il!e^JortIanb © b seru er_______________________ October 24.2007
PageAÄ
East County
Flash Point
con tin u ed
Jk
fro m Front
the pressure, a G resham task force
has recom m ended a five-year tax
that w ould increase the city ’s po­
lice budget by betw een $3 million
and $6 m illion annually, adding up
to 54 more law enforcem ent posi­
tions. If approved by the City Coun­
cil, the proposal would go to voters
in Novem ber 2008.
G resham has one o f the lowest
per-capita rates o f police officers in
O regon, and the m ayor’s task force
cited the need for more help in pa­
trols, youth-crim e prevention and
investigations.
In the meantime, G resham Police
will have to do their best with what
they have and with additional help
for Portland Police.
"L aw enforcem ent has learned
we cannot isolate us, each o f us, to
our ow n boundaries and our own
borders because the bad guys d o n ’t
respect that,” says Piluso, "Y ou
d o n ’t stop and say, O hm igaw d,
I'm not crossing 162nd.’”
She stood in front of television
news cameras last month with other
officials at the com er’s Max light-rail
stoptooutlineim m ediatecrim e-pre-
vention measures being taken. As
G resham ’s first woman police chief,
she also recognizes the continued
necessity o f recruiting more people
o f color and women to be officers.
"T hat has been a priority o f this
departm ent forever, recognizing
that the ideal form ula is that your
police department mirrors your com ­
m unity,” Piluso says. “W e co n ­
tinue to strive tow ards that goal;
are we w here I’d like us to be? N o.”
A s G re sh am resid e n t S arah
Edm ond rode Max toward Portland,
she verified a disconnect in the
eyes o f A frican A m ericans, w ho
have becom e a m uch larger propor­
tion o f the city ’s population with
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Chuck Matthews visits his sister near East Burnside and 162nd Avenue. But Matthews says she's moving out
because she doesn't feel safe.
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little representation in positions o f
power.
Edmond moved to Gresham from
Louisiana two years ago and says
she still feels safer there than in
Portland’s downtown. However, she
sees the larger city as more friendly
to minorities, saying, “If I wanted to
be a police officer, I’d go to Portland
because it’s more diverse.”
W ith all the other governm ent
d ep artm en ts co m p etin g for the
sam e small pool o f m inority candi­
dates, Piluso explains that recruit­
ing officers o f color has been diffi­
cult. She hopes that more m inority
officers will soon help pinpoint the
source o f all the gang-related activ­
ity, saying, “As we have identified
gangsters, there are areas and pock­
ets, som e associated with housing,
som e associated with transit and
som e that we ju st ca n ’t find a c o n ­
nector to.”
Piluso, a 28-year-veteran o f po­
lice w ork w ho is running for a seat
on the M ultnom ah County Com-
m ission next year, says th ere’s a
need to strengthen the hum an side
o f governm ent services.
“Social-service needs d o n ’t stop
at city borders,” she says. “E spe­
cially with the advent o f technol­
ogy, our cities all have city-lim it
signs, but our w ork do esn ’t end
there.”
Saying that “ w e have to get
back” to the Portland-area sense o f
com m unity that she experienced
grow ing up in the ‘50s and ‘60s,
Piluso, 62, advocates that people
get to know their neighbors to pre­
vent crim e and to give som e en ­
couragem ent for breaking profes­
sional boundaries.
“Being the age 1 am now, you like
to think that you open the door a
little bit for others, and when my
peers are people I ike (Sen. ) M arga­
ret Carter ( an African-American law­
m aker from Portland) who are open­
ing a different set o f doors depend­
ing on w hat career path w e chose,
it’s really exciting.”
■M M M
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Equal Opportunity Focus
con tin u ed
fro m Front
sponsorship opportunities, call the
U rban League o f Portland at 503-
280-2626orvisitw w w .ulpdx.org.
T he U rban L eague o f P ortland
h elp s e m p o w e r A frican A m eri­
can and o th ers to ac h ie v e e q u a l­
ity in ed u c atio n , em p lo y m en t and
e c o n o m ic secu rity .
In clu d ed
am ong its m any p ro g ram s are an
ed u catio n p ro g ram effec tiv e at
im p ro v in g g rad u atio n rates for
A frican A m erican yo u th , an e m ­
p lo y m en t p ro g ram assistin g jo b ­
seek ers and co m p an ies w ith h ir­
ing, train in g and d iversity rec ru it­
m ent, and a co m p re h en siv e se­
n io r serv ices p ro g ram in north
an d n o rth ea st P o rtland.
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