Portland observer., September 17, 1981, Page 10, Image 10

Pag« 10 Portland Obaarvar, September 1 7,1M1
Police Bureau, officers deny racial motives
This is the second o f a senes o f excerpts fro m the arbitration hearing o f
Portland Police Association vs. City o f Portland, Bureau o f Police, in the
case o f the termination o f police officers Craig Ward and James Gallaway.
The overriding issue in this case was the question o f whether the killing
and depositing o f ’possums on the sidewalk in front o f a Black-owned busi­
ness was a racist act. Although both sides present at the hearing— the police
union representing the former officers and the representatives o f the C i t y -
denied racial motives the issue was raised repeatedly.
The incident is a classic case o f white men. frustrated and angry about
tensions and problems in thier own jobs and lives, taking out this anger
against Blacks. In the first part o f this series, the Observer reviewed the rea­
sons given by the officers involved—conflicts among officers, poor supervi­
sion and administration, feelings o f futility about the performance o f their
jobs.
Was the act racist? Why was the Burger Barn selected?
Jtm Gallaway: " I t ’s an area that 1 suppose is sort o f a symbol to us. the
area o f Union and Shaver. Just as Mississippi and Shaver is, I would say.
That s the other area. T h at’s where most people congregate when they are
dealing their dope, prostitution, pimping, fencing hot items.’’
Craig Ward: “ We chose that particular area because it’s full o f problems
and everyone knows it. It ’s, you know, like the saying goes, knowing it and
proving it are two different things. And these people do it all the time and
there is no way we can pin it on them. You know, driving marked cars and
uniforms, stop, and as soon as the marked unit shows up you slammed the
trunks.”
Q .fA tty. Morthland): You were really trying to get back at them for that
reason weren’t you?"
A. (W ard) : " I think as I indicated before, that was a peripheral reason,”
Q. (M orthland): " W e ll, if you wanted to make the officers laugh, M r.
W ard, why wouldn’t that be just good enough by showing them your world
record ot possums? You would have accomplished the relief o f tension that
way, wouldn't you?”
A. (Ward): “ I don’t know .”
Q. (Morthland): “ This was a way, another way to relieve tension among
all o f you, to get back at the people who frequent the Burger Barn, as
you’ve stated it. because you can’t get them; isn’t that correct?”
A . (Ward): “ I think that was peripheral.”
The Chief calls it "vigilanteism”
C hief Bruce Baker considered the officers’ actions to have been "vigilan-
teism."
C h ie f Baker: “ To me, vigilanteism has been that it doesn’t appear that
the system o f justice, whether it be in early San Francisco or where it was,
was working. That people decided to perform their own form o f justice and
that it took many forms. O f course the more violent form in San Francisco
was hanging, tar and feathering, running out o f town. And this was also
considered and used at various times.
“ I think when police officers state that we— the thing symbolizes some­
thing to us, we can’t catch these people, but this is our way o f demonstrat­
ing back to them and that it’s going to make other officers laugh, to me.
that’s a form o f vigilanteism. . . . And any time a police officer, and recog­
nizing the frustration, says, ‘ I can’t deal with the system so I ’ll take other
means to deal with this person in this situation,’ then I think that’s a form
o f vigilanteism, in my m ind.”
Although Powe had alleged that the possum incident was merely one o f a
series o f harassing acts carried out by a specific officer and the other o ffi­
cers o f his relief, this allegation was not pursued. The officer he accused was
present at the incident.
Jordan explained his earlier contacts with George Powe regarding police
harassment. Powe had informed him that police would walk into the Veter­
ans Social Club, which was in a building he owned, and would ignore the
manager. They also harassed patrons. Jordan said that he had not told a
certain o fficer to stay out o f the place but had mentioned it to Captain
McCabe.
The C ity made no attempt to trace the allegations o f p rior harassment
mentioned by Jordan. M r. Powe did not testify.
Harasamant, yas; racial, no
The officers denied that their action was racially motivated. They were
supported by the Police Bureau spokesmen:
C W e /S a k e r “ Then I was interested in whether or not there was a racial
m otivation to this because, o f course, there was a great deal o f concern
within the community whether or not this was a racially motivated act. And
they had previously said they had no racial motivation and that if they had
had the same kind o f problem in a predominately white district with a white
business, that that is where the possums would have ended u p .. . . M
Commissioner Charles Jordan maintained that the act was not racial
m « t?
y° U C° nSidCT jt l° * “ aCt ° f dthCT raciaI hara“ m« “ or harass-
d iin ’tHaraSSment’ ye’ ’ harassment’ 1 did no‘ ‘ »»ink it was racial; I really
Q W hy did you consider it to be an act o f harassment?
