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Auditing the Auditor
Author Joe Blakely has written several
books of Oregon history, sports history
and historical fiction, including a
history of Civic Stadium. He’s currently
working on a biography of Oregon’s
14th Governor, Oswald West.
Council ignores police complainants
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10 JULY 14, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
BY ALAN PITTMAN
he Eugene City Council majority
gave rave reviews to its controversial
police auditor without actually
hearing from anyone who had fi led a
complaint against the police.
“We don’t have anything from the
complainants,” said Councilor Betty
Taylor, the only councilor to question
auditor Mark Gissiner’s performance.
“What I want to know is do they feel
satisfi ed?”
At Gissiner’s annual performance
review last month, Taylor also questioned
the forms the councilors used to evaluate
the auditor’s performance. “When did
‘successful’ become the lowest rating?”
she asked. “It seems rather strange.”
But Gissiner won high praise from
councilors who opposed the creation of
an independent police auditor function
despite two citywide votes in favor of the
oversight. “You’ve done an excellent job,”
said conservative Councilor Mike Clark,
who had repeatedly voted against the
independent auditor function in the past.
Councilor George Poling, a retired
sheriff’s deputy who voted with Clark
against independent oversight, praised
Gissiner for gaining “trust within the
police department and its union.” Poling
said, “the city of Eugene is really fortunate
to have Mark as our police auditor.”
The council voted unanimously to give
Gissiner a seven percent raise to $107, 661.
Gissiner dismissed nearly every external
complaint against police offi cers last year
and is being sued by a former assistant,
Dawn Reynolds, who alleges she was
fi red for blowing the whistle on Gissiner’s
misconduct and police misconduct.
Gissiner told the council that he is doing
a good job at police oversight. “We’re
starting to become looked at as a model.”
“I appreciate your commitment to
excellence,” said Mayor Kitty Piercy.
After the council hired Gissiner two
years ago as the police auditor, Gissiner
stated that he would not publicly criticize
the police. “There are not going to be
public disagreements,” he said.
Councilor Clark appeared to view
Gissiner’s job as more boosting
public relations than increasing actual
accountability. He described the purpose
of the auditor position as “to improve the
relationship between the community and
the police department.”
Councilor Alan Zelenka praised
Gissiner for managing “to keep the offi ce
of the police auditor out of the news” by
not doing anything controversial. “You’ve
taken the offi ce of the police auditor from
very controversial to business as usual, and
I think that’s where we should be.”
“You’ve been everything we hoped for
and more,” Councilor Chris Pryor agreed
in praising Gissiner.
But in the past, business as usual for the
Eugene Police Department has involved
allegedly ignoring allegations of egregious
police misconduct. In 2007 the council
voted not to independently investigate how
the police failed to stop one of their fellow
offi cers, Roger Magaña, from raping or
sexually abusing a dozen women over fi ve
years despite numerous complaints.
“During the entire fi ve years of Magaña’s
activities, 23 different offi cers, one chief of
police and the director of human resources
had actual knowledge of no less than 15
different complaints involving 15 different
women who were being either harassed,
raped or sexually abused by Magaña,”
Michelle Burrows, an attorney for one of
the women, wrote. “Even to this day, they
see nothing wrong with discounting the
complaints as they did.”
‘You’ve taken the
offi ce of the police
auditor from very
controversial to
business as usual.’
— C OUNCILOR A LAN Z ELENKA
One of the offi cers who ignored her
complaints, according to a victim’s sworn
testimony, is Pete Kerns, who now heads
the Eugene Police Department.
Zelenka said the council could call
complainants in evaluating the auditor’s
performance in handling them. But he said,
“I don’t know whether that’s a fair thing
to do.”
Taylor said the lack of feedback from
complainants left her unable to evaluate
the auditor’s performance. “I would like to
see people that actually have dealt with the
offi ce.”
Taylor faulted Gissiner for fi ring
Reynolds, who publicly criticized police
conduct. “Rather than dismissing her, it
would have been better to consider her
points of view,” Taylor said.
The councilor also faulted the council
majority for not reappointing a Florence
municipal judge serving on the police
Civilian Review Board after he publicly
criticized police conduct. “Council
dismissed one of the more knowledgeable
people on the Civilian Review Board who
had different opinions,” Taylor said.
Gissiner claimed the state public records
law prevents him from sharing records
with the public that would demonstrate
how he holds police accountable during
internal affairs investigations. “Some
folks haven’t asked tough questions, and I
have,” he said.
But Oregon’s public records law would
allow Gissiner to release almost any
record he really wanted to if he deemed
such release to be “in the public interest.”
Gissiner, however, has deferred to the
police department in deciding what is in
the public interest.
ew
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