KATU got a chance to sit down with Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell on Wednesday.

We spoke to him about a variety of topics, including staffing and community apathy to crime.

"We are looking at some really good hiring groups coming into the future. One of the challenges we are looking at now is getting people into and through the academy down in Salem. We are fortunate and really blessed to hire 20 people in September which gave people a lot of hope, shows them that there are people who want to come to Portland, to work at the police bureau and be part of the solution," he said. "If you don’t call -- one, police never know what’s happening or what crimes are taking place, and even if we can’t get there quickly to have that information and to do follow up, that is still important. And I think just in terms of apathy, that's one of the threats out there, but people are just accepting that maybe this is just the way it is, this is the number of homicides, and this is just the level of crime and I have to accept it. And I think that is a threat we need to be mindful of."

Lovell told KATU that the new police recruits are looking at March for their police academy start date.

He said that they are working to add more classes so that they can get more people through the academy quicker.