A p ril 14, 2010
'iln IJortlanh (Dbsrruer
IN S ID
The Week
Review
H erbs
D iet
SUPPLEMENTS
Page 3
■■■■■
Serious Words on
Road Rage Incidents
page 4
page 5
Saltzman tackles issues during cable broadcast
J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
by
L aw & I ustice
page 6-7
H ealth
M atters
page 8-9
S ports
page 10
ENIEMAINMtNI
page 11-14
C lassifieds
page 15-16
O
page 18-19
pinion
C ity C o m m issio n e r D an
Saltzman granted the Portland
Observer an interview on Sun­
day on the inaugural broadcast
o f “ T he P ortland O b serv er
Hour” on Portland Community
Media where he weighed in on
the police union, officer road
rage, racial profiling and other
topics.
Last week, Sgt. Kyle Nice, an
officer involved in the 2006 po­
lice beating death o f Jam es
Chasse, a downtown resident Dan Saltzman
suffering from mental health is­
sues, was involved in a road rage “H e’s a little bit different be­
incident in Washington County. cause he’s the head o f the union
Another police officer, Sgt. Scott right now. W e’ll see how long
Westerman who heads the po­ that may last.”
lice union, also is under investi­
Saltzman indicted the he will
gation for two similar confronta­ c o n s id e r sa n c tio n s a g a in st
tions.
Westerman, pending an internal
When asked about the road affairs investigation.
rage incidents, Saltzman had
“Well, I think at a minimum,
serious words.
I’m going to have both Sgt. Nice
“Well, let me say first o f all, to and Sgt. W esterman undergo
me, it’s completely unaccept­ some anger management coun­
able,” he said.
seling,” he said. “ But that’s not
Saltzman had some interest­ really discipline. That’s some­
ing
co m m en ts
ab o u t thing based on what happened
W esterm an’s union leadership. that needs to occur.”
Westerman led a massive dem­
When questioned what he
onstration o f the police union would do if the union held an­
and held a vote o f no confidence other march, Saltzman had this
on Saltzman and Police Chief to say;
R osie Size w hen S altzm an
“ But, yeah, I mean th ey ’re
moved to suspend Christopher w elcom e to march. T h ey ’ve
Humphreys, another officer that done th at b efo re, and that
was involved in the Chasse inci­ hasn’t changed my opinion on
dent. Humphreys was the of­ th in g s o r how I p e rc e iv e
ficer who shot a 12-year-oldgirl things,” he said.
with a beanbag gun during an
Saltzman also wants the up­
altercation last fall at a MAX coming contract negotiations with
stop. The union withheld the re­ the police union to include a pro­
sults o f the vote after Saltzman vision to agreement with the city
backed down.
that allows for drug testing of
“Scott Westerman is also be­ officers involved in shootings.
ing reviewed,” Saltzman said. He also wants annual perfor­
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page 20
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mance reviews o f officers.
“What we may have to bar­
gain for is what do we do with
those reviews,” he added.
The topic o f racial profiling
also came up. Saltzman didn’t
deny it happens, but didn’t seem
to think it’s something officers
d elib erately do. Instead, he
seemed to suggest that every­
one takes race into account in
their day-to-day lives, whether
they intend to or not. When asked
if the police union’s denial that
the phenomenon occurs in Port­
land was an obstacle, he had this
to say:
“We don’t bargain over this.
This is something we handle
through policies and procedures
that we have, the chief, I should
say, has full ability to take into
account,” said Saltzman. “ I guess
what I’m trying to say, is that
part o f it - biased-based policy,
racial profiling- is endemic to
everybody. I think that’s some­
thing we all have to work at
overcoming.”
He also had this to say about
the police union.
“ I don’t always think the po­
lice union speaks for many o f the
views and opinions o f rank and
file officers, and I base that on
my years o f experience, espe­
cially in the last year and a half
talking to many, many officers,”
said Saltzman.
He added, “ I think there’s
kind o f disconnect. I think the
union gets itself too rigid, and I
don't think it fully represents the
views o f all rank and file offic­
ers, including on points like
whether racial profiling exists or
not.”
The interview will be re-broad­
cast on Channel 22 at 8 p.m. on
W ednesday, April 14.
(please include check w ith this subscription form) !
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