February 20, 2019 The Page 3 INSIDE Week in Review This page Sponsored by: page 2 O PINIONATED J UDGE page 6 M ETRO page 8 Counter protesters tear a Nazi flag during a demonstration downtown in this Aug. 4, 2018 file photo from AP. Friendly Texts Review City to look for police bias in dialogue with far-right D anny p eterson t he p ortlanD o bserver by pages 9-13 ENTERTAINMENT O PINION C LASSIFIEDS for any wrongdoing and call for added police training to help them identify white supremacist groups. The bureau has temporarily re- moved Lt. Jeff Niiya from his po- sition on the rapid response team which monitors and responds to protests. He has been ordered to C ontinueD on p age 7 Input Wanted on Police Body Cams Arts & C ALENDAR A revelation that hundreds of text messages were exchanged be- tween a Portland police lieutenant in charge of overseeing protests and the leader of a far-right group has spurred outrage from the may- or and other community members. Now, the mayor will allow an independent investigation of the Portland Police Bureau to look page 15 pages 16-17 pages 18 Portland Police Bureau is ask- ing for community feedback as they move through the early stag- es of developing a pilot program for officers to wear cameras on their body while on duty. Having completed one of three planned forums this past weekend at East Portland Community Cen- ter, their next meeting is sched- uled for this Friday at the Matt Dishman Community Center, 77 N.E. Knott St. from 2:30 p m. to 4:30 p.m. Officials said the forums are designed for community members to help shape the policy on how the cameras will work and how the video recordings will be used. Following a request for propos- als from body-cam vendors, the police bureau will select the top two devices to test out in the field for six months, at both Central Precinct and the Traffic Division, starting this summer. If it’s deter- mined that body-worn cameras would be a viable and useful tool photo by r yan J ohnson A police officer equipped with a body-worn camera. at the end of the pilot, in January The community can also pro- 2020, Portland police will move vide feedback on the body camera forward with its implementation, project on the bureau’s website, officials said. portlandoregon.gov/police/78485.