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PPB Policies: Portland Copwatch Continues
Sending Feedback, Maybe One Day They'll Listen

In June, as part of comments on the Portland Police Bureau's policy ("Directive") on Crowd Control, Portland Copwatch (PCW) noted that language matters. The existing policy tells officers they may not "deploy specialty impact munitions or aerosol restraints indiscriminately into a crowd." Up to and after we made the comments, the PPB continued doing just that, but claiming that their use was not "indiscriminate." They also denied using tear gas because the chemical agents they use are not literally tear gas. It is this kind of word game that makes one wonder how officers will ever be held accountable. Nonetheless, we continue to comment so long as the police are asking for public input, with our thoughts sent to them regarding nine policies between mid- April and late June.

June:

Also in the crowd control comments, we noted (once more) that the current policy only prohibits police from targeting "media or legal observers... solely for their role in observing, capturing, and/or reporting on demonstrations or events," adding that if observers do not comply with "all police orders" they may be arrested. We're still not sure this is contemplated by the First Amendment (see protests article in this issue).

The Bureau also posted its policy on "Secondary Employment," covering when private entities hire uniformed cops to handle security. Referring to it as the "Mercenary Employment Directive," we noted "the mere existence of this Directive and the Secondary Employment program underscores that the police are, in essence, an entity designed to protect corporations and the rich and powerful rather than the people the Bureau is supposed to 'protect and serve.'"

May:

We sent in comments about the National Incident Management System, which is used for "complex incident[s], such as a protest or natural emergency/disaster." It is of great concern that this system is based on Homeland Security Guidelines, and we encouraged Portland to find its own system to be more community-friendly.

They also asked for input on the Foot Pursuit Directive, prompting PCW to recall several PPB deadly force incidents flowing from such chases (including the woundings of Marcello Vaida and Scott Suran and deaths of James Chasse and Terrell Johnson) and remind the City about recommendations from the dismantled Community Oversight Advisory Board (PPR #71). Their replacement group, the Portland Committee on Community Engaged Policing, offered comments on this Directive in June, a welcome effort.

We also repeated old comments about the "Critical Incident Altered Duty" policy, which refers to "atypically traumatic event[s]" but doesn't clearly define what they mean and why officers would be placed on leave for things other than witnessing or being engaged in a deadly force incident.

April:

PCW sent in mostly repeated comments about four Mental Health Directives, which are crucial to the US Department of Justice Settlement Agreement requiring less force against people in crisis. The Bureau has continued to ignore our comments, including that they should acknowledge a uniformed officer can create trauma by their mere presence.

At the end of our comments on mercenary employment, we wrote: "Listening to the voices on the streets these days, you may find that many of our suggestions are more mainstream than how they've been treated over the years."

Find the PPB's Directives, including those posted for public comment, here.

September, 2020
Also in PPR #81

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

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