Pas« 14 Portland Obaarvar. September n , IM I Officers blame administrative problems for 'possum The Observer w ill p u b lish ex cerpts fro m the arbitration hearing in the case "Portland Police Associ ation and C ity o f Portland. " which heard testimony on the "possum in cident. " The firs t installment will include O fficer Ward's and G allaw ay’s ex p lanatio n s o f the in cid en t and events leading up to it. Tha City's Casa ’ Section 8 .3 6 .0 1 0 o f the C ity Code provides for six months impri sonment and $500 for similar activi ty o f littering the carcasses o f dead animals in a public or common area. Thus the charges were sustained.** A disciplinary hearing was held before C hief Bruce Baker. The testi mony given in that hearing was dis cussed with Commissioner Charles Jordan. Jordan decided to term in ate the two officers and Baker con curred. Morthland charged that the Port land Police A ssociation injected politics into the decision by holding a march, taking a “ no confidence** vote on Baker and Jordan, and call ing for the removal o f Jordan as po lice com m issioner. H e concluded that, "Police are not above the law. They must be above suspicion.** D avid W . M o rth la n d , attorney representing the C ity o f P ortland, gave the C ity ’s summary o f the ac tion for which Officers Craig W ard and Jim Galloway were terminated. “ On M arch 12th, 1981, C raig W ard, about three and a half years with the Bureau, and Jim Gallaway, about seven years with the Bureau, while wearing their badge, while in u n ifo rm , using the Bureau police Tha Union'« Reply car and while on duty in the North Precinct, deliberately and intention W ill Aitchison, attorney for the ally ran over two possums and bru union, explained that oppossum tally clubbed three other possums to killing was common in N o rth Pre death w ith th e ir police car. T h ey cinct; that “ Burger Barn’ * refers to used the floor o f the back seat area the area o f U nion and Shaver, one because their own personal gear and o f the two most “ lawless” corners other police gear was in the trunk. in Portland. There had been prob " A t about ,0:20 p.m. they deliber lems between the o ffic ers o f the ately and intentionally called eight shift; supervision in North Precinct other officers on duty to the Burger was poor, and the decision to relieve Barn Restaurant. This represented tension by dropping the opposums over one-half o f all officers on shift at that site was “ s p u r-o f-th e-m o - that night in the North Precinct. m ent” and not intended to harass “ Upon arrival at that parking lot anyone. Aitchison argued that the they pulled fo u r o f the carcasses discharges were p o litic a lly m o ti from their car, displayed them on vated, that discipline in the Police the trunk lid o f their car to those Bureau has been uneven and unfair; they had called from duty, and then that the discharges violate the tenet in ten tio n a lly and d elib e ra te ly , in o f progressive discipline; that prior witness o f their fellow officers and work records were not considered; in witness o f public citizens, p ro that the Bureau did not consider ceeded to pitch the bloody carcasses true motivations or m itigating cir o f these animals onto a public side cumstances; that the investigation walk on Union Avenue in front o f was incom plete; that the punish the Burger Barn. ment does not fit the crim e; that "They did this to harass, whether it there were procedural irregularities; be considered racial or not, people that the reasons given fo r the dis who frequent the area o f the Burger charges have been changed; that the Barn who they considered lawless incident was caused, in large part, troublemakers. by lack o f supervision; that lack o f “ Prior to these incidents, these of training in minority culture was par ficers received no other disciplinary tially responsible for the incident. actions and th e ir record could be Craig Ward'« testimony considered as good. “ An investigation ensued. They C raig W ard testified that he has were charged with violation o f Rule been a Portland Police officer since 310.10 o f the Rules and Regulations 1975 and has been in North Precinct o f the Bureau. T h at rule provides since 1976. H e is c u rren tly being that every m em ber o f the Bureau sued fo r harassment or b ru ta lity . police will constantly strive to attain W ard said he had no training in mi the highest professional standard o f nority culture and that he had not conduct. Em ployees, w hether on been aware that a racial harassment duty or o ff duty, shall be governed b ill was being considered in the by the O rd in a ry and Reasonable Legislature. Rules o f Good Conduct and Beha W ard testified that he ran over vior and shall not commit any act and killed the first oppossum in an tending to bring reproach o r dis alley and placed it in the back seat credit upon the Bureau o f the C ity o f the car. H e then ran over a o f Portland. second one, then struck it w ith his “ They will conduct themselves in night stick. G a lla w a y k ille d the the discharge o f th e ir duties and other three with his night stick. How their relations with the public and to kill