Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 2004)
C ommenter ? 4 • T he C lackamas P rint F ebruary 25, 2004 Group offers reward for cop mug Flyers intended to alert public of return Ben Maras O pinion E ditor Two weeks ago, Portland Police Officer Scott McCoUister returned to work despite a massive public outcry that he be given the boot, demonstrated by flyers that began to spring up downtown, offering a bounty for his picture. So far, the posters have only incurred ridicule. Mayor Vera Katz has already spoken out against them, as has Police Chief Derrck 1'’oxworth, and the general consen sus of the city seems to be that Rose City Copwatch (RCCW), the organization offering the reward, is completely in the wrong and should be punished for their request. I'or those unfamiliar with the situation, McCoUister shot and killed an unarmed African American-mother'of two by the name of Kendra James in May. During a routine traffic stop, McCoUister ran James’ name through the computer and found that she had an outstanding warrant for her arrest. With this informa tion alone, McCoUister broke bureau policy,and entered her.car, at which point James put her car into drive. McCoUister drew, his 9mm pistol and shot and killed James. A massive civil rights backlash, similar to Rodney King’s case, ■immediately followed. I,''ormer Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker promised a full investiga tion of the McCoUister case. In the end Kroeker declared that McCoUister never^hould have put himself in the position that he did, and he would be punished for his breaking of policy—not for the death of James. Immediately fol lowing the incident, Kroeker resigned from his position, sending shouts of joy throughout some Portlanders. Now, after five and a half months of unpaid leave, McCoUister is returning to the force, which worries many. This prompted RCCW to request a’ photo of McCoUister, saying that he if> dangerous and it. is the peo ple’s right to know what he looks like, similar to the way flyers would be circulated through a neighbor hood into which a sex offender had moved. The City of Portland, along with- the - Portland Police Department (PPD), refused to release a photo: of McCoUister, as Oregon State law prohibits the- release of a'public officials photo.without their explic-- it permission. .This .prompted: RCCW to distribute flyers offering a bag of groceries worth $40 to whoever furnishes the organization with’ McCollistcr’s photo. While this may- seem absurd, some think that providing the pub lic with a picture would be the least they could do for putting a “killer” back on the force. Whether or not McCoUister was in the wrong could be debated for hours; but if he did in fact go through the proper legal channels and was found innocent, then why is the city trying to hide him from us? Yes, police officers arc granted a certain amount of rights other citizens usually would not have, because the job is so stressful and demanding, but with this comes responsibility for their actions. McCollistcr’s first- reaction was to shoot James rather than. use the mace cops employ so much against protesters or use the text book self-defense techniques they arc trained in. Although it was later found that James had small amounts of cocaine in her blood and hence the mace might not have been as effective, that fact was not known at the time and therefore is irrelevant. An independent, unbiased committee must investigate the McCoUister case, because it is unreasonable to think that the police department could be impar tial with one of their own kind. Such an investigation could begin to put the issue to rest and please those on cither side of the debate. Officers have the right and duty to defend themselves and others, but they cannot abuse their power. Although James was very much in the wrong, she did not deserve to die for her actions. There is no black and white in the world, and both individuals arc at fault. James although called a “crackhead’’ by some, has already paid the ultimate price. All that is asked is that McCoUister take more responsibility for his actions. The boundaries of technology have far exceeded the limits of sanity Isaiah Creel T he C lackamas P rint Technology is apparent throughout this campus, brom high-tech classrooms to automatic doors, CCC is on the cutting edge of the technological front. The question is: are all of these techno logical advances improving civiliza tion, or just perpetuating the slovenly attitude typically displayed by the American population? The answer: both. The sloven ly American is in fact the cutting edge of the technological front. If a product facilitates laziness, it is by necessity, technologically advanced. Automatic doors are a great invention, because they allow, handicapped members of society access to their various places of interest. They also allow some of those non-handicapped people a cliance to expend less energy then they normally would. The most trivial of these auto matic devices come in the bath room. Isn’t it great having a toi let that flushes itself, so nobody has to get their hands dirty? Isn’t it great not having to touch that filthy door handle that some commoner might have'' touched? Isn’t it also great becoming so dependent on machines that human beings become obsolete? Some may say that thinking like this is counterproduc five and that keeping your hands clean is a necessity. While hand san itizing is neces sary and the idea of machines rul ing over civiliza tion is rather far- . fetched-, constant ly worrying if hands are clean is in itself foolish. Yes, contracting a disease from filthy conditions would be a horrible way to die, but getting run over by a speeding limo would be just as deadly. The point is that no one can predict their own demise (clairvoyants perhaps excluded) and whether through personal injury or through deadly virus, every human by nature will die. . This is not to say that every one should go out looking for death by fighting bulls or not washing their hands, but just be aware that death is imminent. