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Misconduct Appeal Upheld by Unanimous City Council
as Citizen Review Committee Continues Work
Auditor, Commissioner Argue Budget While Future Oversight
System Design Ramps Up

When the Citizen Review Committee (CRC) held their third hearing on the same misconduct complaint about a stolen car report in early February, their vote to over-ride the Chief's proposed finding triggered a rare City Council hearing on the case. History was made at the Council appeal hearing on April 8 as Council--including Mayor/Police Commissioner Ted Wheeler-- voted 4-0 to Sustain an allegation of misconduct. A day earlier, Council appointed fourteen new members to fill five seats on the eleven-member board, giving them a cushion of nine alternates in case of resignations. Meanwhile, as the City gears up to implement the new oversight system envisioned in the Charter Amendment passed in November (PPR #82), Auditor Mary Hull Caballero has proposed creating a new investigative team in her office using the current personnel as a means to avoid staff resignations. At a budget hearing on the matter, Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty dismissed the substance of Hull Caballero's proposal, berating the Auditor for perceived "arrogance" and refusing to take on certain tasks the Council had previously asked her to do. The City called for applications to a 15 20-member commission which will design the new system over an 18 month period.

Case #2019-x-0003: Chief Finds New Investigation Unconvincing; CRC Disagrees, So Stolen Car Report Case Heads to Council

At their February meeting,*-1 the CRC held a second "conference hearing" with Chief Chuck Lovell trying once again to convince them to change their proposed finding that an officer violated policy by failing to take a stolen car report (Case #2019-x-0003). Contrary to the protocols of the CRC (and City Code), the Chief ordered more investigation on the case, rather than scheduling it before City Council as required. Though Lovell tried explaining away the officer's decision based on the Appellant's lack of proper paperwork, the Appellant had presented her documents to CRC at the original hearing in December, 2019 (PPR #79). City Code allows people to bring in whatever information they want, but CRC is not supposed to consider it if it was not in the original case file. Thus, it is telling that Lovell continued to say there wasn't enough evidence to prove or disprove the complaint. He added he'd be willing to have the officer's supervisor tell the officer the Appellant was more than inconvenienced when she was unable to retrieve her car from a tow yard in Salem, hoping the action would not happen again (a "Not Sustained with debriefing" finding).

The CRC decided on a 6-1 vote (with member Taylor Snell dissenting) to reaffirm their proposed "Sustained" finding, setting in motion the April 8 Council hearing. At that hearing, the Commissioners did not concede to Chief Lovell's interpretation of the Stolen Vehicle policy where he thought the officer was not required to call a supervisor once he felt the paperwork was inadequate. In the only three previous Council hearings (2003, 2017 and 2019), two ended with "Not Sustained (insufficient evidence)" findings (PPRs #30 and 71), and the third resulted in a "Sustained" finding about retaliation (PPR #78).*-2 Thus, the new Council vote makes the score 2- 2 under this system. In three appeals to Council under the old system (known as PIIAC), the Mayor never agreed to Sustain a complaint. Thus this is the first time in the 29 years Portland Copwatch has been monitoring these meetings that such a vote has happened.

Membership Expanded

There's not enough room in this newsletter to list the names of all fourteen new CRC appointees including alternates. Five were seated to take the place of three people who resigned in September (PPR #82), along with Andrea Chiller and Jihane Nami, who stepped down at the end of their terms. Though not sworn in early enough for the meeting, April marked the first time CRC had its full 11 members in seven months. The five full members are: Yume Delegato, Amanda Greenvoss, Gregg Griffin, Jessica Katz and Kyra Pappas. Notably, two of the new seated members are over the age of 50, marking the first time CRC has had people in that age bracket since Michael Luna's term expired late in 2018. One of the alternates, Christopher Piekarski, is a former prosecutor in the Gresham area who proudly noted in his application that he helped set up "Drug Free Zones" in Rockwood.

