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SIZER'S SIZE-UP 45: Chief Rankles Rank and File as In the past few months, Chief Sizer has further alienated the rank-and-file by changing overtime rules and reviewing their use of force without consulting them first. This puts Portland Copwatch and other community members in the unusual position of agreeing with the Portland Police Association (PPA) that Sizer needs to consult more people before making decisions (see PPR #44). Interestingly, Commissioner Randy Leonard, who is widely expected to be tapped as Police Commissioner when Commissioner Sam Adams becomes Mayor in January, claimed the entire Bureau was unresponsive to City Council, later apologizing to Sizer for those comments and then for failing to invite her to sit on a Public Safety Committee. Sizer's efforts to cut back on police overtime, prompted by their using $2.3 million more than their allotted budget in 2007-08, included telling officers to shift schedules or stop going to neighborhood meetings, and that their vacation times could be denied to create "optimal staffing." The PPA was not involved in these discussions (Oregonian, July 11). In their July newsletter, the Rap Sheet, PPA Treasurer Mitch Copp complained that being cut out made the officers feel like "bastard children of the PPB." He complained about "wasted" City money such as $80,000 to help people avoid foreclosure (!) while the police are constantly "under intense, unrealistic scrutiny." Another policy change Sizer made was to circulate to Commanders a list of officers who used force in 30% or more of their arrests. Commanders are expected to talk to the officers to review any concerns about their performance. A threshold of a 15% use-of-force to arrest ratio was proposed in the Use of Force report that came out in April, 2007. One of the authors of that report, Office of Professional Standards Director Leslie Stevens, apologized if the analysis upset officers but hoped they would see this as part of a "positive learning environment" (Oregonian, May 24). The officers balked, particularly in Central Precinct, where Commanders adjusted the figures to remove force used during mental health and Detox holds after the PPA complained.
One officer, Darrell "Bill" Shaw (#28923), was originally going to be transferred after complaining that the Employee Information System (EIS) and Use of Force analysis were unfair. According to PPA Vice President Daryl Turner, Sizer "had to retreat from [that] decision immediately!" (Rap Sheet, May&June 2008). The PPA has filed a grievance both about the use of the EIS for disciplinary purposes (though Sizer contends it's closer to a performance review system) and the new Use of Force Policy restricting officers to the "least force necessary" (PPR #44).
As for Leonard, he got his shorts in a bunch when he found out the Portland Police were not going to enforce his ban on duct tape at the Rose Festival (see PPR #43). He went off about the Bureau and its "lack of capacity to operate outside the scope of its own interests" (Oregonian, June 5). Too bad for him that the rule he designed called for enforcement by the Bureau of Developmental Services... which Leonard oversees! (Portland Tribune, June 12). He took the opportunity to also criticize the officers who, last fall, went to neighborhood association meetings to badmouth Council's decision to suspend the Drug-Free and Prostitution-Free Zones (DFZs/PFZs, PPR #43), saying that he considered such public opposition to Council policy "insubordination." Sizer and Leonard met for coffee to patch things up after that (Oregonian editorial, June 5). But then in July, after Adams told Leonard to "study up" on police, Leonard created a public safety review committee, to which he invited the Bureau of Emergency Communications, a former county juvenile justice program worker, the director of the Human Rights Commission, PPA President Robert King and Commander Mike Reese of the Commanding officers' union--but not Sizer. This led to Leonard apologizing again (Oregonian, July 22).
In addition to his rocky relationship with Sizer, Leonard publicly dressed down consultant Eileen Luna-Firebaugh because he disagreed with her assessment of Portland's civilian police review board (PPR #44).
Neither Sizer's inclination to make decisions without public and employee input nor Leonard's hasty judgments (not to mention his support for "Project 57," the constitutionally questionable successor to the DFZs) bode well for the future. |
September, 2008
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#45 Table of Contents
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