MHRC turns down polk b shotguns
PORTLAND
1
Voi. 5 No.
OBSERI/ER
P o rtland, Oregon
Thursday. Septem ber 18, 1975
lOr per ropy
Grants students learn career opportunities
Nearly one hundred minority stu
dents will participate in Grant High
School's Minority Career Education
Program thia year.
In its second
year, the program emphasized career
exploration and preparation for job
experience.
Students who request placement in
the program first take the Kudor
lest, whirh shows their five areas of
highest interest. Students can then
go to the computer and learn all
about the suggested careers
the
training necessary, schools in Oregon
that provide training, and the type of
work the career involves.
I he next stop is to check career
manuels to learn about the careers,
interviews persons in that career,
observe people at work, and eventu
ally try a job placement in that field.
Students are encouraged to try a
number of careers during their two
years in the program.
Alfonso Small, Jr., Program Coor
dinator. emphasized that this is not a
remedial, nor a vocational training
program
Students represent the
entire spectrum of social class and
academic potential, we have poor
students, good students and excellent
students."
The students attend their regular
high school classes and are assigned
to one class period of career training.
This class period ran include various
individual projects exploring careers;
math, English or typing skills; or
counselling. Students are placed in
jobs, to whirh they go after school or
might be excused from one class
period, when they are ready for the
experience. “Our students are not
isolated from the general school
population
They attend all their
regular academic classes."
“Through rareer explanation, the
students relate what they learn in
school to the world of work. Many
find, after selecting a rareer they
think they would like to follow, that
they need certain academic courses."
An example is a student who worked
for a plumber during the summer and
decided he wanted to he a plumber
“Checking the career manuals, he
learned he should be taking more
math in order to be accepted as an
apprentice."
Mrs. Edith Harrison. Education
Coordinator, explained that students
are not directed into vocational
and control of crime in Portland."
Reverend Austin Harper Richard
son,
pastor of Centenary Wilbur
Methodist Church in Southeast Port
land, who spoke against the use of
shotguns:
“...what happens to the
public image and role definition if the
proposal to issue shotguns to Port
land's Police is accepted?
“From my reading I understand
that a basic premia in the under
standing of the police role is that the
most important responsibility of the
police is the preservation of human
life.
What this tells us is that the
police responsibility for the mainte
nance of social order is a conditional
responsibility.
The police exist to
protect individual rights as well as to
insure social justice. The police task
is to work with the citizenry in
developing communities that are
livable places.
"The question in my mind is
whether issuing shotguns to Port
land's Police enhances the image of
the police as being preservors of
human life.
Does this proposed
action further a climate of trust and
lower the threshold of fear in our
community?"
Ellis Casson, President of the
Portland Branch, N A ACP, said the
N A A C P is opposed to the use of
shotguns. "We have enough problem
with the use of handguns and no way
will we (the N A A C P ) sit back and let
'them' start using shotguns on 'us' at
will."
Alan Mason, speaking for the use
of shotguns, said the question has
unfortunately become a racial issue
and Blacks think they will be the
victims, but since Northeast Portland
is an area of high crime rate, "fight
fire with fire."
Dale Smith defended the use of
shotguns on the attributes of the gun
itself, saying that although it is more
devastating at short range, the
danger of bullet at long range is not
as great. Its use would eliminate the
possibility of stray bullets going
through walls or travelling long
distances and striking an innocent
bystander.
George Kontanis, Socialist Workers
Party candidate for the Mayor of
Portland, spoke of the causes of crime
and violence. "The real violence here
is the violence of poverty and racism,
of a Black unemployemtn rate twice
that of whites, of discrimination on
housing, of Black children locked into
substandard schools.
The real issue
here is not the shotguns but the
racist attitude of Portland’s police
department towards the Black com
munity."
The
M CHR
sub-committee
on
Police Community
Relations had
previously voted to oppose the
shotgun proposal. William Jackson,
its chairman, said the decision was
based both on lack of convincing
evidence that shotguns would be a
deterrent and the expressed fear and
apprehension on the part of a large
segment of the population.
Police minority recruiters predict success
1975 Grant High School graduate and a participant in the
ration Program, works at a lathe.
training. "W e study professional as
well as skilled jobs, and students are
encouraged to go to college if this is
what they want."
Three of the
students in last year's program were
assisted to get scholarships.
The program helps those who do go
on to college select high school
courses that are prerequisites they
will need.