"Independent" Police Review Struggles to Keep Up as Replacement Board Talks Gear Up

Auditor Hull Caballero's plan to keep members of the "Independent" Police Review (IPR) staff employed while the new oversight board is designed comes from a reasonable-- and technically legal-- concern. If current staffers continue to quit (one administrator and one investigator have left so far, leaving just 12 out of 14 positions filled), IPR will be unable to perform its functions of complaint intake and about 10-20 full investigations per year. The US Department of Justice called out IPR for not meeting the terms of the 2012 Settlement Agreement, which require cases to be completed in 180 days. IPR met that deadline only 20% of the time in the second quarter of 2020. We consider ourselves among those who want to see a stronger board in place. However, if IPR dissolves, the only people investigating police misconduct until the new system starts up will be Internal Affairs. This would put the City back to a place it hasn't been since 1982 before the first oversight system, PIIAC, was created.

In the standoff between Hull Caballero and Hardesty, each one needs to set aside the protectiveness over their fiefdoms (for Hull Caballero, the existing system she oversees; for Hardesty, the new one she put on the ballot). They need to make sure the people of Portland get a meaningful and strong complaint system which makes a smooth transition from what currently exists. Perhaps the weakest part of Hull Caballero's proposal is a hard end date for IPR of June 30, 2022-- with no provision of what to do if the new system isn't ready by then.

On December 16, Council passed a resolution outlining the criteria for the 15 20-member Commission which will design the new system, which heavily emphasizes participation from people in communities who have been subjected to police misconduct. Each City Council member will appoint three people to the Commission. As of PPR deadline, it is not known who will be seated on this Commission, though Portland Copwatch member Dan Handelman (who worked on a similar work group in 2000) applied.

Much of the new system's design hinges on what may or may not comport with state/federal law, and/or the Portland Police Association contract. There's no update on the grievance filed by the PPA (PPR #82), but they have been hammering away at the process and content of the ballot measure-- months after it passed by an 82% vote-- during contract negotiations (see PPA Contract article in this issue).

*1-the Conference Hearing with the Chief was originally scheduled for January but that entire meeting was canceled at the last minute.
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*2-Chief Outlaw undercut the Council's decision by giving that officer a Letter of Reprimand rather than two days off without pay (PPR #81).
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ALSO AT IPR/CRC:

--Data provided by IPR at the March CRC meeting show that of 220 allegations stemming from protests, 118 (54%) involve force, 55 (25%) involve conduct, and the remainder involve procedure, courtesy, disparate treatment (six allegations), and "control." Of 121 cases, 39 were dismissed, 48 are under investigation by Internal Affairs, and 26 are under investigation by IPR.

--At the April meeting, the CRC voted to retain Candace Avalos as Chair and elected Shaina Pomerantz as Vice Chair.

--The CRC's Crowd Control Work Group expects their report, including survey results, research and recommendations, to be presented to the Committee for approval in May or June. New member Yume Delegato has been part of the Work Group for months as a community participant.

--The Policy/Outreach Work Group re-started in 2021, mostly focusing on the transition to the new board.

--Chair Avalos was given a once-every-two-weeks op-ed column in the Oregonian starting in January with a focus on racial justice and equity. Her columns on January 17 (referencing "officers who indiscriminately gassed entire neighborhoods") and February 14 (raising the issue of SB 621 which would remove Portland's requirement to negotiate the new board with the "union") included police oversight related references. Her March 14 column called upon Portlanders to "stop calling the police and call your neighbors instead."

--After years of wrangling to avoid having to go to the police Central Precinct to prepare for Police Review Board hearings, IPR finally worked out a system where CRC members can access files remotely. As PRB meetings are now held over Zoom, CRC member Julie Falk reported feeling less intimidated at a virtual meeting with officers than being in a physical room full of cops.

--An appeal about a protest case was postponed by the Appellant at the March meeting and again due to technical issues in April.

For more information see IPR's website at https://portlandoregon.gov/ipr.

Note: PCW erroneously stated that the planned 20-member Commission to plan the new oversight system would have 15 members. We regret the error. (6/9/21).

May, 2021
Also in PPR #83

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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