Roots • Jan. 1-7, 2016
2016 LAWS, from page 4
expungement provision that makes it easier
to expunge past pot felonies. When an
offender applies for expungement, the court
will consider the offense under current law,
meaning that if the crime was a Class A
felony before Measure 91 but after measure
91 it was a Class B felony, then it’s now
expungeable after three years, although
most marijuana convictions were already
eligible.
Eligible crimes are not automatically
removed from offenders’ records. To
expunge eligible convictions, an offender
must petition the court in a nine-step
process that includes fingerprinting, paying
state police $80, and a court filing fee. In
Multnomah County, the fee is $252.
Good Samaritan
A new good-Samaritan law goes into
effect with protections for people who seek
help in a drug overdose emergency. The
person who sought medical help arid the
person overdosing are immune from certain
charges and arrest if evidence of a crime is
obtained because the person contacted
emergency medical services or a law
enforcement agency.
What you can’t be arrested for:
possession or use of a controlled substance,
possession of drug paraphernalia with intent
to deliver, or frequenting a place where
controlled substances are used. Nor can you
be arrested on an outstanding warrant or
parole or probation violation for those
offenses.
?«>. ,■ • • •?' - .
W h at y o u c a n b e a r r e ste d for: federal
and out-of-state warrants, local warrants for
crimes that are not listed above, new crimes
other than the drug-related crimes listed
above.
“It appears the immunity only applies to
offenses listed in the bill, so the offenses
regarding delivering drugs or manufacturing
drugs are not immune,” said Officer Jeremy
Shaw, a Beaverton Police Department
spokesperson.
Older good-Samaritan laws on the books
in Oregon also protect minors from minor-
in-possession charges when seeking help
with alcohol poisoning and protect people
with CPR training from lawsuits when they
administer CPR with good faith in a medical
emergency, unless they are grossly
negligent.
Police profiling
Profiling, as defined by House Bill 2002,
“means that a law enforcement agency or a
law enforcement officer targets an individual
for suspicion of violating a provision of law
based solely on the real or perceived factor of
the individual’s age, race, ethnicity, color,
national origin, language, gender, gender
identity, sexual orientation, political
affiliation, religion, homelessness or disability,
unless the agency or officer is acting on a
suspect description or information related to
an identified or suspected violation of a
News
Page
provision o f law. ”
While profiling was
already banned in
Portland, it’s now
banned statewide. As of
Jan. 1, all law
enforcement agencies
are required to send
every profiling
complaint they
receive to the
Criminal Justice Policy
Research Institute at
Portland State
University. There, the
complaints will be stored
for 25 years arid analyzed for
patterns by the Law Enforcement
Contacts Policy arid Data Review
Committee, or LECC. This committee will
create and implement law enforcement
training programs and make policy
recommendations based on its findings.
As of Jan. 1, all Jaw enforcement agencies
are required to have multiple avenues for
accepting complaints, including via phone
and mail, electronically, through a third
party; and anonymously. They are also
required to have procedures in place for
investigating each complaint and forwarding
it to the LECC.
But in the case of anonymous complaints,
investigators will have to rely on the quality
of the information provided, said Lt. Steven
Alexander, spokesperson for the Multnomah
County .Sheriff’s Office
“For example,, if•we_receive.d_,an. „
anonymous letter without contact
information, we will be only able to rely
upon the information provided and have no
means to obtain further information
regarding the complaint if needed,” he said
in an email. “We can keep complainant’s
information anonymous through the
process, even when a follow-up clarification
interview is needed.”
LECC has already begun profiling-related
training of law enforcement officers through
its partnership with the Oregon Department
of Public Safely Standards and Training and
the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
According to its 2015 annual report,
LECC’s goals for this year include creating a
plan for educating the public, developing
“Profiling 101” training for both civilians
and law enforcement agencies, and
analyzing traffic stop and search data
voluntarily submitted by law enforcement
While profiling is banned, individual
complaints of profiling are unlikely to lead
to any disciplinary action against the
offending officer because profiling is difficult
to prove. The new system put in place to
combat systematic profiling relies heavily on
patterns of complaints, which is why it’s
important that people who think they’ve
been targeted speak up, regardless of
whether it will lead to immediate
disciplinary action (See “Oregon’s new
profiling ban,” July 10, 2015, at news.
streefroots.org).
People
who want to make
a profiling complaint against a Portland
Police Bureau officer may file it with any
member of PPB; in writing using a Citizen
Complaint Form found at the Portland
Office of the City Auditor’s website,
portlandoriline.com/ auditor/index.
cfm?c=42860; or in writing, over the phone,
electronically or in person with the
Independent Police Review. Call the IPR at
503-823-0146 for more information..
It’s also possible to submit a complaint
against any law enforcement agency in the
state directly to the LECC.
“Since we are n o t directly a p a rt of law
enforcement, this may help so m e fee lrn o rc
\ comfortable initiating a complaint in the , .
first place,” said Brian Renauer, the
institute’s director. “We also have resources
to help;with translation too.”
LECC recommends using its official
complaint form online, which is available in
several languages, including Spanish. Once
received, the LECC will attempt a follow-up
phone call within five business days. Let
them know at that time if you wish to
remain anonymous or you don’t want your
complaint forwarded to local law
enforcement They will keep your name
protected in locked cabinets and password-
protected databases.
You may submit your complaint to LECC:
Online: pdx.edu/cjpri/lecc
By phone: 503-725-522; staff is available to
answer this line from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Monday through Friday, but callers can
leave a voicemail at any time.
By mail:
Law Enforcement Contacts Policy and Data
Review Committee
Attn: CCJ-JUST
P.0. Box 751
Portland, OR 97204
emily@streetroots. org
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