2 Por lai) J Observer. March 2S. 1962
T
Race factor in pre-trial release
lH d Equal le t ice Committee o f
ifc Lrietropol: tan Hum an Relations
? otumssion iau completed a study
' i* g r M r ia l r Hattie statistics o f the
ily <>f Port and and M ultn o m ah
fo u M -.
T in a lte rn ativ e com ponents o f
-ie -t’ ill release include: issuance o f
a citi'doit inst »cl o f booking, recog-
nizan.e relca«e from ja il, or bail re-
leas.-.
S ncn 1979 the P o rtla n d Police
Bureau and tlie Multnomah County
She iff's O ffi * h iv e allowed police
officers to is; ne citations instead o f
custody whenever appropriate (ex
cept in casts o f domestic violence).
When an c flee arrests a suspect,
the person is io be advised that he is
under airrest 'o r the offense. I f he
cooperates th officer can issue a ci
tation histear o f taking the suspect
intc custody. The suspect than ap
pears in court
The choice to give a c ita tio n is
made by the o ff i.s r , i f he believes
the accused w ill appear in cou rt.
The- decision is contingent on: I )
w hether the o ffense requires cus
tody (A or B tclocy or domestic vio
lence); 2) w he the there is need for
furth er ques ion ng about the o f-
ftn ie ; 3) whether «he accused needs
to lx removed fro n the scene to re
store order or prevent further crim
inal conduct; 4) whether the accused
has community ties or possible poor
health.
I f the suspect is uncooperative or
abusive, appears not to understand
the need to appear in court, or re
fuses the citation, he is booked into
the Courthouse jail.
I f the officer decides to place the
person in custody he is fingerprint
ed, photographed and placed in a
jail cell.
Since 1973 the M ultnom ah C o r
rections Department has had the au
th o rity to release persons p rio r to
tria l on “ re co g n iza n c e"— their
promise to appear in court. A uthor
ity fo r recognizance decisions has
been given to "recog officers.”
Each person booked is entitled to
see a recog officer. The officer de
termines i f the person is charged
with a non-violent misdemeanor or
class C felony, whether he has a rec
ord o f failure to appear, whether he
needs to be detained until calmed,
whether his claims o f fa m ily and
community ties are valid.
The decision to release is based on
the discretion o f the recog officer.
Findings o f the M H R C study o f
Portland Police Bureau arrests in
clude:
•C itation o f persons in lieu o f ar
rest has risen dramatically, to 41 per
cent in July-September 1981.
•Blacks were consistently booked
more o fte n and cited less than
whites.
•C ita tio n s were issued to N ative
Americans in the same proportion
as to whites.
•Hispanics were issued citations
in greater proportion than whites.
•B o o kin gs were fa r greater fo r
males than for females in all racial
groups.
•The ratio o f citations was greater
for white males than for Black, Na
tive American and Hispanic males.
•The ratio o f citations was greater
fo r w hite females than fo r Black
and Native American females.
•T h e disparity between whites
and Blacks is true o f all ages.
Although fewer minonties are ar
cent, others, 5 per cent.
Detention prior to trial was great
est fo r H ispanics, 28 per cent,
followed by Blacks. 24 per cent; N a
tive Am ericans, 24 per cent; other
minorities, 22 per cent; whites, 20
percent.
This dem onstrates that b ail re
quirements still discriminate against
minorities and the poor.
M H R C recom m endations in
clude:
•The Police Bureau should review
its criteria for citation to determine
if it discriminates against Blacks.
•Th e Police Bureau should man
date supervisory review o f custody
reports; officers should be required
to state reasons for not issuing a ci
tation.
rested by the S h e riff's O ffic e , the
same trends exist.
•C u ltu ra l awareness tra in in g
should be ongoing and mandatory.
•M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty S h e riff's
Office should conduct a study o f ci-
tation-in-lieu o f custody, by race.
D eten tio n
Recog releases were basically the
same for all races— ranging from 68
per cent for Native Americans to 65
per cent for Blacks.
B ail release was greatest fo r
whites, 13 per cent, fo llo w e d by
Blacks, 10 per cent. Native A m eri
cans, 8 per cent, Hispanics, 5 per
•Research should be done by in
volved agencies to determine what
bail or recog criteria is most useful
in helping m in o ritie s achieve an
equal p re tra il release ra tio w ith
whites.
• A public inform ation e ffo rt re
garding citation-in-lieu o f custody,
to aid the public to use this process.
