PORTLAND'S POLICE REVIEW BOARD (PIIAC) GETS NEW STAFF PERSON

In late August, Portland hired a new staff person for its "citizen review board," the Police Internal Investigations Auditing Committee (PIIAC). Dr. Mike Hess, a dentist who has practiced among the Native American tribes of Oklahoma, New Mexico and Montana, worked as a police officer and investigated for Oregon's child services agency, has stepped into the office vacated when Lisa Botsko resigned in June.

Hess was volunteering as a reserve officer in Hillsboro when he was hired--the single concern Copwatch voiced to the City about his candidacy when we were asked to participate in the selection process. While the City failed to pass this little item on, Copwatch was able to meet with Hess shortly after he was hired. Dr. Hess was able to see the apparent conflict between his job helping citizens who believe they have been wronged by police and his role as a part-time police officer, albeit in another jurisdiction. A few weeks later, he announced he would be taking a temporary leave of absence from the reserve position to show his "neutrality and objectivity without asking anyone to just take [his] word for it" (Oregonian, 10/22).

Hess' presence also allowed the PIIAC citizen advisors to begin meeting again, for the first time since May. At the September meeting, the five advisors present constituted a quorum, because only 9 of the 13 volunteer seats were filled at the time. They upheld police bureau findings in all of four cases, although they forgot to take a formal vote on one case.

The most controversial case involved a young African American man who was struck--according to police testimony--20 to 30 times with a police baton in an effort to get him to lie on the sidewalk.

The advisors voted 4-1 to uphold bureau findings of no misconduct, while Chair Charles Ford, in an unusual move, raised concerns and encouraged the complainant to appeal the advisors' finding to City Council.

The October meeting did not produce much controversy. One case involving a woman who was roughed up during the serving of a search warrant focused only on her complaint that the police had made a mess of her house while serving the warrant. The PIIAC advisors upheld the Bureau's declination to investigate these allegations, despite the fact that they did not have before and after pictures of the residence. IAD is continuing its investigation on the use-of-force aspect of this case, and the appellant may just find herself back before PIIAC.

In November, two appellants appeared before the committee and PIIAC upheld the Internal Affairs decisions to decline investigating their cases. The second appellant requested that PIIAC make her case file available to her because Internal Affairs would not release it to her under the auspices of a new Oregon law prohibiting the release of information on allegations of police misconduct (see sidebar).

While Hess' presence takes PIIAC into a new mode, it is important for the public to remain vigilant and keep the review board doing its job and advocate to get it the powers it needs­such as independent investigatory and subpoena powers, and final say in cases of misconduct. On that note, a group of activists, lawyers, people with experience with PIIAC, and other concerned citizens came together in early November to discuss ways to give PIIAC more "teeth." National Lawyers Guild attorney Alan Graf called the meeting and we will keep you posted as this effort develops.

You can contact Dr. Hess and PIIAC at 823-4126.

 

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