maggie Murdaugh, were fatally shot at the family’s Colleton County hunting estate in June 2021.

The Beach family’s civil lawsuit against members of the Murdaugh family and Parker’s alleges the convenience store chain illegally sold alcohol to the underage Paul Murdaugh before the crash.

The litigation ultimately helped expose Alex Murdaugh’s finances as investigators uncovered the disgraced attorney’s financial crimes.

Kelly wrote that Matney refused to appear at the Bluffton deposition site on March 27 despite acknowledging she understood the court had denied her efforts to quash the subpoena and ordered the deposition to proceed. Instead, she remained at another law office in Bluffton while Parker’s attorneys waited at the noticed location.

The order notes Matney appeared by Zoom from another law office in Bluffton.

“Based upon the foregoing, there is clear and convincing evidence that Ms. Matney’s failure to appear was not the result of confusion, mistake, or inability, but rather was a deliberate decision to disregard the subpoena and the Court’s March 16, 2026 Order requiring that she be deposed within 14 days,” Kelly wrote.

Kelly also found Matney’s explanation that she feared for her safety was not credible, writing there was “no persuasive evidence” supporting her allegations that Parker’s attorneys were trying to harass her or place her in danger.

Kelly pointed to Matney’s social media posts after the aborted deposition, including photos showing her eating lemon pound cake with attorney Mark Tinsley and later dining in Savannah.

The judge wrote the posts “evidence her intent to defy her obligation to appear at the noticed deposition location.”

Parker’s attorneys originally sought more than $310,000 in fees and costs, but Kelly reduced the award by nearly 45%, ordering Matney to pay $171,500, plus a $5,000 fine.

The court awarded $39,900 to Bannister, Wyatt and Stalvey, LLC; $45,950 to Deborah B. Barbier, LLC; and $85,650 to Maynard Nexsen, PC.

Matney criticized the ruling on Monday in a Facebook post.

“I’m not angry that Judge R Keith Kelly found me in contempt of court. I’m angry that he’s ordering me to pay an unprecedented amount of legal fees ($171,000 + $5,000 in fines),” she wrote.

“The South Carolina Justice system is exactly what I’ve been saying all along — CORRUPT,” she added. “And this is my punishment for calling it like it is.”

Kelly wrote there was “no persuasive evidence” supporting Matney’s repeated allegations that Parker’s attorneys were using the deposition process to harass or bully her.

He also concluded the contempt proceedings resulted from Matney’s own conduct, writing that had she appeared for her deposition or accepted one of several alternate locations offered, “she would not be before the Court on a contempt motion.”

Jennifer Lopez recently faced a setback when the sale of her Los Angeles mansion, once shared with Ben Affleck, fell through at the last minute.

The couple, Lopez at 56 and Affleck at 53, initially listed the property for sale in June 2024. This move came just two months ahead of her filing for divorce coinciding with their second wedding anniversary.

Despite their efforts, they were unable to attract a buyer, leading Affleck to completely relinquish his stake in the residence by April, passing his interest solely to Lopez.

According to insiders, Lopez had secured a buyer who provided a significant deposit, but unexpectedly backed out of the agreement this Tuesday, as reported by TMZ.

This extensive estate, nestled in Beverly Crest on the Westside of Los Angeles, spans 46,000 square feet and includes 12 bedrooms and 24 bathrooms, epitomizing luxury living.

The Daily Mail has contacted a representative for Lopez for comment. 

Affleck and Lopez bought the house in May 2023 for an eyewatering $60,850,000, after tying the knot in August 2022 in the throes of their reignited romance, which they first conducted in the face of a fan frenzy in the early 2000s.

By June 2024, when they began trying to sell, Affleck and Lopez were in the midst of a swirl of rumors that their marriage was skidding towards implosion.

That August, the month of the divorce filing, Affleck purchased a $20 million bachelor pad in the Pacific Palisades and promptly decamped there.

The house happened to be blocks from the residence of his first ex-wife Jennifer Garner, with whom he co-parents his children Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14. 

Meanwhile, after her divorce from Affleck was finalized in February 2025, Lopez bought a $21 million property in the Kardashian enclave of Calabasas.

However she not only reportedly kept living in the Beverly Crest mansion she had shared with Affleck, but also subjected it to an extensive remodel.

‘Jennifer is renovating the home to her satisfaction,’ a source exclusively informed the Daily Mail last year. ‘She is spending a lot of money because it’s big: there is the main house, the pool house and a guest house.’ 

When Lopez and Affleck first listed their property amid the disintegration of their marriage, they set a staggering asking price of $68 million.

There followed a failed escrow, and then months in which they were unable to secure another buyer, whereupon they took the house off the market last July.

Although they put the house back up for sale that September, this time brutally marked down to $52 million, they delisted it once again in January.

Then in April, legal documents obtained by the Daily Mail indicated that Affleck had relinquished his share of the property to Lopez.

The filing stated Lopez ‘shall be solely responsible for all expenses [associated] with any future sale of her interest in the Wallingford Residence, including but not limited to broker’s commissions, applicable taxes, closing costs, etc.’ 

Their updated divorce terms also stipulated that there be a ‘transfer of property’ at some point, though when that would be was left unspecified.