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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 2015)
I Street Roots • July 10-16, 2015 PROFILING, fro m page 4 CIO plans to conduct outreach to educate people about how they can file a com plaint, and how they can do so anonymously. “If those complaints show that, consistently, an officer is harassing certain communities, there will be a tracking mechanism that, hopefully, will raise a red flag,” she says. Portland attorney Melvin Oden-Orr is a co-creator of Driving While Black The App, a free app that informs drivers of their rights, has the ability to record interactions with police and offers a platform for filing complaints. He says he hears stories regularly from family and friends who feel police pulled them over because they were black. “Many people feel as though they’ve been profiled, but if they do not register their complaint, then all it is, is anecdotal evidence. If they submit a complaint, it becomes a part of official public record,” he says. “Fast forward three years down the road, and a motorist dies at a traffic stop at the hands of an officer. The lawyer representing that victim can do a public records request for all complaints.” Oden-Orr says if a pattern of profiling emerges from the complaints, there would be substantial evidence that not only was the officer guilty of profiling, but that the agency he works for knew about it, did nothing, and was therefore also responsible for the motorist’s death. Portland police spokesman S g t Pete Sim pson says signs that you’ve been profiled are very subjective. “I would suspect a lot of people believe they are being profiled but aren’t,” he says. The departm ent came under fire in 2013 when it instituted hot-spot policing by sending officers more frequently to high crime areas. Critics worried it would lead to increased racial profiling. According to S g t Greg Stewart, the program is still operational, however the departm ent has moved its focus beyond high- crime areas only, and is focused on the community policing aspect of i t “An example of this,” he says “is that the calls were set up at high school football and basketball games. These had nothing to do with crime, but instead were set up to give officers a chance to interact more with the community.” He says while the departm ent is still in the process of analyzing the data, it “does not appear to be generating additional stops or searches. It actually looks as if it may be reducing them .” Veteran criminal defense attorney Edie Rogoway filed a lawsuit last year alleging racial discrimination and seeking damages from two police officers and the City of Hillsboro on behalf of h er African-American client, Jermaine Robinson, who, the suit claims, was assaulted by police in 2012. Rogoway says racial profiling “is very, very difficult to prove. “The reason for that is because, when a police officer gets on the stand and testifies under oath that someone didn’t signal, or didn’t have a bike light on, how do you prove that that wasn’t the reason? “When you think about all of us that drive or ride our bike regularly, it’s impossible to do everything perfectly all the time. But the reality is that when you’re a 44-year-old Jewish woman who drives a Honda Civic - which is me - most of the things that I do that are possibly driving violations, even if a police officer saw it, if I’m not speeding excessively or doing something really outlandish, I’m not going to get pulled over.” Jason Kafoury, an attorney whose firm has filed several discrimination suits says, “We have gone to juries at least three or four times over the last six years that I’ve been here, and we’ve never prevailed on a race discrimination case. I think the people in Portland don’t want to believe there’s racism, so they want to look for other reasons.” In the case of Brenda Moaning, a woman who was falsely arrested for shoplifting at an H&M in 2011, Kafoury says, “She was the only African-American shopper in the store, and the video person was following just her, for three minutes, and still the jury couldn’t find that there was racial discrimination.” His firm did, however, prevail on the accusations of false arrest and battery. Rogoway says getting a discrimination case before a jury is a challenge in itself because a judge can dismiss it due to qualified immunity - meaning that even if the officer’s action was inappropriate, if the judge thinks other officers would have acted in the same way, the officer is immune from prosecution. Rep. Lew Frederick (D-Portland), who introduced the bill, told house representatives about his own experiences as an African American who’s been stopped “more times in a single year than most of you have in your lifetime.” He went on to say, “Your aye votes will mean a lot to me personally and a lot to communities across the state where people not only experience this, but live their lives anticipating the next encounter.” Only five members of Oregon Legislature, all republican, voted against the bill. None responded to requests for com m ent The bill was backed by the Portland NAACP, Oregon AFL-CIO, Oregon Latino Health Coalition, Family Forward Oregon, Oregon Health Equity Alliance and the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police, all saying it’s a significant step toward ending profiling across the state. Support Street Roots'outstanding vendors and great journalism. Give a one-time or recurring donation today streetroots.org Page 5 News emily@streetroots. org I think I’ve been profiled, now what? How do 1 know if I’ve been profiled? As of Jan. 1,2016, every law enforcement agency in Oregon will be required to have numerous ways for citizens to submit complaints, includi ng anonymously by phone or via a third According to attorney Melvin Oden-Orr, there are often three common party. If you file a complaint, include as much information about the incident as possible, including the officer’s name or badge number, when and where the incident took place, and - regardless of whether or not you can prove it - . \ >a * You are a per son of color • You’ve been stopped when you know you’ve done nothing wrong ♦When the officer approaches you, he or why you felt you were targeted. If you don’t know the officer’s information, include a physical description. If there are witnesses, make sure you get their names and contact information to include in your Oden-Orr says it's important not to confuse Even if there isn’t enough evidence for your complaint to result in disciplinary action, it could still make an impact. If your complaint is similar to complaints other people have filed against the same officer or police department, it may help point to systematic profiling when reviewed by the state, which could lead to action or serve as an officer engaged in community policing. In a scenario, the officer may simply ask you how your ■ Attorney Jason Kafoury that will be no fewer than 90 days and no longer than 180 days after the incident occurred. If your incident involved an officer with the Portland Police Bureau, you can currently submit a complaint with the Independent Police Review Commission using its online form, available in 11 languages, at www.poFifandonfine.com / audftor/fndex.cf m?c=42860 or submit your L complaint anonymously by calling the review says other signs you may have been profiled include: •Getting pulled over for failing to signal (oran equipment violation) enforcement prior to — ed orpu llec board at 503-823-0146. BIB over Comments from an stereotypes / An easy way to make sure you're including all ; ; / ; co-created by Oden-Orr, and use the form provided to fill out pertinent information » till information you’ve entered in a e-mail you the ir form, which you j can then forward to the appropriate iaw enforcement agency. The app a Simpson declined to list profiling indicators, saying they are very will also help you to identify which department’s jurisdiction you were in when the incident occurred, along with its contact information. The app works on both iPhone and Android < subjective. “I would suspect a lot of people believe they are being profiled but aren’t,” he ■ B I th e re ’s an app for that! the right information in your complaint is to download the free Driving While Black The App, ♦An officer uses a racial slur or other g w Portland police sDokesman Pete But don’t wait too long - there is a statute of limitations. Each law enforcement agency must -I I systems.
