C AREERS Special
Edition
Page 16
April 21, 2021
FBI Team Ups with Portland on Guns My Top 10 Films for 2020
New task force
investigates
gun crimes
In response to a persistent and
concerning rise in local gun vio-
lence, Multnomah County Dis-
trict Attorney Mike Schmidt and
Acting U.S. Attorney Scott Erik
Asphaug joined area law en-
forcement partners last week to
announce a new initiative to co-
ordinate and focus local and fed-
eral law enforcement resources on
investigating and prosecuting gun
crimes in Multnomah County.
The Portland Police Bureau,
Multnomah County Sheriff’s
Office and Gresham Police De-
partment entered into a voluntary
agreement with the U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice—to include the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explo-
sives (ATF)—to deputize a small
contingent of local law enforce-
ment officers to focus exclusively
on investigating gun violence and
crimes involving firearms.
The federally-deputized offi-
cers will be assigned to the Metro
Safe Streets Task Force, officials
said. All of agencies involved have
agreed that community and law
enforcement programs designed
to prevent gun violence before it
occurs are critical to solving this
public health crisis.
The new gun violence focus
does not seek to preempt or re-
place any existing or proposed
prevention-based gun violence
reduction efforts. Rather, this new
initiative is focused on investigat-
ing shootings after they occur and,
where appropriate and supported
by evidence, charging those re-
sponsible in state or federal court.
Officials said because the pur-
pose of the collaboration between
law enforcement is to interdict
gun-related harm in our commu-
nity, local law enforcement dep-
utized under this new agreement
will play no role in enforcing im-
migration law nor performing any
crowd management duties at First
Amendment demonstrations or
events.
Participation in the Metro Safe
Streets Task Force is meant to give
local law enforcement a greater
ability to coordinate investiga-
tions across both the federal and
state judicial systems; access fed-
eral forensic testing and analysis
resources; access needed equip-
ment such as vehicles, addition-
al police radios and computers;
and receive funding for overtime
costs not currently funded by local
agencies.
Management of the Metro
Safe Streets Task Force will be
shared among the Special Agent
C onTinued from P age 9
Multnomah County District
Attorney Mike Schmidt
in Charge of the FBI in Oregon,
Special Agent in Charge of the
ATF Seattle Field Division, the
Multnomah County Sheriff, and
the chiefs of the Portland Police
Bureau and Gresham Police De-
partment.
The frequency of gun violence
in Portland and greater Mult-
nomah County demands an imme-
diate response to quell the stagger-
ing statistics, officials said.
Officials said the greatest poten-
tial for building stronger commu-
nities and controlling violent crime
will be achieved by increasing the
number of neighborhood organi-
zations actively involved in these
same efforts, by them developing
programs for young people in our
community and having dedicated
staff to work against violence.
is, to my mind, a wholly successful
film adaptation of the August Wil-
son play. It benefits from an ab-
solutely stunning cast--Chadwick
Bozeman in his final role and Viola
Davis both deserve Oscars for their
performances, and the supporting
cast members (especially Colman
Domingo and Glynn Turman)
are equally fine. Legendary blues
singer Ma Rainey (Davis) gets
more screen time than she has in
the play, and the film grounds the
action in the physical settings that
drive the story, offering contrasting
windows into the southern venues
where Rainey was most under-
stood and venerated away from the
white gaze and the Chicago record-
ing studio where she and her band
are a commodity to be exploited by
white supremacy.
7. I can’t help wondering if
“The Dissident” failed to garner
awards recognition and a spot on
any lists of the year’s best films
for the same reasons that it failed
to secure a streaming platform on
Netflix--that our government and
business interests are reluctant to
assist in bringing attention to the
implications of the murder of jour-
nalist Jamal Kashoggi for the world
community and for the U.S. specif-
ically. This excellent documentary
really awakened me to the causes
for concern, and does a masterful
job of connecting dots that to this
day have garnered shockingly few
repercussions for the Saudi gov-
ernment.
8. “Crip Camp” forever
changed my perspective and made
me ashamed that I knew so lit-
tle about the legal and civil rights
history it imparts. The film begins
with exploration of a camp in the
Catskills, Camp Jened, where,
from 1951 to 1977, disabled ado-
lescents had experiences of free-
dom and access that were unheard
of in their otherwise sheltered lives
and likely would even be hard to
come by today. stories like this are
so underexplored never ceases to
amaze me; we are so fortunate that
LeBrecht and
9. “The Father” left me shak-
en and disoriented--and, yes, I am
recommending it. Although there
have been some good films about
people experiencing dementia,
this is the first one to approach
the subject from the vantage point
of the person in decline--here, an
80-year-old man named Anthony
(an astounding Anthony Hopkins).
10. “David Byrne’s American
Utopia” is a work of sheer delight.
Director Spike Lee is really in his
wheelhouse here, offering us a
way to experience in film a Broad-
way concert show that Byrne cre-
ated with a mesmerizing group
of 11 musicians from all over the
world.