Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 2018)
Page 4 News Street Roots • Nov. 30-Dec. 6, 2018 Advocates call for * tran spa re ncy, com pe bidding and cultural < in the selection of the specialist who evaluc police recruits ILLUSTRATION BY WlLDPIXELZISTOCK A N D STREET ROOTS BY AMANDA WALDROUPE “(The contract) should be on the City Council agenda,” said Dan Handelman, of Portland Copwatch, which advocates for dvocates for police accountability and police accountability and transparency. for Portland’s African-American 'Handelman stressed the importance of community are once again asking the Corey’s work: ensuring, essentially, that city of Portland and its Police Bureau to be more transparent in how a contract is anyone hired by the Portland Police Bureau does not have a severe ment«d illness or awarded to a Lake Oswego-based personality disorder and can handle the psychologist stresses and potential trauma of being a Dr. David Corey is responsible for police officer. psychologically assessihg new hires for the The office of Mayor Ted Wheeler, who is Portland Police Bureau. His contract was in charge of the Police Bureau, did not approved by the city in 2012. At that time, a respond to multiple requests for comment committee made of diverse groups was on this story. involved in the selection, and then-Mayor Corey has worked as the police Sam Adams pledged that the process would psychologist since 1999. He is responsible be more transparent moving forward. But for conducting pre-employment Corey’s contract was renewed for another psychological evaluations of people who three years in 2016 without a City Council have been given an initial offer to work for vote or any public notice. The contract is the Police Bureau. The assessments involve now set to expire in August 2019. a written questionnaire of hundreds of The contract extension follows a pattern questions, as well as a face-to-face interview of extending the contract withoutpublic with Corey, process or solicitation of bids from other From 1999 to 2012, Corey’s Lake potentially qualified applicants, despite yearS-long demands from activist groups that Oswego-based firm, Corey & Stewart, also conducted fitness-for-duty evaluations, an the process be more transparent and in-depth psychological evaluation officers culturally inclusive. STAFF W R ITER ■ must undergo to determiné whether they can return to duty áfter they’ve been involved in a “critical incident,” such as an officer-involved shooting or other traumatic event. When Corey’s contract was approved in 2012, fitness-for-duty evaluations were contracted out to another psychologist, Beaverton-based Dr. Sherry Harden. In the time that Corey has held the g position, the city sought competitive bids for the contract only three times: in 1999, when he was first hired, in 2003 and in 2012. In an O ct 9 letter to the City Council and Police Chief Danielle Outlaw, advocacy organizations asked that the hiring process be transparent and competitive and that there be a group of psychologists - not just one - who evaluates Portland police officers. That group should also be culturally diverse, said the organizations - Portland Copwatch, the Albina Ministerial Alliance, and the Portland chapter of the National Lawyer’s Guild. “One benefit of a diverse panel of psychologists is to ensure people of color are comfortable with the interviews and have culturally appropriate questions asked, thus ensuring the diversity of recruits,” the letter read. “In addition, such a panel can draw out more from people who pose potential problems regarding race based on their own life experience than a white psychologist can.” Handelman, of Portland Copwatch, said that his hope, by sending the letter in October, was that it would give the City Council enough time to develop a request for proposals, or RFP, in which the city solicits competitive bids from individuals and organizations to hold a contract with the city. The lack of such a process, Handelman said, all but ensures Corey will continue working as the Police Bureau’s psychologist, holding a “monopoly” on the position. Handelman said that commissioners acknowledged receiving the letter but that he has received “no substantive response.” Assistant Chief Chris Davies forwarded the Oct. 9 letter to Corey on Oct. 25. (Street Roots obtained the email thread following a public-records request) Corey responded the next day, writing that Corey & Stewart collaborates with Dr. Sandy Jenkins, “an African-American psychologist and specialist in multicultural assessment, who frequently S e e P S Y C H O L O G IS T , p a g e 5
