Page 2 The Skanner March 2, 2016
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Opinion
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
Bobbie Dore Foster
Executive Editor
Jerry Foster
Advertising Manager
Christen McCurdy
News Editor
Patricia Irvin
Graphic Designer
Arashi Young
Reporter
Monica J. Foster
Seattle Office Coordinator
Susan Fried
Photographer
2015
MERIT
AWARDS
WINNER
The Skanner has received 20 NNPA awards since 1998
The Skanner Newspaper, es-
tablished in October 1975, is a
weekly publication, published
every Wednesday by IMM Publi-
cations Inc.
415 N. Killingsworth St.
P.O. Box 5455
Portland, OR 97228
FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Cops’ 48-Hour Exception Shields Them Unfairly
W
e place a great deal
of trust in our police
officers by allowing
them to use deadly
force in life or death situa-
tions. It is only right that we
should hold them accountable
for their actions.
If you or I were to shoot
somebody, in self-defense or
for any other reason, you’d
better believe we would be
arrested, handcuffed and
“
Bernie
Foster
Publisher
will be part of a media pool
that will accompany her for
part of her visit.
When the top law enforce-
should be accountable for
their actions.
The Department of Justice
settlement with the City of
Portland was designed to
remedy the Portland Police
Bureau’s history of violating
the civil rights of citizens.
It clearly states that the city
should remove the 48-hour
exception.
By failing to get rid of the
48-hour exception, Portland
By failing to get rid of the 48-hour exception, Portland
is out of compliance with the 2012 civil rights settle-
ment agreement
taken to a police interview
room to answer questions.
Yet when Portland Police offi-
cers shoot someone while on
duty, or if a person dies in cus-
tody – as James Chasse did—
they are allowed to disappear
for 48 hours before they have
to answer a single question.
U.S. Attorney General Lo-
retta Lynch is in Portland
Thursday. The Skanner News
ment office is in town, we can
assume the 48-hour rule for
police accountability will be
on the agenda – or should be.
The 48-hour rule is not po-
lice accountability. It is not
justice. It is criminal.
We place a great deal of
trust in our police officers by
allowing them to use deadly
force in life or death situa-
tions. It is only right that they
is out of compliance with the
2012 civil rights settlement
agreement. That’s according
to the attorneys at the US De-
partment of Justice. In fact,
they say, the 48-hour rule vio-
lates settled case law.
Earlier this month U.S. De-
partment of Justice lawyers
met with Multnomah County
prosecutors in an effort to get
them on board. The prosecu-
Telephone (503) 285-5555
Fax: (503) 285-2900
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tors shouldn’t need a pep talk
from the feds to help them
understand why the 48-hour
rule is wrong. Don’t they have
a conscience to help them
stand up for equal justice un-
der the law?
The Police Officers union,
to its shame, has fought every
effort to hold police account-
able for their actions. That’s
not an excuse for the City to
drag its heels.
Mayor Hales, if there is one
more thing you must do be-
fore you leave office it is this.
Tell Portland Police Bureau
the 48-rule must go. And
make sure it happens.
Citibank Ordered to Refund $4.9 Million to 2,100 Consumers
L
ast year, the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC)
launched a national ini-
tiative, dubbed Opera-
tion Collection Protection, to
further protect consumers
from unlawful practices re-
lated to debt collection. Now,
in a report to the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau
(CFPB), FTC summarized its
results on behalf of consum-
ers and additionally pledged
to continue efforts with more
joint actions with law en-
“
Julianne
Malveaux
NNPA
Columnist
violations from ever work-
ing in debt collection again.
The two agencies joined
forces to work with the De-
partment of Justice and state
Attorneys General to fight
phone calls, and false threats
of litigation or arrest.
Illinois Attorney General
Lisa Madigan worked with
FTC to stop rogue collection
enterprises. There defen-
dants used a host of business
names to target consumers
who either applied for or
obtained payday and other
short-term loans. Ultimately,
those charged agreed to pay
a $6.4 million judgement and
were banned from working in
any debt collection business.
In order to effectively address debt collection abuses
and the harms they cause, consumers need law enforce-
ment to step up at every level
forcement partners.
In a February 12 letter to
CFPB, FTC highlighted its
most successful efforts to
eliminate illegal debt collec-
tion practices that include:
• Coordination of the first
federal-state-local enforce-
ment effort dedicated to
targeting deceptive and
abusive debt collection
practices;
• Obtaining nearly $94 mil-
lion in judgments;
• Filing 12 new cases against
52 new defendants – a re-
cord number for FTC in a
single year; and
• Banning 30 companies and
individuals that engaged in
serious and repeated legal
illegal and abusive practices
that affect nearly 30 million
consumers.
This
inter-governmental
collaboration minimizes du-
plicated efforts while max-
imizing opportunities for
successful prosecutions. This
coordination yields early ben-
efits to consumers in Georgia,
Illinois, New York, Oklahoma
and Texas. Additional efforts
are expected for consumers
nationwide.
Since Operation Collection
Protection began, over 130
new law enforcement actions
by federal state and local law
enforcement resulted in pros-
ecution against collectors that
used illegal practices such as
wage garnishment, harassing
In cooperation with the New
York Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman, a debt collec-
tion case that began in 2014
was resolved in 2015 with an
$8.5 million judgment and
additionally required that de-
fendants forfeit assets associ-
ated with the scam.
As law enforcement and
regulators investigate and,
where appropriate take ac-
tion against illegal debt col-
lections, legislative and court
actions in states such as Cali-
fornia, Minnesota, New York
and North Carolina are en-
acting reforms to ensure that
debts are collected from peo-
ple who actually owe them.
State Attorneys General are
currently pushing for re-
forms in Missouri and Mary-
land, while additional legisla-
tion is pending in a number of
other states.
In a related and separate
action on February 23, the
Consumer Financial Protec-
tion Bureau (CFPB) ordered
Citibank to pay $4.89 million
to about 2,100 consumers
and a $3 million penalty. Citi-
bank was charged with sell-
ing credit card debt with in-
flated interest rates and then
failing to promptly forward
consumer payments to debt
buyers. The delays resulted
in consumers being subjected
to collection attempts for bills
already paid from 2010-2013.
“In order to effectively ad-
dress debt collection abuses
and the harms they cause,
consumers need law enforce-
ment to step up at every lev-
el,” said Lisa Stifler, a senior
policy counsel with the Cen-
ter for Responsible Lending.
“Rules for fair debt collection
require the participation of
state legislatures, regulators
and courts. Enforcement ac-
tions by Attorneys General
are critical to ensuring that
common-sense rules are fol-
lowed by debt collectors and
that consumers are treated
fairly.”
Charlene Crowell is a com-
munications manager with
the Center for Responsible
Lending. She can be reached
at Charlene.crowell@responsi-
blelending.org.