The Minority Career Education
Program was established at Grant by
the Oregon Department of Education
as a pilot project. Most students, and
especially minorities, have no idea of
the basic skills required or even how
to apply for a job.
This, together
with the fart that employers say they
cannot find "qualified" minorities,
influenced the formation of this
program.
Job placements are with business
and industry or non profit agencies.
Students are counselled and their
progress watched carefully, with the
cooperation of the employer to see
that they develop good work habits
and attitudes. Placements vary from
short term non paid jobs which in
volve mostly observing, to longer
term paid employment.
(Please see photos on p. 4)
Program aids parent competence
by Bruce H u bert
When
reminirsing,
how
many
parents have M id, "I was wrong," or
“I just wish I had known better," in
reference to the way that they have
raised their children.
The chances
are that many have.
Parent Child
Services, located at 424 N.E. 22nd
Avenue in Portland, is attempting to
decrease the likelihood of such
remenbrances.
The center, which is funded by the
Office of Child Development, was
established as a pilot program in
19AM, like most of the social welfare
programs enacted in the 60's it is
geared to aid low income families.
Eligibility guidelines dictate that
low income families with children
under three are given priority.
However, ten percent of the service's
100 children are allowed to come from
families above the
PCS income
regulations, when it is judged that
the program can be of significant aid
to them and their parents.
One of only two in the Northwest,
and thirty three in the nation, PCS
The Metropolitan Human Relations
Commission overruled the recom
mendation of its staff and voted to
oppose the placement of shotguns in
police patrol cars.
Currently shotguns are mounted
only in Sargeants cars and are
available for specific needs.
The
Police Bureau had requested that
they be carried in all patrol cars as a
deterrent to crime and to violence
against police officers. The incidents
of armed robbery is increasing. The
police reasoning is that the suspects
are better armed than the police and
that if facing shotguns they would be
leas apt to fire at police or civilians.
The main eutcry against the use of
shotguns has been from the Black
community, where five young men
have been shot by police in recent
months, with four being killed.
The preponderance of testimony
given at the hearing held by the
MHRC Wednesday was opposed to
the use of shotguns.
(harlottee Williams, speaking for
the Black Justice Committee said
"the Portland Police Department has
not demonstrated
the
maturity,
respect for public property, and care
of human life and limb to permit
public trust of its ability to manage
this proposal usage of shotguns in the
best interest of the public's safety,
especially that of minority communi
ties. .. The proposed shotgun action
is designed to scare and intimidate
citizens; fear is not the tactic
supported by BJC for the prevention
offers a variety of services and
programs whirh, in the words of its
director
Mr. Augustine Roland,
"are designed to teach parents to
understand the different stages of
growth and development of their
children."
PCS Services has two groups
comprised of fifty children who. along
with their parents, attend the agency
twice a week.
PCS raters to the
needs of both parents and their
children, offering adult and child
programs.
The agency's adult program is
designed to teach “parenting" skills.
Said Roland, “Many parents don't
know what to expect from their
children
causing them 'to become
upset."
A frequent problem is in
regards to the notorious "Terrible
Two's." According to Roland "Many
parents make the mistake of at
tempting to beat it out of them." In
order to combat such occurences the
agency offers an Adult Group, a
program designed to allow parents to
understand their roles. Parents work
with the PCS staff ¡earning to aid in
the growth and development of their
children.
According to the PCS Director
there are an alarmingly high number
of parents who are ignorant of the
nutritional and health needs of their
children.
The centers health and
nutritional education classes
are
designed to alleviate this situation.
Upon arriving at the center, where
they are provided with nutritious
meals, the centers staff of child
development experts work with the
children teaching them to learn how
to learn, while at the same time
providing them with an enjoyable
atmosphere.
Individual attention is
also provided
to
children
with
conceptual and coordination problems.
"Parents often don't understand
what their responsibilities as parents
are." said Roland. Thanks to Parent
Child Services there will be a few
less unhappy parents and children in
Portland.
I believe there are as many
competant, qualified Black individuals
as their are in the general popula
tion." Officer Tony Newman. M inority
Recruiter for the Portland Police
Bureau said. With that in mind, he
and Officer Joe Murillo have set out
to recruit enough minority police to
bring their number to approximately
nine percent of the Police Bureau.
During their first year on the job,
they have added six minority officers
to the force. This puts them nearly on
schedule for the eighty four to be
recruited in five years, and brings the
Bureau total to twenty nine.
