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