Portland’s commissioner of public safety implored residents to refrain from calling 911 except for “life/death” situations on Monday.

Commissioner Rene Gonzalez said the city’s 911 system was being “hammered” with calls about drug overdoses and asked Portlandians to use the nonemergency hotline unless their life is in danger.

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The public safety commissioner’s request would additionally withhold victims of Portland’s rising crime from calling 911 if there is no chance of apprehending the suspect.

“Our 911 system is getting hammered this morning with a multiple person incident — multiple overdoses in northwest park blocks,” Gonzalez posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Please do not call 911 except in event of life/death emergency or crime in progress (or chance of apprehending suspect). For non-emergency please use 503-823-3333.”

Eight people suffered overdoses within blocks of each other in the hours immediately preceding the request to abstain from calling 911. It was reported that the people who overdosed were seen snorting cocaine presumably laced with fentanyl.

Four of the eight people were rushed to the hospital to be treated for their overdoses, while the other four required Narcan to be administered at the scene in order to reverse the overdoses.

Hard drugs are decriminalized in the city of Portland, and Oregon lawmakers are attempting to make Narcan more widely available to the public in response to the growing number of overdose cases.

Homeless people are dying in record numbers in Oregon’s Multnomah County, where Portland is located, with 60% of those deaths resulting from substance abuse.

A 2018 court ruling prohibits cities like Portland from preventing the homeless from sleeping outside in the absence of alternative shelter.

In September, Multnomah County commissioners voted to spend an additional $17.7 million on “homeless services.” This includes funding for Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites, grants for homeless service providers, rent assistance, and expanding Central City Concern’s Clean Start program.

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Portland was one of many cities that chose to “defund the police,” reallocating money to other programs, in the wake of the 2020 riots following George Floyd’s death. However, it reversed this policy partially in 2021 due to residents no longer feeling safe in the city.

The city of Portland’s website shows a trend of declining officer enrollment, especially since 2020 — there were 1,035 in 2005, 1,004 in 2009, 1,001 in 2019, 916 in 2020, 882 in 2021, and now 881 in 2023.