t h J is^ ™
thrCW the P °s$ums »“ front o f the man’s business. And
issing him
harassment. To me it’s a form o f harassment. They’re har-
Jordan did not completely believe the stories o f the other officers present
The officers maintained that when they arrived at the parking lot Ward and
C allaw ay took out the possums; put them in their car’s trunk; Gallaway
said he was going to make a presentation; the possums were thrown in front
of the restaurant; nothing more was said.
t o r r t h « . ^ . h ^ WaS m° re
’ think ,hat whcn you « « ten ° f f k e r .
io m ihto»i.hd
/ e g° ,ng l ° PU iomethin« ,ike ‘ hat, I don’t think they
come together and just say, we’re going to make a presentation and that’s
1, S
X
’ " “ * * But Uke 1 ^ d' 1 ,h in k’ “ d r v e - J a ’
' o rd-
Chief Baker was interested in the former officers’ knowledge o f the Black
community and in the adequacy o f their training:
“ I explored that further, asking if they had in their lifetime had known o f
any connotation that was drawn between racoons or possums or possums
and Black people. And officer W ard replied that yes, he knew that the de­
rogatory term for Black is coon, but that he hadn’t . . .he did n ’t have any
idea about possums and that he knew possums came fro m the South,
weren’t indigenous to this area and that he traps them, but he didn’t have
any idea that they were— that they were derogatory. . . .
“ 1 asked them about th e ir training w ith regard to social sensitivity,
whether they thought that the Bureau had— the training had been adequate*
And officer G allaw ay said no, that he had to learn on the street. O fficer
Ward said he was quite scared when he first had to work the Black district
because I got the im p lic a tio n .. .th at not having a lot o f exposure to Black
people, that he wasn't sure about that and that he learned through watching
and listening. A nd it was a long time before he felt competent in dealing
with the area. And o fficer G allaw ay said he felt frightened when he first
went there also; people yelling and screaming and taking sides and abusive
language and that sort o f thing.”
_
Q. What was your reaction to the Black
United Front’s march [calling f o r Ward
and Gallaway’s termination]. . . ?
A. (Jordan): Oh, I thought it was very
inappropriate, and I thought they were
exploiting the situation. I think they’re
opportunists... it was very upsetting.
w t in V h ? ^ " 8 ,hC b“ ” and mean‘ng o f racism and how racism was inher-
Jordan described his reaction to the Black U nited F ro n t’s and other
c*»»,ni for termination o f the officers for their racist act
, h i ? i X S ,0 U ' r m “ ° " ,o ,hc B,“ k U " i« d
« < ■ * « •»
A Oh I thought it was very inappropriate, and I thought they were ex-
S,tUat'On- 1 think ,hey’re opportunists and it w a s - it was very
The march turned out to be the onl
.p portunity for m em ber, o f the
ni
rUn'ty ‘ ° ” Pre” th d r opni1' ,,s’ N o community members and
don“ e a r in l C° mmUn,ty Or«#ni“ tiona
asked to appeal at the a rb itr.
On December 23, 1980, C hief Baker sent a memo to the communication
center director entitled. "A nti-B lack, Anti-Jewish A ctivity.” The substance
o f the memo was that the Bureau had received information that there was a
potential increase in activity by racist groups against Black and Jewish citi­
zens.
The C h ie f also attem pted to com m unicate d irectly w ith the o fficers
through a newsletter mailed to each officer’s home. In July o f 1980 he ad­
dressed the problems o f the economy and how they effected police work.
“ The reason for my concern is that I had been watching the economy and
the local economy where I felt the unemployment rate was— we were begin­
ning to get layoffs «nd I know who usually gets laid o ff first. I t ’s many
times the minority citizen. I felt that there might be some tensions develop­
ing. And I thought it was a time that a reminder be put out to our officers
that a little courtesy would go a long ways and a little understanding at that
time if perhaps some conditions that were being faced by people less fortun­
ate than ourselves might help to just keep things calm and smooth.”
The union membership voted to request that the C h ief no longer send
them newsletters. “ A fter the vote o f no confidence when I was given a series
o f petitions that had been signed by members o f the Association who had
stated that they no longer felt the newsletter had anything o f value to say to
them and if it was sent to their home, it would be returned unopened,” he
discontinued the newsletter.
Baker did not talk to the union membership regularly. Although he did
meet w ith the leadership occasionally, he seldom was asked to attend
membership meetings.
Jordan senses harassment problems
L t. Robert M . T o bin, recruit training director, explained the Bureau’s
training.
Hours o f class time devoted to community-police relations in 1973, when
Gallaway attended, were approximately 20 per cent. By 1975, when Ward
attended, they had dropped to 15 per cent. Police-community relations per-
tamed to many subjects including “ police careers, police ethics, supervisor-
patrolman relations,” etc., but a class in minority relations was not added
until last year. But by last year, police-com m unity relations hours had
dropped to 13 per cent. There is no regular course for officers who had pre­
viously completed the training.