oppossums? Q. Where do you other members o f the Bureau in a try and hit them? A . I ’ ve never diplomatic and professional manner really tried to aim at any particular in accordance w ith the laws o f the spot. Q . You just beat them until United States, the State o f Oregon, they are dead?X. Yes. Ordinances o f the C ity o f Portland The reason for killing oppossums: and the m anual o f rules and p ro " . . . There is a great deal o f frustra cedures o f the Bureau. tion encountered in dealings w ith chosen as a dumping site for the op- possums because, “ there is a great deal o f narcotics transactions and p ro stitu tion and fencing o f stolen property” in that area. H e said in his earlier hearing. “ W e chose that particular area because it ’ s full o f problems and everybody knows it. 1, s, you know, like the saying goes, knowing it and proving it are two different things.” The prim ary reason for the inci dent, W ard testified, was to allevi ate tensions in the group o f officers. W e were aware o f the very serious problem s that were occurring amongst the Avenue officers on the Relief and we felt we were in a very unique position to be able to try and alleviate some o f the tensions that existed out there. A n d we felt by doing this, by getting the other o ffi cers together and doing this, we could have fun, make them laugh, share in a prank, as it were. And by doing th a t, dem onstrate that we were all on the same side and it was counter-productive to have the dis harmony that was going o n .” The idea o f getting back at the people who frequent the Burger Barn was “ periphery.” Jim Gallaway's taatim ony street level police work. W e’re sub jected to a great deal o f abuse in which we’ re not allowed to display any sort o f em otion, certainly not allowed to retaliate in any instance. “ Sometimes in dealing with peo ple they can become quite vituper ative, quite vindictive and it can get pretty bad. W e get spit on, kicked and punched and on occasion stabbed and shot at. And we have to use a great deal o f restraint in re sponding to that. A nd th a t’s con trary to the human condition. And that leads to a great deal o f frustra tion. “ In a d d itio n , we spend a great deal o f time trying to make a partic ular crim in al case against an individual who we belfeve or know to have committed some sort o f an offense and we find that somewhere else farther on in the justice system the in d ivid u al is not dealt w ith in what we feel is the a p p ro p ria te manner. And so we see him again on the streets. "W e have to deal with certain in dividuals time and time again and it certain ly leads to a great deal o f frustration.” W a rd said the Burger Barn was were going to be exactly the oppo- sit >f what he’d said the night be fore." O fficer Rick Hegrenes added his explanation o f problems at N o rth Precinct. He explained that the d if fic u lty over three-m an cars was caused by the m anner in which it was going to be implemented. Firs, it was to be done through attrition, then Sgt. B lair said he wanted it done, then L t. Haven all o f a sud den announced it would happen im mediately. Hegrenes was concerned about in decision and the lieutenant’s habit of making a decision and changing it the next day. He had also talked to Lt. Haver about Sgt. Blair: “ There was a serious problem with Sgt. Blair who was no, showing up for w o rk . H e was n o t— n o ,— showing up jus, a couple o f minutes before roll call in his o ff-d uty uni form. I told Lt. Haven that his off- duty employment certainly affected his performance on duty. Sgt. Blair had a very bad attitude. In fact, he had told some o f the officers that he didn’t care who was in the car. A ll he wanted was a warm body in the car. D idn’t matter wha, district. He wasn't concerned who was the best officer for the area ...W h e n o ffi cers would do something wrong on the street, (the) Sergeant w ouldn't say anything to h im .” P antley's atory Jim G a lla w a y has been a P o rt land Police O fficer for seven years. H e testified that he has been charged with harassment, but that the charges were not sustained by Internal A ffairs. He also is named in the pending lawsuit. Gallaway said that upon arriving at the Burger Barn p arking lot he said “ something to the effect that we were going to make a presenta tio n ." He walked to the corner o f the building and threw his oppos- sum on the sidew alk; W a rd fo l lowed. None o f the other eight o f ficers present attempted to stop the act. G a llo w a y described o th e r in ci O ffic e r P a n ,le y described the dents when numerous officers were controversy surrounding his work as involved in “ non-duty-related pur beginning when he and his partner poses." One was a snowball fight did no, oppose the three-man car between prostitutes and several o ffi concept. Other problems centered cers. around the fact that other officers ‘7 have talked with the lieutenant on prior occasions and during the tumultuous times we were having out there, and got absolutely no satisfaction from the lieutenant. ” —Officer Harvey Problems in North Precinct Several o ffic e rs described the problems and tensions at North Pre cinct that W ard and G allaw ay say precipitated the oppossum incident. O fficer Aaron Harvey described the problems tha, had developed at North Portland over three more car assignments. Previously two men had been assigned to a car, taking their days o ff at the same time when substitutes w ould take over. The three-man car would permanently assign three men to each car, with alternating days o ff. “ I can look directly back to ap proximately back to a year or short ly before that when Lt. Haven came to our shift as a lieutenant. Shortly after he came to the shift there were some reassignments as to the ser geants and th e ir responsibilities. There was also a change in policy. 