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PPB Reposts Policies for Input, Showing Little has Changed in 5 Years In April, 2014 the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) began asking community members (and officers) for feedback on some of its hundreds of policies ("Directives") which guide officer conduct. At the five year mark, it seems most of the posted Directives are repeats of ones previously circulated. That may be because the entire project sprang from the US Department of Justice investigation into PPB use of force, which requires certain policies to be reviewed once every six to 24 months. Regardless, Portland Copwatch (PCW) has made comments on nearly 110 different policies. The changes the PPB incorporates based on those comments are usually more about grammatical or formatting errors rather than the deep policy changes we have been urging. In December, the Bureau posted Force-related policies, as well as ones on reporting and how police associate with people. PCW repeated its concerns that the Force policy defines de-escalation in two different ways (avoiding force AND lowering the amount of force used), and that officers are not required to write reports after using deadly force. Regarding deadly force investigations, the Bureau did follow up on PCW's note asking that suspects' criminal histories not be released, limiting the release only to respond to requests rather than a mandatory release as was written previously. In February, Bias-Based Policing/Profiling, Satisfactory Performance, and various conduct-related Directives were posted. The PPB made one proposed change to the Profiling Directive: "immigrant status" was changed to "immigration status." PCW connected a case which went to the Citizen Review Committee regarding truthfulness (PPR #76) to changes made in that policy allowing officers to lie if there is "an objectively reasonable belief it is necessary." The PPB also asked for input on Accountability Directives around investigations and discipline. PCW noted the Discipline Guide should have been posted with the Directive regarding its use so people could suggest officers like Sgt. Gregg Lewis who use clearly discriminatory remarks can be fired even on a first offense (p. 9). The few policies posted in March included two which had previously been posted years ago, but the Bureau's own proposed changes were not yet incorporated into Directives on Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Investigations. Since these involve horrific crimes against vulnerable members of the public, it is odd the previous revisions were never completed. |
May, 2019
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#77 Table of Contents
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