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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 9, 2016)
March 9, 2016 The Skanner Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 licing and crime reduc- tion,” with other cities on the tour being honored for other pillars in the report: building trust and legitimacy (Miami, which she visited last month), training and ed- ucation and officer safety and wellness. At a Thursday morn- ing press conference at the Boys and Girls Club on Martin Luther King, “ Collaborative chair An- toinette Edwards, Mult- nomah County deputy district attorney Eric Zimmerman and Life Change Church pastor Mark Strong, part of a group of pastors and community members in- volved in street outreach to curb violence. “We not only must work for justice in this day but work on the root Lynch’s visit singled out Portland as an exemplar of ‘community policing and crime reduction’ Jr. Blvd., Lynch acknowl- edged that even as the DOJ honors Portland for exemplary policing practices, the city has yet to complete the work set out for it in the U.S. vs. City of Portland agree- ment in 2012. That settle- ment noted a pattern of excessive force against people with mental ill- ness. Lynch said even though Portland’s work isn’t done, she wanted to com- mend the city for the progress it has made in increasing trust between police and the communi- ty. “There’s good work be- ing done here,” she said. Lynch took questions from local media just after visiting George Middle School in North Portland, where she saw two officers teaching a Gang Resistance Educa- tion Training Program to a class of sixth-graders — one of a collection of efforts she said increases trust between youth and officers at a critical age. She also attended a community roundtable and heard presentations from Mayor Charlie Hales, Community Peace Copwatch causes of injustice as well,” Hales said. Hales said despite overall re- ductions in crime rate, the rate of violence con- sidered gang-related is now up. Lt. Tasha Hager, who heads up the Portland Po- lice Bureau’s behavioral unit, said the department is working with com- munications agencies to identify which calls do not need to be referred to police, instead trans- ferring them to the Mult- nomah County Crisis Line. At the press confer- ence, Lynch fielded questions about staffing shortages in the bureau as well as a number of questions about the DOJ’s handling of the Malheur standoff. “Every case is different. We always respond to circumstances individu- ally,” she said of the DOJ’s slow response to the oc- cupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by armed militants, the vast majority of whom were White and identify with the right-wing pa- triot movement. Read more at TheSkanner.com Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R), in partnership with Pioneer Courthouse Square, Inc., has announced that Howard S. Wright and Faison Construction have been selected through a competitive City procurement process as the Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) for the Pioneer Courthouse Square Renovation Project. This is one of more than 30 projects that are part of the Parks Replacement Bond, approved by Portland voters in 2014. The Square will receive a new waterproofing membrane over the lower level spaces occupied by valued tenants, as well as a new heating and cooling system as well as other repairs. Many of the existing bricks will need to be removed and replaced, and if funds are available, the team will complete other renovations to freshen the 32-year-old public gathering place. York cont’d from pg 1 present the piece. Playwright Bryan Harnetiaux created the piece, collaborating with the actor and musician Da- vid Casteal, who plays the title role of York. Harnetiaux said the play is meant to show a different side of history. “We wanted to tell the story in the kind of Howard Zinn tra- dition; not by the victor, but by the vanquished,” he said. “What “ A few weeks later, inspiration struck. Harnetiaux said he woke up in the morning and saw a vi- sion of York standing at the end of the bed. Then he saw Casteal standing next to York -- and he knew he needed to write a play about York starring Casteal. He had worked with Casteal be- fore in his play “National Pastime” about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball. The We wanted to tell the story in the kind of Howard Zinn tradition; not by the victor, but by the vanquished if York wasn’t illiterate? What if York was able to tell his story?” Harnetiaux, playwright-in-res- idence at the Spokane Civic The- atre in Washington, was asked to write a play about the Lewis and Clark journey for the 2005 bicen- tennial celebration. After weeks of researching, he could not hone in on a story and eventually he turned down the commission. two set out to bring York to life on stage. Harnetiaux worked to craft the story while Casteal scored the djembe drumming rhythm heard throughout the play. Even though York had the same responsibilities as the rest of the expedition, very little is men- tioned of him. York may have been the first Black man to have crossed the continent north of Mexico. When the crew returned from their journey, every member ex- cept for York received money and land for their service. The historical record is unclear whether York received his free- dom from Clark. Casteal said he was saddened that York’s contributions have been ignored. “I think it speaks directly to slavery and how our slaves were treated and how they were looked at as essentially almost non-hu- mans,” Casteal said. Carrying the one-man play, Casteal says he is constantly mov- ing and working. He plays York and voices the other expedition members as they interact with him. He is exhausted by the end of each performance but said play- ing York is rewarding work. “I get to help tell this story or what might have been had some- body cared to listen,” he said. Read more at TheSkanner.com cont’d from pg 1 tion about deadly force incidents in Oregon using press reports and public documents on use of force incidents by any law enforcement jurisdiction any- where in Oregon. The Skanner is awaiting comment from the attorney general’s office about the new data. “ Pioneer Square Renovation PHOTO COURTESY OF PORTLAND PARKS & RECREATION Lynch —Portland Copwatch passed the law expressed surprise that it was not being enforced for its intend- ed purpose — use in creating law en- forcement policy. Back then, The Skanner first put the group’s data about police use of force incidents together with location points for the incidents. Then we plotted them on a map. Now we have updated that map with their most recent data, which we have independently verified and again post- ed to an interactive Google page. Some of Portland Copwatch’s key 2016 findings include: quired. An examination by The Skanner at the time revealed current state officials were unaware of the law’s provisions and were turning the statistics over to the department of data and statistics to be included in counts of all causes of death statewide. Former state lawmakers who had Total Incidents • 141 incidents involving 142 civilians • 131 shootings, 70 ending in death (53 percent) • 6 Taser-related deaths • 2 deaths in custody • 2 vehicles as deadly force, 1 ending in death passed requiring it. Portland Copwatch sent a public let- ter to Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum in 2014, offering detailed statistics gathered through a review of press reports and asking the attorney general whether her department was compiling them as Senate Bill 111 re- We believe with all the attention on a recent shooting in Oregon, now would be a good time for the AG to publish these numbers As reported in The Skanner two years ago, Copwatch started gathering the data in response to concerns that Sen- ate Bill 111 was not being upheld despite being passed into law in 2010. As it happens, many lawmakers around Oregon had thought the Ore- gon State Department of Justice was compiling the statistics after a law was Race The data shows 6 of the 29 Portland shootings/deaths were of African Americans, accounting for 21 percent of victims “in a city that is 6 percent black.” Also, “At least 8 of the 142 sus- pects were African Americans, or 6 percent in a state which is 2 percent black.” Veterans At least eight victims were primarily identified as military veterans in some kind of psychological crisis. “We are still unable to track how many of the suspects were in crisis,” the report says. Indictments Only one law enforcement figure in the state, Portland Officer Dane Reis- ter, has so far been indicted, and he committed suicide afterwards last May. Read more about Portland Copwatch at www.portlandcopwatch.org
