Street Roots •
August 19-25, 2016
Don’t put our police oversight behind closed doors
ontroversial changes to the city’s police
accountability process will be examined during
a special community forum on Áug. 23.
We all should be there.
The event, hosted by the Albina Ministerial Alliance
Coalition for Justice and Police Reform, will be from 6
p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Maranatha
Church in Northeast Portland. •
The proposed changes were
unveiled publicly at an Aüg. 1
town hall meeting, where critics
slammed the new policies for decreasing transparency
and civilian police accountability.
Currently, the city’s Independent Police Review
system consistsof the Police Review Board, which meets
in private to review complaints and decide what, if any,
action to take, and an independent Citizen Review
Committee, which publicly hears appeals from citizen
complainants.
Under the changes proposed by City Council
members, those two bodies would be merged - and
subsequently m eet in private, a loss of transparency the
CRC members strongly oppose, along with Street Roots
and most anyone who understands the dynamics of
police oversight.
, State law sets the parameters that allow thé police to
review personnel matters behind closed doors. But the
public’s case must see the light of day. Trading
transparency for expediency is unacceptable.
; This merged body would also include a significant
polieé presence in comparison to civilian members,
which the CRC rightly believes could have a chilling
effect on community complaints, testimQny and CRC
criticism of bureau practices. It undermines the integrity
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E d it o ria l
of the process to tip the scales toward a greater police
presence, diminishing the civilian’s critical role.
IPR Director Constantin Severe also agrees that the
secrecy of the consolidated group is not an acceptable
compromise for a streamlined system.
“The CRC acts as an advisory body to IPR, from our
perspective we want to make sure any changes to city
code would improve the process and have more buy in
from the public,”& v ere said, noting that the public’s
concerns will be noted. “Moving forward we’re going to
have to take that into account Doing nothing is not an
option for the city.”
The changes are prompted by federal pressure to
streamline the police accountability process and
expedite what are now months-long appeals by citizens
claiming police misconduct. The city is subject to the
settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of
justice, and according to City Auditor Mary Hull
Caballero, the city could be found in violation of that
agreement if its appeals process isn’t sped up. The
federal requirement is for an appeals hearing to be held
within 21 days of receiving a request. Currently,
according to the auditor’s office, the median number of
days for a complaint to move through the appeals
process is 149.
The DOJ is expected to file a written progress report
in late September. City Council is scheduled to take up
its first of two required hearings on the proposed
chapges to the IPR bn Sept 14.
The best minds in the room still, need to hear from
you. Let your voice be heard and demand a process that
preserves transparency, and the integrity of our
agreement.
Write in
If you would like
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L.———
uality jotínlálism matters, especially in a time
when the media industry is being turned upside
down. Some will tell you that journalism is dead.
T h at^ th e furthest thing from the truth. Possibly the
traditional model or platform for quality journalism is
suffering, but dead? journalism? No way. It’s simply
evolving.
Here’s the thing. Traditional news
platforms didn’t have anymore of a
bead on the truth than the media
climate we find ourselves in today.
Sure, there have been times when
the idea of being a watchdog and
delivering a community service has
shone in both our community and in
our country. However, traditional
newspapers have also supported many devastating
pblicies throughout our country’s history — often times
completely disconnected from the issues and! people
they are reporting on.
For example, how many people of color do we have in
newsrooms,across our State covering the issues of
culturally specific communities? Where are the Latino,
Native American and black voices, to name a few, on
our editorial boards and ip our newsrooms? Are there
people of color teaching and mentoring people in our
local universities? Why aren’t Oregon foundations
funding journalism when it’s equity they seek?
Maintaining quality journalism about the people, for the
people, while working to make the world a more just
place is the single hardest thing for any media
organization to fund, including Street Roots.