'That these deliberate and intentional acts, both before and since their discharge, have brought discredit and reproach on the Police Bureau is beyond caveat. There have been at least fo u r H arv e y said o th er o fficers had reported possum incidents in the community to date. ” com plained about the three-m an —Atty. Morthland cars. “ I th in k a fa ir statement “ That these deliberate and inten tional acts, both before and since their discharge, have brought great discredit and reproach on the Police Bureau is beyond caveat. There has been at leas, four reported possum incidents in the community to date. No, to mention the chastisement po lice officers have received through out the city on the street. “ It is also beyond caveat that these deliberate and intentional acts were not only undiplomatic and un professional but are also violation o f Oregon C rim in a l Statutes and City Ordinance. ‘O .R .S . 167.860 provides anyone who cru elly beats o r m utilates or kills an anim al may be fined up to $500 and be im prisoned up to six months. "O .R .S . 167.785 provides anyone who places a dead animal carcass on any street, lo t, alley or com m on area to the annoyance o f any c iti zens may be fined up to $1,000 and imprisoned for up to one year. "Allowing the animal to remain in that position over 24 hours is an ad d itio n a l v io la tio n and i t ’ s an a d d itio n a l v io la tio n fo r each 24 hours thereafter. around because o f, perhaps, some o f his work habits.** **l had talked with the lieutenant on prior occasions and during the tum ultuous times we were having out there, and got absolutely no sat isfaction from the lieutenant. There would be times when I would talk with the lieutenant and he would tell me one thing and I would only come to work the next day to find out that he had changed his mind and things would be that some supervisors said tha, it would be the way it was going to be, whether it worked or not, and o th er supervisors felt that it wouldn’t work and we shouldn’t try i t .” H e stated that when Sgt. Blair was assigned to his detail, there was a d ro p -o ff in supervision and that he had complained. “ It was not un common late in the shift to call for Sgt. B la ir and not have him re spond." Harvey felt that every sergeant he had worked for at North Portland, and L t. Haven as well, were no, per forming their functions. He and his partner, Dick M orris, had repeated ly complained that inform ation was not being provided at roll call. “ I had expressed complaints about this to, like I said, numerous supervis ors, and the problem had n ’ t been deal, w ith ." H arvey also explained the p rob lems many o f the officers were hav ing with Officers Bruce Pantley and H a rm o n . H e had requested that Pantley be moved from the Union Avenue area but had been denied. H e fell the pro b lem w ith O ffic e r Pantley was deep-seated. “ I ’m not sure he could work anyplace in the C ity without having some problems w ith the personnel that he works thought he was spending too much tim e on ro u tin e tra ffic stops and was no, carrying his share o f radio calls. He discussed the incident that had happened earlier the nigh, o f March 12th, although Ward and Gallaway did not learn about that disagree ment until after the “ possum inci dent." A vehicle that had been involved in an incident at G l Joe’ s was lo cated in a parking Io, on Union A v enue. He said the car had been lo cated by two police units almost si multaneously. W hen the stop was made there was a strong disagree ment over which car should take charge. A heated discussion took place— "basically the shouting tran spired between my partner, Officer Harm on, and one o f the other o ffi cers that was involved in the stop, Officer Paul Bar. “ F or this type o f outburst or com m ent to be made at that tim e and in that type o f situation, I think it required there to be a good deal o f fru s tra tio n on both parts. It was something very unusual." Gallaway said he was no, dissatis fied with the three-man car, but was concerned because many o f the men were frustrated and angry. He spoke w ith C ap t. M cC abe regarding his concern about Sgt. B lair and L t. Haven and asked him to speak to the men at ro ll c a ll. M cC ab e said he would but did not. “ C a p ,. M cC ab e , when 1 le ft, stated to me that he— it was his de sire that I do no, relate anything o f wha, we discussed to anyone which I did not. Also when I left, Lt. Haven was standing there and (thej C ap tain sort o f w