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Portland's "Police Review Board" (PIIAC) Releases Annual Report; Holds Meeting in Neighborhood

On January 26, Portland's "Police Review Board," the Police Internal Investigations Auditing Committee (PIIAC) released their first report on police misconduct in over a year. The report contains a number of valuable insights, including that for the first time in a long time all 13 seats set aside for PIIAC Citizen Advisors are filled.

It notes one case (#99-16) in which an officer asked a woman who didn't follow his orders whether she was a "fucking mental." PIIAC recommends that the General Order [GO] covering Courtesy (#310.40) be "re-examined in relation to the use of profanity." Currently, the GO says "no member shall use profanity in the performance of their duties except where necessary to establish control or to quote another person in police reports or testimony." PIIAC accurately notes that "there has been a steady stream of PIIAC appeals in which citizens have alleged that police officers have used profane or insulting language in an inflammatory manner that only tended to exacerbate an already volatile situation." Mayor Katz strongly agreed at the public presentation of the report to City Council.

What is missing, however, is the other half of the GO, which covers "epithets and terms" officers are not to use, including ones about a person's race, gender, sexuality, nationality, ethnicity or religion. It seems clear from case 99-16 that the list should also include "mental or physical capabilities" as personal traits about which officers should not make derogatory remarks. PIIAC is apparently checking that part of the GO and may make further recommendations to restrict officers.

One other problem is that the report only includes summaries of 11 out of 25 cases reviewed by PIIAC in 1999. A few years ago, they began including summaries of all appealed cases, which helps the public understand the nature of the complaints. It's interesting to note, too, that in all of 1999 and so far in 2000, no cases have been sent back for further investigation or for a changed finding.

Another key point raised by PIIAC is that 25 percent of the complaints in 1998 and 1999 to Internal Affairs came from African Americans, though the African-American population of Portland is only about 7%. PIIAC's report recommends a stronger diversity training for all officers.

PIIAC also recommended that the public--as well as the police--be advised of what to do during a traffic stop. A number of cases have come up in which officers tell the citizen to keep their hands on the wheel, and then ask for a driver's license, creating confusion. Mayor Katz did not like the idea of making Public Service Announcements [PSA] about people's rights and responsibilities when pulled over. That's too bad. We hope to get such a PSA in English and Spanish from the Police- Barrio Relations Project in Philadelphia. If you think Mayor Katz should sponsor them here, let her know.

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At the February meeting, Dr. Mike Hess, the new PIIAC staff person, presented one case and described the appellant as "looking like they were caught with their hand in the cookie jar," adding for no particular purpose that the incident, involving alleged brutality, took place on the same night that Officer Colleen Waibel was killed by gunfire.

Copwatch member Dan Handelman pointed out the appearance of these comments as not being fair or neutral, and Dr. Hess acknowledged the error. Dr. Hess took a leave of absence from his job as a reserve police officer in Hillsboro to continue in his position as PIIAC Examiner without a perceived conflict of interest. His insights into what police are thinking have been beneficial; we only hope they do not lead to any improper influence on the Advisors' votes.

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In March, PIIAC took their meeting out to a neighborhood for the first time since May, 1999. The meeting at Bethel AME Church in Northeast had a guest audience of about 20 interested citizens, Precinct Commander Derrick Foxworth, Mayor Katz and Chief Kroeker. The meeting began with a self-congratulatory set of recognition awards being given to Chair Charles Ford and Monitoring Committee advisors Robert Wells and Bob Ueland. While the Internal Affairs sergeants and other city officials applauded, the audience, most of whom had never been to a PIIAC meeting before, sat silently bewildered. The meeting continued with very little explanation of the procedure, leading to a public input segment at the end filled with frustrated citizens who wanted the review body to do more than just review Internal Affairs documents.

Staff Person Dr. Mike Hess became defensive both of the police and the Citizen Advisors, although it seemed the crowd was more concerned with the idea of having to go to the police to file complaints about the police, and with the prevalent situation in which an officer's word is weighed more heavily than a citizen's when there is no other information available.

A representative of the Police Accountability Campaign 2000 introduced their proposed initiative to strengthen PIIAC (see story in this issue). Although Ford was quoted in the March 7 Oregonian as saying "How are they to say the job we are doing is not a thorough job when they don't come to our meetings?", it was made clear that PIIAC is only doing as thorough a job as they can under the current City Code.

As for the possibility that the current PIIAC members might support a stronger mandate, Ford is also quoted saying "As chairperson, I'm satisfied with where we are and the progress we are making."

We welcome the input of the other 12 Citizen Advisors.

April, 2000
Also in PPR #20

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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