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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 2012)
Local News Police Sister at De La Salle continued from page 1 that people with mental illnesses may need a specialized response. As in previous poli- cies it states officers should resolve situa- tions using the least amount of force necessary, a standard stricter than federal law. It also says officers should describe their efforts to de-escalate situations, and to justify any use of force. The deadly force draft policy includes a new, on-scene interview, where officers who kill someone must give investigators an overview of what happened, after they’ve had time to contact an attorney or union representative. The police contract allows offi- cers 48 hours before they are questioned in a formal inter- view. Under the draft policy, an internal affairs officer would be present at the inter- view or view it remotely. What Reese’s proposed deadly force policy does not do is get rid of the 48-hour rule, one of the DOJ recom- Hardesty mendations. Reese already has decided to push forward with a plan to create a spe- cialized crisis intervention team, within the bureau— a key recommendation in the DOJ report. From 1995 to 2007, the bureau deployed a specialized crisis intervention team, but Chief Tom Potter disbanded it, after James Chasse died in police custody. Instead, all police officers were required to attend 40 hours of crisis intervention train- ing. Jason Renaud of the Mental Health Asso- ciation of Portland said the problem then was that crisis team officers were rarely available when most needed. Renaud says that all of the people killed by police since Chasse’s death were suffer- ing from some kinds of mental illness or addiction. And he remains convinced that all police officers need to be skilled in crisis intervention. “The majority of people arrested – maybe 70 – 80 percent is dealing with active men- tal illness or addictions,” he said. “What we’ve done is dismantle the community mental health system, and those people now flow, without much intervention into our criminal justice system. Police officers are caught in the middle and they resent it.” water main that by all accounts has leaked heavily for many years. Originally, City officials set up the LID with the proviso that before any improve- ments were made, the HOA would have to the past due water bill. Residents say the City is essentially forc- ing them to pay for the water twice by put- ting them on the hook for the HOA’s years-past water bills — but City officials arrangement at the Council meeting Oct. 10, two property owners spoke out against the assessments. Putting liens on the homes will drain them of equity and make them unsellable, proper- ty owner Christine Hermann told Commis- sioners. Hermann introduced an array of docu- ments, including RMLS statements show- ing the only six homes sold in the past three years were priced at $50,000; $49,000; $40,000; $36,900; $31,000; $29,500. The foreclosure rate since 2008 is 29 per- cent, she testified. “I appreciate the fact that you have the safety net program, and I think that’s great. That safety net program may defer pay- ments to those who qualify, but still, even for those who qualify, the principal and interest is accruing — which wipes out any equity that any of these homeowners may have.” ‘I hope city council won’t allow this to happen before the community has seen the letter of Agreement and understands what the DOJ has mandated’ —JoAnn and also consider other strategies if two cycles are ineffective. It also says that tasers should not be deployed against people who are running away from police, unless they present an immediate threat. DOJ officials had called for a limit on the number of times a taser can be deployed against a person, but that is not in the draft. The draft use of force policy includes new language that says officers must recognize PHOTO COURTESY DE LA SALLE the DOJ has mandated,” she said. “This needs to be a transparent process.” The three draft policies address: taser use; use of force; and deadly force. To com- ment, you must read through the policies and click on the comment link at the bottom of the page. Several recommendations in the DOJ report are not included in the policy changes. The draft taser policy includes new word- ing that says officers should consider a per- son’s mental health before using the taser, Sister Helen Prejean, prominent advocate for qabolition of the death penalty, speaks with seniors at De La Salle North Catholic high school. Students in the Class of 2013 at De La Salle North Catholic High School had the unique opportunity to hear directly from Sr. Helen Prejean, a prominent advocate for abolition of the death penalty in the United States. Her wide- ranging talk, which took place in the school auditorium, described her journey of discovery and faith from an invitation from a colleague to write to a death-row inmate to a leader in the movement to eliminate the death- penalty in our country. Snoozy’s continued from page 1 asked for special permission from Commis- sioner Randy Leonard’s office to submit the LID application without getting more resi- dents onboard with the idea. Snoozy’s Hollow is surely one of the odd- est communities in Portland. So much that has happened there over the past 20 years seems like pure corruption – but residents say they can’t find a single government agency that can do anything about it. Located exactly across the levee from what used to be Vanport City, Snoozy’s — these days technically known as Deltawood — is named after Earl Snoozy, who bought the property in 1948 and turned it into a pri- vate community run by a Home Owner’s Association (HOA). Only 41 homes, most World War II tem- porary housing just like Vanport itself was, Snoozy’s Hollow has until now never been hooked up to City water, sewer or road serv- ices, getting by for generations with just one water main – one very small, rusty, broken The foreclosure rate since 2008 is 29 percent pay its back water bill, which by 2009 reached over $100,000. That’s because in past years the HOA did not pay its own water bill even though resi- dents paid as much as $200 per month in dues, according to residents and a 2009 report in the Oregonian. But that requirement has fallen by the roadside; Water Bureau spokesman Tim Hall says the Deltawood HOA has now been turned over by the City to a collection agency to recover some of the money from counter that homeowner associations are not regulated by the City, and there’s noth- ing that can be done to force the HOA to bail itself out. Baxter, who currently is suffering from a severe medical condition, did not respond to requests for comment for this story, nor did Jed Spera, contracted by the HOA as its “community manager.” Neither appeared at any of the City Council hearings. At the conclusion of City officials’ Power Point presentation about the benefits of the countries of Rwanda and Uganda have invaded Congo in the past and are currently linked to warlords responsible for mass killings and rapes. Angola and Burundi were also implicated in a U.N. mapping report released in 2010. “They have looted the place outrageously, taking hundreds of millions of dollars, and supporting some of the worst warlords, with never a word of protest from the United States,” Carney says. Friends of the Congo is asking the United States to enforce a law, passed by Congress in 2010. The Democratic Republic of Congo Relief, Security and Democracy Pro- motion Act, requires the Secretary of State to withdraw aid from any countries shown to be promoting conflict in the DRC. The United States gives aid to Rwanda and Uganda, as well as to the DRC. “The law is on the books; there is no excuse not to enforce it,” Crawford says. For centuries Congolese music has influ- enced musicians across the African conti- nent and beyond. And its art has been admired and emulated by artists such as, Picasso to Matisse. Congo’s descent into widespread conflict came after 125 years of subjugation by Western powers. The Congolese people were enslaved and exploited from 1885 through the end of colonization in 1960. Its first democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, was assassinated within a year. Congo continued from page 1 poorer. “All of that we’re benefiting from. And yet we’re silent,” says Maurice Carney executive director of Friends of the Congo in the video, “Crisis in the Congo.” “There’s a global consensus that exists, that says it’s ok for nearly 6 million Black people to die in the Heart of Africa and for us to be silent.” The advocacy group, Human Rights Watch says 45,000 people are being killed in Congo every month. An estimated 6 mil- lion people have been slaughtered in the conflict, about half of them children under five. And hundreds of thousands of women have been raped. Who’s responsible? The neighboring Lumumba was succeeded by a dictator, Joseph Mobutu, who ruled for 30 years, with U.S. and British support. Civil war broke out in 1996 and again in 1998. “We have 125 years of this, and what it does is it destroys and eviscerates Con- golese institutions,” Carney said. Crawford says the United States has taken action against Rwanda for the first time. “We’ve seen progress since we started this campaign in 2004,” she said. “This is not a hopeless situation.” Friends of the Congo works with youth groups in the DRC and student groups in the United States to push for change. October 24, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3