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but one day and all the hand-washing and disinfecting •»will come to naught. By depending on the machines to do the work normal ly done by humans, such as flush ing the toilet, humans become more and more dependent on the machines to survive. In the days of our ancestors, there wercxz automatic toilets (or toilets them selves for that matter) and they got along just fine. Since, the advent of the technological-age things like automatic doors, automatic toilet flushers and personal com puters have become so common place that life without them would seem dull or downright impossi ble. None of this is to say that these marvelous contraptions are detrimental to society; quite the contrary. Our ancestors would gaze in wonder at these advancements and praise the thinkers responsible. This is only a warning not to become too dependent on these wonders as they run on principles that would not be' possible without humans behind them. Take then the opportunity to think, about what things a person can do that a machine cannot and don’t put so much trust into any automatic device, because when they realize they have been used for all of these years they might become aware of how much we depend on them while they really don’t need us at all. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ARMED AND DANGEROUS KELLER RELEASED TO EAST PORTLAND! On Mays, 2003 Officer Scott McCoUister shot and killed Kendra James, an unarmed, 21-year old African-American mother of two. After a 9 month vacation, Scott McCoUister was re-armed and released to YOUR community on February 5, despite widespread demand for his firing. The Portland Police have taken great care to keep any photos of McCoUister out Of public circulation. They protect him despite his crime, as they have always done. The community has a right to know what this predator looks like. For that reason we are sponsoring a contest we will reward the first person who provides a photo of McCoUister with a free bag of groceries, worth wo. We see this as a first step towards getting McCoUister off-the police force! To claim the prize, contact ROSE CITY COP WATCH at 503-993-9464or Info@r05ecitycopwatdi.ar?. SCOTT MCCOUUSTE* «$ A WHiTt MAL£»' 27*28 YCARS X>M>» MKOi’UM tfUtLO»- LAST SBtN WEARING ALL »UUK.THIS FOSTER IS PART OP A CAMPAIGN TO BRING PUBLIC SCRUTINY TO TH< PRACTICES OFTHS PORTLAND POLICE. • DO NOT ATTEMPT TO APPRfiNENO THIS MAN! P hoto C ourtesy of The Portland Tribune This flyer has been distributed by the Rose City Copwatch organization after the Portland Police Department refused to release a picture of Officer Scott McCoUister, who shot Kendra James last May. . Portland Police answer questions about the Kendra James shooting following are the Portland Police Department’s response to questions asked by members of the Albina Ministerial Alliance. More may be found at www.portlandonline.com/police Q: HCZirvz [Chief Kroeker] announced the suspension of the officer involved in the shooting of Kendra James, he staled that he had concerns leading up to the shooting of Kendra James. What were those concerns! A: Chief Mark Kroeker stated in media interviews that though he thought the officer involved did not shoot Kendra James out of malice or bias, and the shooting was ruled justified, there were tac tical errors that were made by the officer that led up to the shoot ing. It was because of those tactical decisions that Chief Kroeker felt it necessary to discipline the officer involved. Q: There were two, /ess lethal weapons used on Kendra James, pepper spray and a Taser. Ifizt there an equipment failure or were they not properly used! N-. The investigation determined that the Taser deployed, but the Taser probes contacted Ms. James’ clothing, but not her skin, not allowing for the desired effect. As to the pepper spray, the Police Bureau was able to conclude that Officer McCoUister did pull the canister from his belt. Investigators are able to conclude from tests that Officer McCollistcr’s pepper spray canister was operating correctly.forensics examination deter-- mined that no evidence of pepper; spray existed inside of the car. Investigators were unable to conclusively determine whether or not Officer McCollistcr’s thumb depressed the discharge button. Q: IFZw/ Zr /A? City’s medical /¡ability for a police-shooting victim! What is the amount of the medical liability! A: The city is self-insured and each case is handled individually. There is no set amount. E-mail letters to chiefed@clackamas.edu or bring them on a floppy disk tp RR.135 by this Friday at 1 p.m. Please include your name and limit all letters to no more than 200 words. Submissions become property of The Clackamas Print and are subject to editing on the grounds of clarity; grammatical and otherwise. Photo Illustration by JESSE LAMOND T he C lackamas P rint
