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On June 23, the Behavioral Health Unit Advisory Committee (BHUAC) held its second-ever public outreach meeting. Having failed to listen to the multiple comments at their first session on March 24, this was not a meeting at which policies about people with mental illness interacting with police were discussed. Instead, it was another set of presentations from Bureau personnel. Since mental health and police use of force are at the center of the US Dept. of Justice Settlement Agreement, it's not clear why the group continues to shut out public participation when substantive discussions are going on. Disability Rights Oregon, which has had a seat on the BHUAC since day one, is among those calling to open the meetings up.
On the bright side, City Commissioners, especially Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, personally and/or through staff did outreach to the people in the park before the big sweep happened. While this resulted in slightly less animosity than the last sweep (PPR #82), there were still problems. Some legal observers reported being kept away from being able to record police activity. One enterprising lawyer put GPS tags on some of the campers' belongings and found that they ended up in the dump instead of the storage facility as required by law and policy (Portland Tribuneonline, August 3). Did we mention the sweep happened on a day temperatures were expected to reach in the high 90s (but a cloud cover eliminated that challenge)?
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September, 2021
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#84 Table of Contents
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![[image of Portland Mercury article titled As City
Clears Laurelhurst Homeless Camp, Unhoused Portlanders Enter Familiar Cycle of
Displacement]](https://www.pjw.info/copwatch/PPR84/laurelhurst_sweepMerc073021.jpg)
In July, the City announced new rules to guide when contractors (mostly "Rapid R
esponse Bio-
Clean") and cops can make houseless people leave certain spots where they are living. This includes
if they are within 10 feet of a business and if there is known criminal activity in a camp. Days later,
after months of being fended off by community members working in solidarity with those living
near Laurelhurst Park, the police and the contractors dismantled the temporary homes of about 70
people. The final impetus for this inhumane action was an alleged sighting of a gun being waved
near the park. The rules seem to allow for rumors rather than demanding actual evidence.