A class in cultural awareness was offered by the Oregon Juvenile Officers
Association and the Oregon State Board o f Police O fficers. The seminar
was open to Portland police officers with tuition payed by the Bureau. No
officers from North Precinct attended.
A pparently C aptain Vern M cC abe o f N o rth Precinct was not totally
aware o f the deficiencies in training. He told 7he Oregonian on A pril 19.
1981 “ We and the Bureau have tried to explain to the officers how minor­
ities feel. We give the officers considerable training in minority awareness.”
Q .(A tty . Aitchison): “ Have any courses, to your knowledge, been o f­
fered to North Precinct officers while you have been the commanding o ffi­
cer at North Precinct on minority awareness?”
A . (McCabe): “ I think the Board o f Police Standards and Training have
h a d -p u t out announcements on those classes that are available on a volun­
teer basis.”
Q. (Aitchison): “ And when were these announcements?”
A . (McCabe): “ I don’t have them. I don’t know .”
Q. (Aitchison): " A n d on some occasions, is it not true that the Bureau
will assign officers to attend BPST classes?”
A . (McCabe): “ Yes.”
Q. (Aitchison): Were any North Precinct officers assigned by the Bureau
to attend minority awareness classes?”
A. (McCabe): “ W ell, yes.”
Q. (Aitchison): “ W ho?”
A fAfcCaheJ: “ I have three o f them coming up, Jensen, Barton, and
Dutkee will be going to one or are in one right now.”
Q. (Aitchison): " P rio r to the discharge o f Craig Ward and Jim Gallaway
during your tenure as N o rth Precinct com mander, were any officers in
North Precinct assigned by the Bureau to attend a BPST class on minority
awareness?”
7
A . McCabe: “ N o. I never assigned any.”
M cC abe did make an e ffo rt to appraise his officers o f racially-based
problems that could occur in their precinct.
McCabe explained that he had talked with Commissioner Charles Jordan
several times regarding allegations o f police harassment by members o f the
community. Jordan had expressed concern about “ trouble” that included
stopping people in the street, improper, discourteous language, lack o f rec­
ognition o f people, that sort o f thing.
io«inCCab? Wr° te a memo ,Q L t l - Rice- Haven and Roberts on August 15,
1980, explaining Jordan’s concerns and asking them to discuss them with
L u ° ‘ f,CCT» A ‘ ‘ he ‘ ¡me, he was concerned about problems at A lberta
Park which he considered a “ potential trouble spot.” He foresaw “
a
riot, a fight, a big fight in the park.”
• •••
.. ^ cCabe did not know whether the memo was ever read to the officers.
A s I understand it, they talked to them about it. Now I don’t know just
how far that went, but it was in our conversation since that time that they
mentioned that it was done. ”
7
A . (Aitchison): “ Do you know whether or not any police officer in North
Precinct other than the three lieutenants has ever seen this memo?”
A . (McCabe): “ N o .”
Q. (Aitchison): “ D o you know for a fact whether or not o f your own
knowledge any police officer in North Precinct was ever briefed at roll call
on this memo?”
A. (McCabe): “ I f you stick with the memo, I ’ll have to say no.”
,hat’ y° U know’ 1 wou,d * * wa'ching it very close-
y
nd still fel, that the citizens were not wrong, (hat some officers were
i ! fraSSing c,,l“ ns Bu‘ 1 j us‘ couldn’t catch them. And the internal investi­
gations were not sustaining those complaints. We had a very low rate o f
complaints that were sustained by Internal A ffa irs ___
“ But no. I just had the feeling that they were doing a very commendable
job on some very difficult circumstances, but the things that I was hearing
in the community was d ifficu lt for me to defend, you know. I was reallJ
sticking my neck out by saying no. they are not doing those things.
And so essentially I guess I might have been saying look, you have aot
SuTd’ X
' X
”
up f w you
m/n°trdF nueXPlain<ld ‘f a‘ 111 ° fr,CCTS had recen,ly h * " warned *bou‘ harass-
nt Following she Jacobus case, when the City settled out o f court with a
£ 7 « d ,t o \ l i « i8rrer‘r ,iCe ‘’" ‘ i ’ ”’" ” ’ ac,in«-Chief Haynes sen. a memo to
L
L‘° al1 officCTS w*rn.ng them against harassing citizens
y»“ u
o
»
'
‘ bo“J " V p° “ um inc“‘en' * “
mu m ™ , i
, hi
casc under ,nv« ‘i8«‘ ion. We had just paid
y or the Jacobus case. And we had various groups talking about
how we misuse our power. So it was v e rv -w e
in -
1 ™
non at that time. So I just knew that everyone was on their Ps a'ndQs ?hat
they wouldn t do anything that would cause the com munity t o i i i uo^n
arms. So | just d id n ’t believe that. I thought that we had talked about it
enough that we had raised the awareness level in police o fficer, to know
hey. we’ve got o walk softly. Our credibility i,
d lrim e low
’*
o f f i c e ^ W E EK
rK O rd °foffenses and
o f Portland's police
. ChAUCeR COURT, Lt
A projact for tha low-income aldarty ” “ “
located at 8.W . 10th ft Salmon
in downtown Portland.