inked at me and opened the door and said well, G al laway, will try to ge, that school for you like we’d been discussing anoth er matter.” Sgt. Lanny Bennett ack nowledged that there had been trouble over Pantley. He though, it best to move Pantley, but Lt. Haven refused. He was told that Pantley and H arm o n were “ more or less jum ping the call and taking credit for the a rre s t." Some officers had been extremely depressed and later Pantley met him and said he wanted to get the officers together to discuss these problems. Bennett said problems in North Precinct are unique and he probably didn’t respond adequately to them. He described Pantley as very intelli gent, very articu late, very compe ten t. H is w orking style conflicts with other officers and much o f his problem is personality. “ Pantley has been on the Avenue about three or four d ifferent times in the time he’ s been at N o rth Precinct. And each time he’ s worked the Avenue he’s had problems." Captain M cC abe’s reply Captain Vern McCabe has been a Portland police officer for 39 years and is cu rren tly C ap tain o f the N orth Precinct. He has been C ap tain o f that precinct three different tim es, fo r a period o f about one year each. McCabe testified that he had not heard that police officers were kill ing oppossums until he read about it in the newspaper a fter the oppossum incident. Since the opposum incident he was I guess you would call it, morale was poor. And that’s when I got the business that there was a problem with the lieutenants, the lieutenants and the sergeants, and some o f the sergeants... that’s the background, but I don’, recall it was mentioned about (he supervision o f the o ff i cers. M ore o f the friction between (he two, but not necessarily on the supervision----- There was friction about the way the system was run, and the personalities in volved ’ whether who was supporting who and that sort o f thing from the lieu tenants and sergeants." Eventually the three-man car was discontinued but M cC abe did not see the controversy as a supervisory problem but a management, com munication problem. Commlaaioner Jordan's raaponae C om m issioner C harles Jordan was questioned about supervision at North Precinct. “ Q (Aitchison)— W hat i f 1 were to pose to you this h yp o th etical, Commissioner, that you have had "Oh, we didn ’t dwell on it that much. She ju st was petrified and didn't like It. That was as fa r as the conversation went. ” —Capt. McCabe had heard about a live opposum be ing placed in the wom en's locker room at N o rth P recinct. “ I, was' jus, scuttlebutt around the office. I don’, know who (old m e.” Beverly McSwain, a clerk, was so frightened that she climbed on a sink and wait ed for an hour to be rescued. As far as her being upset, " O h , we didn’t dw ell on that m uch. She just was petrified and didn't like it. That was as far as the conversation wen,” He was told that the " C P K " ( “ C erti fied Possum K ill" ) game had no, been played for three years, but did not know which o ffic e r (old him. “ There was some comment about it, and I jus, asked the question, and I go, the answer and that was the end o f it. There was no discussion o f it ." Although Gallaway had placed an opposum in the w om en’ s locker room , the one that frightened Ms. M cS w ain was placed there be Officer John Cordell. McCabe testified that there could have been a number o f similar inci dents and “ I didn’t have the slight est idea who did it." L t. H aver and M cCabe decided on three-man cars, to always have one man who knew district, and to provide consistency. They started to do it through attrition, bu, didn’t do it fast enough— "failed miserably." "Partners were split up and morale d iffic u ltie s w ith supervision at N o rth Precinct fo r a substantial amount o f time. Among those d iffi culties were the d ifficu ltie s o f the command level. Captain McCabe I believe we’ ve understood to be at the com m and level and in fact hasn't C ap tain M cC ab e received among the lowest ratings o f any o f your com m anders in his evalu a tions? A .— I don*, know. Q — You don’, know; that the in termediate supervisor, L t. Haven, had had some problems o f his own and that the street, what you call, supervisors, Sgt. Bennett and Sgt. M ulvihill had been conspicuous on ly by their absence from their pres ence on the street, leaving the o ffi cers out in North Precinct to essen tially try to work things out among themselves and that the situation had been allowed to fester and to grow and that O fficers W ard and G a lla w a y in doing what they did were responding to that situation. -4-— Then i f that be the case, we’ re in a sadder state than I thought we were. I f I need a ser geant to be with every patrolman on the street, then policing will never be the same. N E X T W EEK: Was the "possum In c id en t” ra cia l harassment? Why was the Burger Barn picked? Were the terminations political? Rib Steaks U.S.D.A CHOICE BEEF .‘2.98 t L58 Lean Ground Beef FRESH lb. Fryer LEGS e r THIGHS A FOSTER FARMS Frozen j Lunch M eat n d O Frost Sliced M eat 6 la Varieties Fillet of Fillet of Arm our Star. Sliced 7 Varieties 0 o z Pkg 2'4 oz Pkg $1^® 49^