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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 2012)
Street roots Oct. 12, 2012 1, _I» — * on among other things, two serious problems. One being that our police use excessive force on people perceived to deficiencies in policy, training, and supervision. The other serious problem is failings in network, from triage sites to engagement with health providers. What will you do to My top priority is making Portland a place that is safe and just for all. I worked for 26 years in psychiatric nursing before being elected to serve all citizens in City Hall. I have been working since 2010 to evaluate systemic problems and begin implementing changes that will reduce interactions between the police and people in mental health crisis. I will continue to :¡vK i üïiïùïiïiwv? work to ensure that mental health services Amanda Fritz are provided by health care professionals, rather than police. I am the only current or potential council member with experience in mental health care. I ask Portlanders to consider this one of the most important reasons to vote for me, along with my proven dedication to affordable housing, police accountability and fiscal responsibility. I was a key leader in making over 110 amendments to the Independent Police Review process in 2010. The Department of Justice report is clear that more needs to be done. After one term in office, I now know what must be done to change the way police officers are trained and how they act. My re-election is crucial to effecting real change in both police accountability and community health care systems. I will continue the work I’ve initiated, to ensure that the Department of Justice order is implemented fully and appropriately. If you help me win re-election, we will provide better mental health care more cost-effectively, and we will minimize interactions between police and people experiencing mental illnesses that could lead to use of deadly force. I am uniquely qualified to continue to lead this crucial work. Please vote to keep the psychiatric nurse on the Portland City Council. 2. The issue of local law enforcement interfacing directly with federal agencies such as the CIA and FBI is highly controversial — from cooperating with the surveillance-oriented fusion centers in Salem and Portland, to the city police participating in the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The FBI also have been involved in questionable investigations, such as the Christmas tree bomber case and raiding the homes of so-called anarchists. Where do you stand on our participation in the JTTF, and how far should our police cooperate with these federal agencies? Charlie H ales: I am proud of the fact J efferso n Sm ith: I support having a that I was the first Portland elected official to vote against our involvement in the JTTF, and I am as concerned that involvement today as I was then. The issue is one of oversight — when the city joins the JTTF, we lose oversight of our police officers, which is a fundamental necessity in this city. Not only is chain of command paramount in any police force for the accountability it creates, but under the JTTF framework, oversight excludes the Portland City Attorney and inevitably Oregon law and our constitution. We have important work to do in improving oversight of the Police Bureau. I’m ready to take that on. watchful eye. It would be naive to think that Portland can operate without any contact with our federal partners. Not only do they provide funding for certain activities, but they have resources that could be critical in the event of an emergency. Having said that, I think we need to keep at arms length from entities like the JTTF. As we work to better train our own police force, we can look to the federal government for assistance, both financially and with best training practices. The Department of Justice recommendations for our police force deserve particular attention and are one clear example of how we can work effectively with the federal government. Our challenge is to remain in a position where we can accept and utilize the best of what the federal government has to offer without engaging in the violations of civil rights we fear from the JTTF. I believe we should not rejoin the JTTF, but we should continue to maintain working relationships with federal partners. There is a very real and very deep divide between significant numbers of Portland residents and law enforcement, including the Police Bureau. The recent Department of Justice report, as well as the recent arbitrator’s decision and Employment Relations Board ruling, all identify omissions, mistakes, and failures by key players. This includes the mayor and elected members of the City Council, the management of the Police Bureau, individual officers and the Mary Nolan police association. As city commissioner, I will push to make this an urgent priority, leading with both strength and honesty to fix the failures that City Hall and police managers have allowed to fester in the training procedures immediately. It is primarily management’s responsibility to set police policy and to assure adequate supervision. This has to be an ongoing focus that anticipates and prevents problems rather than reacting after another tragedy overwhelms a Portland family and the whole Portland community. I will support the new mayor in committing wholeheartedly to public safety, not just law enforcement. In particular, I will support the new mayor in applying all the resources available to bring community leaders, public safety experts, union representatives and public health advocates to each take personal responsibility for making the changes needed to restore mutual respect and confidence. As co-chair of the Public Safety Budget Committee in the State legislature, I worked effectively with the state police, Department of Corrections, Oregon Youth Authority, sheriffs and district attorneys to restore important programs to address mental health conditions among prisoners, to provide proven drug and alcohol treatment and to expand job training and re-entry services to improve the chances that people who complete their prison terms are equipped and committed to living peacefully back in an Oregon community. I am anxious to apply that successful experience to help coordinate mental health responses and social services to achieve better safety results for families in crisis and for nearby neighbors. A m anda Fritz: I voted to rejoin the JTTF because they are operating in Portland whether we are at the table or not, and I want the council and the public to know what they are doing. I voted _ against acceptance of the first annual report of the Portland Police Bureau’s involvement in the JTTF, because the level of transparency and accountability I had called for was not evidenced in the report. I will ask the new mayor to request top secret clearance, and to provide thorough, annual documentation and reporting on Portland Police officers’ involvement with the JTTF. Portlanders deserve to be safe from terrorism and safe from erosion of constitutional rights by officers sworn to serve and protect ALL. I am endorsed by the Oregon Black Political Convention, and I hope to receive the Oregon Muslim Citizens Alliance endorsement (pending). I established the Office of Equity and Human Rights to ensure that all City bureaus and staff learn how to think and act with justice and equity as priorities. The Office of Equity staffs the Human Rights Commission and its Community and Police Relations Committee. I will continue to champion the work of the Office of Equity, the Human Rights Commission and the Portland Commission on Disability in my second term. Mary Nolan: I believe strongly that all actions taken in the name of Portland should be accountable to the elected representatives of the city. I appreciate fh a f f p r m Q Q £ J ? n rtl;in d ’-& C U lT e ilÎ participation with the JTTF give more visibility to the details of cases in Portland than in some other cities, however I remain deeply concerned about the exclusion of the police chief and police commissioner (whether that is the mayor or a designated commissioner) from key information on the work the FBI assigns to or asks of police bureau staff. We should not allow any city of Portland employee or manager to participate in any actions that infringe on the civil rights of any person, and our cooperation should be strictly limited by that firm standard.
