April 26, 2017
Page 5
Police Oversight Hurdles
c ontinued froM p age 3
issuing of this settlement agree-
ment,” said Haynes, in an inter-
view with the Portland Observer.
“The investigation came back
and showed that the Portland Po-
lice Bureau used excessive and
unnecessary deadly force against
persons that are mentally ill.”
Most major cities with DOJ
settlement agreements are as-
signed a court-appointed monitor
to ensure that reforms are proper-
ly carried out. Portland, however,
opted for an experimental model
of reform enforcement that creat-
ed a community-based commit-
tee, the Community Oversight
Advisory Board (COAB).
The COAB is a diverse coali-
tion of community stakeholders
that is charged with assessing
whether or not the Portland Po-
lice Bureau is meeting the terms
of their DOJ agreement. By re-
porting their findings and recom-
mendations to a compliance of-
ficer and community liaison, the
panel was empowered to direct
how police reforms would be car-
ried out in the city. But when the
group disbanded, so did the effort
to evaluate the reform efforts ef-
fectiveness.
“There were mistakes made at
the beginning of the development
of the board, by not having any
training or orientation,” Haynes
said.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler,
who serves as the police com-
missioner managing the Police
Bureau, said he supports and un-
derstands the need for police re-
forms.
“We have a large number of se-
nior level individuals in the Bu-
reau on paid administrative leave
or who are under investigation,”
Wheeler said. “Many of the po-
tential violations occurred in the
past and the inquiries into officer
misconduct are still ongoing.”
During his election campaign,
the mayor promised a nationwide
search for a new police chief, a
pledge he says he is keeping by
looking for a department leader
who can commit to making the
reforms spelled out in the consent
decree.
“We are going to be a 21st
Century police bureau,” the may-
or said, adding, “We’re going to
be diverse. We are going to focus
on conflict resolution, de-escala-
tion, and demilitarization. That is
what the community wants.”
Wheeler said that one key
component of his approach to po-
lice reform is de-escalating con-
flicts by attempting to limit minor
infractions that officers can use to
cite citizens.
“If we tell our police officers
to stop citing people for spitting
in public or crossing the road at
something other than a 90 degree
angle… then (police) no longer
have the Constitutional hook to
do a random police search,” the
mayor explained, adding, “That’s
the direction I want to move.”
Threatening to pursue legal
action if the new Trump admin-
istration attempts to modify any
of the standing federal oversight
agreements with troubled police
departments is the NAACP in
Washington, D.C.
NAACP President and Chief
Executive Cornell Williams
Brooks promised April 7 to con-
tinue fighting for justice for peo-
ple of color nationwide, calling
the potential rollback of federal
oversight a “morally bankrupt
step that could have disastrous
results regarding the protection
of black lives.”
Haynes gives credit to some of
the progress that has already been
made in Portland to the federal
government coming as a form of
leverage that is “totally separate
from the city government.”
One meaningful reform imple-
mented as a result of Portland’s
DOJ agreement shaved down
some of the bureaucracy related
to the processing of civilian com-
plaints against Portland police of-
ficers, Haynes said.
“The DOJ described the sys-
tem in Portland as Byzantine
when citizens filed complaints,”
he said. “They have been mandat-
ed by the settlement agreement to
correct that problem.”
Additionally, revamped train-
ing measures and an emphasis
on mental health awareness have
helped the Portland Police Bu-
reau reform some aspects of its
day-to-day operation. An April 3
compliance report by the COCL
found that the Portland Police
Bureau has partial compliance or
substantial compliance with near-
ly all of the DOJ’s orders.
Haynes said that the federal
pressure placed on the Portland
Police Bureau is important for
maintaining the momentum to
reform.
“DOJ is a not a panacea,”
Haynes added, “It won’t solve
all the problems. But it is another
leverage of oversight.”
Regardless of whether or not
the Justice Department continues
its oversight of the Portland Po-
lice Bureau, Haynes said commu-
nity members must continue to
hold officers accountable.
“Citizens have to be engaged
in the process of community po-
licing, engaged in the account-
ability process,” he explained.
Wheeler agreed, stating that
the pressure from activist com-
munity groups on city govern-
ment is healthy in a democratic
society.
“There should be a healthy
tension, because we have to be
held accountable,” Wheeler said.
Both Rev. Dr. Haynes and
Mayor Wheeler agree that reform-
ing the Portland Police Bureau
will require more than procedural
shifts: it will require a change in
the organization’s culture.
“Ultimately,” said Haynes,
“It’s about creating a culture of
treating people as human beings.”
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