-
*
-
A
c
Fix apphcatlon contact:
f
j
I
j
I
2
Ö
.
I
'
•
|
I
I
!
tion contained in the memo.
Sergeant Lanny R Bennett testified that he had attended a meeting with
d ^ c i ^ * , and S€rgeant’ ^ UlVihi11 #nd LeOaL **And •« ‘ ba‘ ‘ ¡me H a v e i
|
•
SUMMIT:
Economic Survival
of Black People**
Sponsored by>
I
df c' d e d ‘ h®‘ * e weren t to distribute this to the Relief, you know, because
A ^ h iS » ^ tha‘ ‘ Wa4— that moat o f ,he
^ o worked, especially the
Albina area were aware o f these things about name-calling and what not
s X K aV ril? JU”,.be.repi.liti<>“ and mi«ht be adding fuel to the fire, so to
speak, at that particular time.
“ Si'ncelh'ZJ I " 41
h“ laIked ab° U‘ H0 “ “ behavior at lea,t three ‘ ¡mes.
Since I had three years experience in Internal A ffairs, I found that most o f
the problem , that have occurred have arisen from o fh c er, using i m p X
•
'
1
•
a,l?.uage or ,he,r
I
Oregon Assembly
for Black Affairs
1
I
I
triggering complaints against officers ”
**” K r* e“ U * ' r° “
lv And ? S I
HoualnB M an a g a m a n t Coordinator
Brim « Aaaoclataa
177 N C. 102nd Avanua
Portland. ON 07220
t io n ^ n . ° f ^ Cn l? ,ified ,hat they had never been briefed on lhe in fo rm .-
.n,.S
C ommissioner Charles Jordan also had concerns about police behavior.
As early as 1977 he had discussed his concerns with the union membership.
t k » i ¿ " 7 gUt rea7 ' ° n ,old me that ,he ci‘izens" « « not wrong all the time,
that had some officers out there doing some bad things and that I was un-
tnid ,h ? a,.Ch LhenL And al ,hat time 1 ,o,icited ‘ he help o f the union and
to d them to the effect that I would prefer (hat it never would come to my
do.enB,O|h’ ‘,h|a ‘ ' f ' i T knfCW ‘ hal Officen were doin® wha‘ ,hey W ouldn’t be
doing, tha I would prefer it i f they would pull them to the side and pull
their c °at. I wasn t asking them to snitch on their fellow officers, I said.
Stuto b 1 BR apta wW baavaliabto In Nov. m i.
Appl.cal.on« now bwng aocaptad tor rntwaatad
•w w xcrtttan.ahB .bi. for M U 0 SacttonS
•utMady proBram.
Lt. Haven withhold« tha mamo
“ d
Although the vast majority o f the Black community and much o f the re-
d id n d7 °n Portland bd,eved the incident was racially motivated, the City
did not call any witnesses to discuss this issue. They called no witnesses to
testify regarding prior allegations o f racial harassment and called no one to
talked more about the general nature o f the complaints than we did about
specific cases o f harassment and how we could deal with this kind o f situa­
tion. There were allegations o f racial harassment among those complaints.
There were allegations o f excessive force, discriminatory treatment, a whole
gamut o f complaints that was in that particular group. ”
McCabe hoped that peer pressure from their fellow officers might change
their behavior.
t~ ,U “ "«
October 17-18,1981
Portland, Oregon
T O U N D tK H IR D Jantam Baarti Motor h n
I
PUntoAlUndl
regi STEHNOWI
RnH.tr.Bonb . : »55
Ignoring thalr chief
Training provad Inadequate
A topic that arises frequently when police abuses in the Black community
are discussed is that o f training in ethnic culture and human relations.
C hief Bruce Baker also made efforts to impress upon his officers the im-
plications o f the charges o f harassment and brutality, but most o f his ef­
forts were rebuffed. H e met with union director Stan Peter« with th»
tive board and with the membership about the fact that about 30 officers
had received six or more complaints.
nears
Now some o f these complaints did involve alleged harassment, but we
I
!
|
L
For additional Information - Call-
Corvallia: 752-0886
Eugene: 687-5443, Ray Willard
Portland: 281-5437
581-9151. evening
Or Write:
OABA
P.O. Boa 12485
Salem. OR 97309