Moreso, it’s pearly impossible for blue collar and
poor kids, from anywhere in the world, to actually make
it in journalism today. If you’re lucky enough to attend
journalism school as a poor kid, it’s almost impossible
to maintain a living ill your 20s to craft your profession
— leaving newsrooms today covering important racial
O’
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
israel@streetroots.org
or follow him on
Twitter@israelbayer.
and socio-economical issues through a lens that is
ahnost exclusively white and privileged. It’s a sad affair.
Last week, Street Roots was honored to receive the
2016 Humanitarian Award from Willamette Writers, one
of the largest writers’ guilds in the country. Big kudos
should go to Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl, Reporter
Emily Green, Editorial Assistant Monica Kwasnik and
all of our freelancers. They work hard to maintain a .
quality newspaper every single week.
Below is a portion of the talk I gave at the award
ceremony:
To quote Hunter S. Thompson, “If I’d written all the -
truth I knew for the past 10 years, about 600 people -
including me - would be rotting in prison cells from Rio
to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and
dangerous commodity in the context of professional
journalism.”
The reality is that Street Roots isn’t interested in who
people are sleeping with, or what drugs you are taking
to get you through the night, or your past mistakes or
missteps.
Street Roots’ editorial focus is to provide quality
journalism and commentary that makes the world we
live in a better place. It’s our goal to provide the public
with road map journalism that works to tackle the ,
complex problems facing our community and the world.
We are a small train that carries a heavy load. We
work hard to highlight the many voices of the people —
the commoners; the freaks, the doers, the immigrants
and refugees, the homeless and the huddled masses.
Our interest is trying to leave the world a better place
than how we found it through writing.”
Of course, Street Roots isn’t the only media outlet in
town providing quality journalism. There are many.
Saying that, we are proud of the work we do with such a
small news team and hope readers understand how
much we care about the content we are maintaining.
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like to get involved as a
member of our reporting staff,
contact M anaging Editor Joan ne Zuhl at
503-228-5657, joanne@streetroots.org,
W e a sk th a t all subm issions include the
author’s name and contact information,
if available.
Street Roots
211 NW Davis S t
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5857
Fax; 503-227-3117
www.streetroots.org
www.news.streetroots.org
Hours: 7:30 a .m -3 p.m. M on.-Fri„ 7:30
a.m,-2 p.m. Sat. and 7:30-11 a.m. Sun.
Advertising
Interested in advertising in Street Roots?
Contact Israel Bayer at israel@rtreetroots.org
Staff
Executive Director Israel Bayer
israeteeetoots.org
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhi
joanne@streetroots.org
t i n n r l n n D n n r i n o m ffiumovfrAM
V d lU Q » r i W g n l l l l M il w v W F
Journalism is alive and well, and worthy of support
.
something
that you’ve
written published
in our pages, or would
Crdcs KAafVcd ■
tote@streetfoc8s.org
Operations Director Sarah Beem rff
Development Director Sarah Cloud
Program Assistant Scott Jackson, Jesuit
Volunteer
Development Assistant Patricia Romero
Reporters Emily Green, Suzanne Zalokar,
Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Jared Paben,
Amanda Waldroupe, Stephen Quirke .
Photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode,
Sen Brink
Editorial Assistant Monica Kwasnik
Canvasser Desmond Hardison
Board of Directors
Chairman Brad Taylor
Vice-Chairman Rachel Langford
Treasurer Heather Stadick
Secretary Marcus Swift
Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson,
Leo Rhodes, Sandra Hahn, John Brown, Dan
Jones
Volunteers
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Stephanie
Holum, Anjali Rathore, Zoe Kiingmann, Haven
Herrin, Dan Jones, Rob Shyrock, Dennis Hogan,
Tom Wright, Eileen Deerdock, Vince Waldman,
Judy Taylor, Karen Allen, Monica McKune,
Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell
Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Yasmin Amirsoleymani,
Jason Cohen, Tom Ray, Doug Spangle,
Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond, Hilary Smith,
Diana Richardson, Cherie Manning, Paul and
Madeline Gefroh. If you are interested in
volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a
volunteer application at rtreetroots.org/
-volunteer. Or call our volunteer coordinator for
more information at 503-228-5657.