The Police Bureau's minority re
cruiting efforts in the past have been
a failure, leading many Blacks to
believe the Bureau is not committed
to minority hiring Newman says this
is not so, that the Bureau is now
looking for minorities and that any
minority person who passes the
qualifications and can compete suc
cessfully with other candidates will
•be hired. The competition for avail
able positions is stiff, with about
eight percent of the candidates being
hired, but Newman points out that
the six minorities who were hired
outscored other candidates. There are
no special qualifications or procedures
to assist minorities to get into the
system.
The main thrust of the recruiting
effort has been to encourage police
officers to refer people who might be
interested. These individuals are then
contacted, the employment proced
ures and the job explained. Those
who complete the application are
provided a manual to help them study
for the written test.
The next step is the examination,
which tests general ability, reading
comprehension, and ability to make
judgements. Those who pass the
written examination have an inter
view with a member of the Police
Bureau and two members of the Civil
Service Commission. The interviewer
explores the candidate's background,
his interests, his understanding of
police work, and his judgement. The
w ritten examination makes up sixty
per cent of the candidate's score and
the interview accounts for forty per
cent.
Next comes the physical test with
dragging weight, running and sit-
ups. Those who pass go on to the
medical examination and those who
fail can try again after a period of
time elapses.
Following the medical
is the
psychological exam ination which
attempts to judge m aturity and
emotional control as well as ruling
out psychosis and neurosis. Next
comes the background check includ
ing personal references, police and
credit records and interviews with
acquaintances.
The candidate who passes these
tests is placed on the hiring list
according to his score on the written
and oral examinations and when he is
first on the list, he is hired.
Although
the
qualifications
to
become a police officer are strict, and
after the candidate is hired he serves
an eighteen
month
probationary
period, many men and women do pass
and qualify for employment. Minor
ities are passing the qualifications at
about
the
same
percentage
as
Caucasians.
Newman has found an interest in
the Police Department among Blacks
and does not believe the old myth
that Blacks cannot be recruited. A
police officer in Portland for seven
years, and before that a member of
the m ilitary police, he understands
the frustrations and the rewards of
being a police officer and believes it
is a good career to pursue.
District Attorney names new deputies
District Attorney Harl Haas an
nounced the hiring of his second
Black Deputy district attorney Jo
seph L. Amber», along with five
others, have been hired and will join
his staff during the next few weeks.
Ambers, thirty one. is a 1973
graduate of Cleveland State U niver
sity College of Law and a cum laude
graduate of Fisk University.
Ambers has worked as a docket
clerk for a Cleveland law firm and as
a legal intern providing represents
lion for indigent defendants in Ohio.
He is currently employed in the City
of Portland Purchasing Division. He
will become a member of the District
Court Unit.
William N. Melhalf, twenty five, is
a 1975 graduate of Northwestern
School
of Law.
Melhalf
has
previously served as an intern in the
District Attorney's office. He holds
an undergraduate degree in Business
and Technology from Oregon State
University.
Melhalf has held positions on the
staff of Spokane County Legal Aid
and as law clerk to a private firm in
Corvallis. He will be assigned to the
Support Enforcement Division.
John E. Hoag, twenty-eight, is a
1974 graduate of the University of
Texas School of Law.
He holds a
Bachelor of Arts degree in economics
from Earlham College in Richmond.
Indiana.
Hoag served as intern on the
University of Texas Criminal Justice
Project with the Drug Abuse Division
of the Dallas Police Department. He
has also worked as an investigator
and law clerk with the lægal Aid
Society of Columbus. Georgia.
He
will be assigned to the Support
Enforcement Division.
Robert D. Laird, thirty-one, is a
1975 g rad u ate of N o rth w e s te rn
School of Law. Laird has formerly
been employed as intern in the
District Attorney's Office. He holds a
degree in Business Administration
from Portland State University.
Laird has worked as investigator
for a private Portland law firm and
has served as law clerk to Judge
Alfred Sulmonetti.
He will be
assigned to the District Court Unit.
Timothy Alexander, tw enty eight,
is a 1971 graduate of the University
of Texas School of Law. Alexander
holds his undergraduate degree in
political
science from
Vanderbilt
University.
He has worked in the
Communications department of the
Texas Departm ent of Public Safety,
as director of the University of Texas
Fair Housing Commission and as
assistant district attorney in Harris
County. Texas. His assignment will
be in the District Court Unit.
Steven W . Seymour, twenty nine,
is a 1975 graduate of W illamette
University Law- School.