Jail reward for corruption story?
by Harris L e v
>«t A fc /to e
Oliver Nun lie 'J ill has a very in
teresting storj concerning the Port
land Police B iresu and some o f its
Secret Investí .ation Division (S ID )
officers.
“ I know p< o p i: who are under
cover narco: ic t,gents who deal
drugs, transport drugs and plant
drugs om irme ?ai» people,” M r. Gill
said.
G ill claim that S ID officers
planted drug in his house that led
to his being convicted for criminal
act ;ity in ilruf.s.
‘ S ID agents were used to entrap
me and have me is prisoned in order
to ruppress n y fc lowledge o f law
enforcement offic ers’ involvement
in rarco tics tatet and organized
crime throng : out the state o f O re
gon. In 1975 S ID agents came to my
house and said, ’Nunnic, this is your
last chance— i f y ou w ant to be a
dope dealer and drive a new C ad il
lac. y o u 'll hare «o w o rk w ith us.
W e ’ll g ire yc i all the dope you
need, and you can keep h a lf the
money. D o n ’t try io be m ilitant or
p o litic a l, bee»- usr *e have agents
and informant al over.’ I refused
the o ffe r an<- wirs taken d ow n
town,” G ilí said.
He was subsequently released on
parc-ie, "feeling all the time pressure
from the parole e "fleers as well as
police officers. M y home has been
staked out by a police car for the
last 15 months.''
Last year during an undercover
“ siting’ * operation set up by the
Multnomah Count«' Sheriff’s office,
G il! was charged srith selling a lost
wallet and its contents (a few credit
cards and blank checks) to under
cover police officers.
“ I received a phone call from
some people 1 knew, stating i f I
would transport them to their part
ners’ house, they would give me $25
fo r tran s p o rta tio n . The house
turned out to be a police ‘ stin g ’
operation. I was led to believe that
the two o f them were so indebted
that i f 1 would just hand th e ir
friends (police officers) a package
they would up my favor o f taking
them there from $25 to $50. I took
the package inside, didn’t like what
I was first told and left the house
immediately. 1 told the riders to get
out o f my car and go in and handle
their own matters. One person did
w hile I waited in the car w ith the
other passenger. I was indicted for
theft and convicted even though one
o f the passengers (paid informants)
told the truth. The paid inform ant
employed in on me was never men
tioned at the grand jury hearing.”
According to Robert A. Goffredi,
who represented G ill on the theft
charges, there was no evidence or no
accusation at any time that G ill in
fact stole the wallet.
"D uring the course o f the trial, it
was adm itted by the state’ s w it
nesses that an informant was in fact
involved who introduced and ac
companied G ill to the place where
the sheriffs purchased the stolen
property. Extensive p re -tria l m o
tions were made requiring the pro
duction o f the informants. The sher
if f s officers testified that they could
not locate the informant. During the
trial, it was the defendant’s conten
tion that it was in fact the informant
that supplied the stolen property, in
duced M r. G ill to be there and take
part in the transaction, and, in fact
Gill did not know the property was
stolen u n til h a lf-w a y through the
tran saction , at which tim e he be
came suspicious, refused to have
anything else to do with the transac
tion and left. The ju ry was out ap
proxim ately four hours before re
turning the verdict o f g u ilty ," M r.
Goffredi said.
M r . G ill was sentenced by the
Honorable Alien Davis o f the M u lt
nomah County Circuit Court. Judge
Davis has a reputation for being a
very strict judge and is often very
stern in sentencing. H o w ever in
G ill's case, the C o u rt suspended
sentence and fixed a period o f pro
b atio n to term in ate upon the te r
mination o f M r. Gill's parole.
A couple o f weeks ago G ill was
picked up and put in ja il for parole
violation. H e feels that it would be
almost impossible to submit to the
level o f supervision that the Correc
tions D ivision has set up fo r h im ,
and he told his parole officer, Paul
Frank, so.
" M r . Gill is classified as a Type I
case under the current system; this
requires at least weekly contacts be
tween the client and the parole/pro-
b ation o ffic e r. M r . G il l’ s form er
parole and probation officer, James
M ason, referred G ill to Treatm ent
Alternatives to Street Crimes (also
known as T A S C ), a drug treatment
program. Gill kept one appointment
with T A S C and he was set up on a
Still conjectured that the public
wound be less likely o bring miscon
duct :o notice it they will be second
guessed and publically exploited by
the commissic i. Also, it would
erod** the public inuige o f the police,
the M ayor and .he Chief. He fears
an oversight co mwi sion would d i
lute the manag rmr-nt auth o rity o f
the police adm«nist ation. He con
siders such a comm ission to be ex
tremely injurin. s.