Seymour
holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in
economics from the University of
Iowa.
He has worked in Market
Research and Accounts for the Case
Manhattan Bank in Stuttgart, Ger
many, as law clerk for the Legislative
Counsel of the Oregon Legislature,
and as law clerk for a private
Portland law firm. Seymour fill work
in the D istrict Court Unit.
All are members of the Oregon Bar
Association.
The One Day Special Legislative Session: "They All Flew Over the Coo-Coo’s Nest”
by W ally P rie stly .
State R epresentative
The outcome was never in doubt.
The establishment had lost, and it
seldom loaes, an important battle in
the 19^6 regular legislative session
last Spring.
A mere shred of the
public's right of privacy would be
kept.
The tattered remnants of a
thin veil would be placed over police
records beginning midnight Septem
her 12th. Nol I t would not come to
pass, and likely will not come to pass
at the next legislative session in 1977
as is not touted.
POLICE RECORDS
I
Arrest, conviction, court decisions,
police reports are and have always
been a m atter of public record. The
constitution prohibits the existance of .
secret police operations.
Elected
officials throughout the land and in
Oregon are committed to uphold the
state and federal constitution and
swear to that oath upon taking office.
Words used by legislators in laws
they pass mean what the legislators
intend they mean.
But the cor
porate police state apparatus in Ore
gon threw all of this out the window
during the second week in September
of 1975.
laiw enforcement agencies from top
to bottom, from the United States
Attorney's office and the FBI to
back county sheriffs and the State
police, most all are sympathetic first
to the needs of lenders, employers,
and retailers and oppose merger
controls placed on their
record
compiling and diseminating powers.
State politicians, concerned for their
reelection, concerned first and fore
most with ‘appearances', were stam
peded Tuesday with only slight
hesitation to repeal the modest
protections they had earlier provided.
T U E S D A Y : The Beginning The End
During the regular Spring session a
late amendment was made in the
State Senate on the definition of
criminal record' in HB 2579.
This
definition unknowingly changed the
meaning of sections that were to
follow in the bill, if interpreted
literally
without
regard
to
the
intentions of the legislature.
I f so
interpreted, an unconstitutional law
had been w ritten and passed. Such a
literal interpretation was the one
chosen by Attorney General Lee
Johnson.
He had supported the
establishment position in the Spring
and had lost.
Taking the hard
unconstitutional line, the Attorney
General started a domino effect of
legal chaos.
First with the State
police; then spreading to County
district attorneys, several of which
had also opposed the way the bill had
passed. The oaths of office to uphold
the constitution and the rights of the
people were passed over in favor of a
literal mtehpretation of a law which
made it clearly unconstitutional in the
eyes of most of the legal community
expressing opinions publically.
For
slightly
different
reasons,
newspapers in Oregon opposed pri
vacy protection of compiled arrest
records: save research costs, let the
computer do it.
Governor Straub at first reasoned
the courts could best decide and
likely reverse the mistaken course of
the Attorney General. But then he
collapsed quickly as he was dealt a
rapid one-two punch of a right to the
head by the Attorney General's
opinion and then a left to the stomach
by the newspaper headlines of secret
arrests and overfilling of already full
jails.
A special session was called
four days hence.
FORGOTTEN PURPOSE
Just in case we have forgotten the
purpose of government and how it is
to serve the people's interests, let's
start from the beginning concerning
the
question
of
police
records
compilation.
Police record compilation ought to
be done if it benefits the people of
Oregon as individual citizens.
It
ought not be done if it is to their
detriment and harm. However, timid
civil liberty forces now no longer ask
this question.
They ask only the
question of how and by what rules
this compilation of information will be
conducted. It is technically possible,
it shall be done. Clearly employees,
borrowers and consumers receive no
benefit from the compilation of these
records which contain nothing but
bad , items of information about
individuals.
Business management
interest of the corporate-police-state
are made more efficient in hiring,
firing, promoting, lending and keep
ing track of we citizens with the
compilation and ready availability of
these records. While the police state
marches onward, these records are
demanded for the better control of
you and I. W ill any one of Oregon's
two million plus citizens more easily
get a job, obtain a loan, get a permit,
be found innocent of false charges or
in any way benefit from the keeping
of these records? No! The bosses
will benefit from the keeping of these
records. The lenders will benefit. The
retailers will benefit. These negative
items of information about us will
spread decisions blade by bureaucrats
against the United S û tes Some will
say these actions will trickle down' to
benefit us all. I don't believe i t