Mnyor Ivancie said the City has to
decide whether ‘to ight crime or to
m onitor crime fighting.” The city
has risen to fo t rth n the nation in
crime rate. " It i nc-i a new crisis— it
started ter years ago when the mood
charged from rt rib’ lio n to rehabil-
itstkzn.”
Ha said the c iim n a l justice sys
tem it- Oregon h i s bi >ken down and
Portland has J r ep< tation o f being
soft or criminals
From 1977 to 198. (when Charles
Jordan was Po! ce t ommissioner)
was a period o f r rism nagement and
police misconduct, i t said. He had
told Skill to "d e a n house,” provide
protection and d > it right. He thinks
Still has mads the Bureau more re-
sponsiHc, order y, a id efficient.
A commission w ould be " th e
most ri lgle devattatiiig bar to policy
that co ild be p io p o x d .” " D o we
suppott the Chief or sot,” he asked.
U n der questioning by Jordan,
Still said he knew there were prob
lems during the 1977-1981 period,
saw danger signals but did not know
about the criminal activities taking
place within the Bureau. Although
the same people are in charge, he
thinks there is a better com mand
structure, strengthened discipline
and pride.
Still admitted that there have been
$159 million in suits filed for public
misconduct, a $500,000 increase in
insurance premiums and $100,000
increase in legal staff. M any o f the
suits against the police are done by
attorneys interested in contingency
fees, he added. He admitted that all
the misconduct has not ended—
"Those things are going to happen
sometimes.”
Stan Peters, president o f the po
lice u n ion, said the com m ision
would undermine the Bureau. H e
admitted that he had once said he
would accept a limited form o f com
m ittee, one that did not have the
power to investigate or discipline.
He threatened to file petitions to
place the matter on the ballot i f the
ordinance is passed. The M a y o r
joined him in this.
Sid Lezak, form er federal a t
torney, admonished the Council to
find ways o f settling their disputes.
H e was disturbed by the e ffo rt o f
the M ayor and Chief Still to make it
appear to the police that the ordin
ance was designed as a p u n itive
measure against them . H e also
faulted M ayor Ivancie for not being
w illin g to ta lk to the task force
members to iron out differences and
reach a compromise.
Reverend John G arlin g to n said
the issue is credibility and the Bu
reau has a seriously tarnished credi
bility. He said the issue is perceived
as a minority issue because many o f
the complaints come from Blacks. It
is not an issue o f law and order, but
o f justice.
A series o f witnesses, including
B ill W y a tt o f the A ssociation for
Portland Progress, said C h ief Still
should be given an opportunity to
bring change before such a commis
sion is created.
Jordan repeatedly challenged op
ponents to explain why a commis
sion would hamper police work and
accused Ivancie o f providing misin
formation to his supporters.
C hris Hudson o f the League o f
W om en Voters said their two-year
study showed a need for better po
lice-co m m u n ity relations and fo r
citizen input in the Bureau.
Commissioners Strachan, Schwab
and Lindberg support the ordinance
introduced by Jordan. Commission
er Schwab said she w ill seek legal
advice on the ordinance that em
powers the C o u n c il to appoint a
k -
100% «wool material (60* wide)................................................. 88 par yd.
other material (80* wide)............................................81-10 par yd.
Lighting fixtures.................................................................................. 82 to 810
Kitchen utensils................................................................................3 for 81.00
Pick-proof door locks..........................................................................88.00
Place matt (eat of six)......................................................................... 82.00
110 camera...............................................................................................87
A lw a y s S o m e th in g N a w A t A B argain Price
Open 7 days a weak. 8:30 am-6 pm
424 S.E. Grand • 239-9098
If you want
to stay
on top,
you have
to stay
in touch.
Ram has the signal that keeps you in constant touch.
Providing direct dial, tone alert, tone voice, and
mobile telephone service.
*74e Sestea
713 S.W. 12th V r . Portland. OR 97205
226-1507
Help Find the Lost Savers
If you know the whereabouts o f the following persona, please cell the
NAACP FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, 281-7744
OUVER N. GILL
random urinalysis surveillance sys
tem , which w ould require G ill to
phone TA SC daily to see if he would
be required to submit a urine sample
for that day. That program was to
be for at least six random urinalysis
samples. G ill failed to appear three
d ifferent times. W hen G ill was in
formed that he would have to report
weekly, he became verbally abusive,
stated he would not report weekly,
and stated the system was " m e s -
sin* ” with him.
G ill says that the only reason that
he is being subjected to a drug pro
gram is because o f the pressure that
afore-m entioned S ID officers are
applying to Mason and Frank. He is
currently in the Oregon State Peni
tentiary awaiting his parole hearing.
Mayor resists police committee
(Continued firon. page 1 col. 6)
O
Ralph Cooper
Burnia Brown
Deodiae A. Nixon
Michael A. Reynoida
John Benjamin
R.J. Tacker
Wallace Grant
Russia Mae Write
Celia Mae Overton
Pete Henry Ricketts
Mihon Walton
Ida Mae Tillman
Alma McLaurin
James E. Blanchard
Frances Blair
John Elliä
Willie B. Vernon
Jamas Combe
Jo Ann Saldon
James E. Smyth
Deborah Jean Saunders
Julianne, Rebecca Johnson
Jeanette Amerson
James Cunningham
Curtia McDonald
Ethel B. Reams
Jerry Rodgers
Madia Harden
Daniel H. Holby
Warren McGee
LeRoy Mayes
Lemuel Robinson
Mandie M . Johnson
Lucille B. Thomas
Bobby Washington
Printeee H. Morgan
Ruthenn Fountains
Michael Mitchell
Bell Mary Allen
Keith Brain Hampton
Willie R. Anderson
Albertina Beil
Mery P. Grice
Lydeil Fuller
Oscar C. McCray
Leslie A. Weetlund
James Washington Jr.
Haywood J. Broussard
Lenctra Cooke
Lenotra Brown
Annie L. Jackson
Oneita Wright
Kenneth E. Gant
Batty L. Odom
Karen Powai
Clytic Armstrong
Michael Holmaa
Sandra Boxtey
Louie Hupp
M i r y U H m O rO
CHIEF RON STILL
com m ittee to investigate any city
bureau. This might be her answer to
Ivancie’s objections.
The second round w ill be held at
City H a ll, Thursday, March 25th, at
2:00 pm.
RoeieM. Taylor
Lola Thornton
Ptrcy Hampton
Alfred 0 . Wingfield
Horaadna KaNy
Varatta Thomas
Carolyn Eaatarty
2202 N. Flint Ave.
4225 N.E. 14th Ave.
1606 So. Arlington (L.A ., Calif)
8808 S.E. 42nd Ave.
1800 S.E. Washington St
3730 N.E. 13th Ave.
2713 N.E. 9th Ave.
3108 S.E. 28th Ave.
1733 N. Benton
4016 N.E. 10th Ave.
4637 N.E. 8th Ave.
125 N. Going
1111 N.E. Holland
5703 N.E. 14th St.
3633 N. Vancouver
317 N.E. Monroe
4832 N.E. Cleveland
6206 N.E. 10th Ave.
4074 N.E. 7th Ave.
4632 N.E. 82nd Ave.
6227 N.E. 32nd PI.
2806 N.E. 9th Ave.
36 N.E. Stanton
3130 N. Williams Ave
3723 N.E. 13th Ave
6 0 4 N. Beech
3026 N.E. 12th
523 N.E. Bryant
4903 N.E. 10th Ave
6218 N.E. 35th PI.
3036 N.E. 13th Ave.
4623 N. Haight
4047 N.E. 14th Ave.
5133 N.E. 22nd Ave.
1216 N.E. Sumner
2938 N.E. Union Ave.
1226 N.E. Thompson
5716 N.E. 12th Ave.
8046 N.E. 23rd Ave.
625 N.E. Portland Blvd.
316 N.E. 60th Ave.
6675 N.E. Grand Ave.
4616 S.E. Madison
8066 N. Massachusetts
3308 N. Commercial
8027 N. Missouri
1406 N.E. Brazos
3013 S.E. Waverieigh Blvd.
2503 Hencroch, Expressway No. 73.
Colorado Springe, Colo. 80910
1436 N.E. Mason
3636 N.E. 17th
3929 N.E. 16th
4618 N.WHIiame Ave.
6604 N.E. 23rd
4328 N.E. 6th Ave.
3723 N.E. Garfield apt. 47
N° ' 2'
2427 N.E. Handers
3606 N Vancouver
8034 N. Central
3806 N.E. Garfield
•116 N.E. Cleveland
OR 97402