May 8, 2019 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
from 33 to 26 days, closer
to the group’s stated goal
of 21 days.
The report noted two
significant shifts in how
complaints are handled,
under code changes en-
acted by Portland City
Council to both stream-
line the complaint pro-
cess and increase police
accountability. The first
change allows IPR in-
“
We want
to know,
in our of-
fice, if the
system is
working
best for
everybody
vestigators to refer al-
legations of minor rule
violations directly to a
police supervisor, whose
conclusions are then
reviewed by IPR. But
investigations of more
serious cases of miscon-
duct are still conducted
by either the IPR or In-
ternal Affairs, and any
officer’s supervisor who
disagrees with investi-
gators’
recommended
findings must explain
why, rather than simply
take the report under ad-
visement. In cases where
IPR disagrees with a com-
mander’s proposed find-
ings, it can appeal the in-
vestigation to the Police
Review Board, an advi-
sory body to the chief of
police that includes law
enforcement
officers,
members of the commu-
nity, and an IPR manager.
IPR senior manage-
ment analyst KC Jones
said that since these
changes were enacted
in July 2018, there is not
yet enough data “for us
to see if there are trends
in commanders disagree-
ing with IPR more than
IA, or anything like that.
It’s definitely something
we’re interested in know-
ing more about. We want
to know, in our office, if
the system is working
best for everybody, and
that’s something the De-
partment of Justice is in-
terested in, too. We want
to know: If a community
member’s case gets in-
vestigated by us or by IA,
are they getting the same
treatment?”
There was a 12 percent
bump in complaints
from community mem-
bers, for a total of 415
complaints comprising
1,109 allegations total.
Criticisms of police pro-
cedure and unprofes-
sional conduct were
most common.
IPR closed 56 percent of
these cases after intake,
largely because the com-
plaints would not have
violated police policy. Of
the remaining cases, 19
percent were referred to
IA for investigation, six
percent were assigned
to IPR for investigation,
and 14 percent ended
with the IPR’s recom-
mendation for a supervi-
sory investigation of the
officer.
While 35 percent of
community
complain-
ants declined to disclose
their race, the report
noted those who identi-
fied as Black “were over-
represented at a rate of
around four times that
of White complainants
compared to the Portland
population.”
The IPR tracks com-
plaints received from
within the police bureau
separately, and found
that in 2018, IA investi-
gated 77 complaints from
personnel, nearly dou-
PHOTO BY R. DALLON ADAMS
Police
Teachers’ Day of Action
Supporters, including teachers and students, gathered at Jefferson High School Wednesday morning to make signs and prepare for the
May 8 Day of Action to rally for education funding. Portland Public Schools closed for the rally, which drew an estimated 20,000 people
to downtown Portland. Watch for a story next week on education funding issues in the state.
ble what it did in 2017.
Of those, 25% of allega-
tions had to do with pro-
fessional conduct and
courtesy, 13 percent took
issue with the officer’s
knowledge of “law, rules
and orders,” 12 percent
alleged less-than-satis-
factory performance, 10
percent were complaints
about “truthfulness,” and
7 percent called out im-
proper dissemination of
information.
Jones said that IPR was
unable to account for the
uptick in personnel com-
plaints, adding that the
reporting process had
not changed.
“It would probably get
more at something about
the bureau’s culture that
we can’t identify,” he said.
“That was something
we looked into, because
that’s a huge jump. What
we saw was complaints
coming from parts of
the bureau that typical-
ly don’t have many com-
plaints,” specifically re-
cords and training.
“On our side, we see
the biggest rise is usual-
ly in years where there’s
a lot of protests,” Jones
said, “or when (IPR) is
investigating more pro-
test cases, allegations of
disparate treatment, and
an allegation against a
captain or above. That’s
usually where we see a
bump.”
While only 10 per-
cent of the complaints
from community mem-
bers were ultimately
sustained, or deemed
in violation of bureau
policy, nearly half of the
complaints from within
the bureau were. Jones
said this was likely due
in part to bureau per-
sonnel’s greater famil-
iarity with policy and
procedure. In total, 39
officers were disciplined
for misconduct in 2018.
Twenty were referred
for command counsel-
ing, six received letters
of reprimand, nine were
subject to a maximum
of 40 hours without pay,
and one was terminated.
Three resigned or re-
tired while under inves-
tigation.
Election
The IPR maintains an
interactive database of
police misconduct alle-
gations, as well as infor-
mation about officer-in-
volved shootings and
in-custody deaths, which
can be found here:
https://www.portlan-
doregon.gov/ipr/76848
The information is up-
dated quarterly.
cont’d from pg 1
The following is a list of races and candidates
Portland voters will decide on this month. The
Skanner has not yet published endorsements.
Multnomah Education Service District
(MESD)
Director, Position 6, At Large
Kristin Cornuelle
Shira Newman
Director, Position 5, Zone 1
Denyse Peterson
Director, Position 7, Zone 3
Katrina Doughty
Portland Community College (PCC)
PPS
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decision to run. Clarke currently
oversees the Pan-African Com-
mons Student Center at Portland
State, which encourages student
retention. The child of Jamaican
immigrants, Clarke attended Port-
land Public Schools but dropped
out, eventually obtaining a GED
and later a bachelor’s degree in hu-
man services and a master of arts
in higher education leadership.
She said she was able to return to
school due to help from her sup-
port network, but her background
makes her especially sensitive to
the needs of students on the prec-
ipice of dropping out.
“I’m really interested in being
that person that I didn’t have in
high school,” Clarke said.
Clarke is interested in reten-
tion, in addressing disparities in
outcomes and in expanding wrap-
around services like the Schools
Uniting Neighborhoods program,
which connects families with
housing, food and employment
“
I’m really inter-
ested in being
that person that
I didn’t have in
high school
assistance. She’s interested in hir-
ing more para-professionals to
help students stay on track, and
in expanding restorative justice
programs that focus on holding
students accountable for harm,
rather than focusing on punish-
ments that are disproportionately
used on students of color and push
them into the school-to-prison
pipeline.
DePass’ platform is focused on
making sure PPS’ budget aligns
with its equity goals. She also
noted that her experience at the
Housing Bureau, and previously
working with the Home Builders
Association to develop a green
building program means she has
experience overseeing construc-
tion projects and monitoring the
budget for public works programs.
DePass is a graduate of Emerge
Oregon — the local field office of an
10-year-old nationwide program
to train Democratic women to run
for office — and Clarke is going
through training with the organi-
zation now.
“When I look at the Zone 2
race, this is success,” said Jillian
Schoene, executive director of
Emerge, a political advocacy group
funded by donations. “This is ex-
actly what we’ve been looking for
to make our elected bodies more
reflective of the communities they
serve. I’m excited.”
The Zone 2 race is one of just a
few races this spring, and one of
the three other PPS races up for
re-election this spring – Zone 1 – is
uncontested. PPS’ Zone 2 includes
the Jefferson High School cluster
in Northeast Portland and a sec-
tion of inner southeast Portland.
Director, Zone 2
Tiffani L Penson
Leonardo S Kendall
Director, Zone 3
Michael Sonnleitner
Jason H Young
Portland School District (PPS) (MAP)
Director, Zone 1
Zone 1 High School: Wilson
Current: Julie Esparza Brown
Candidates: Andrew J Scott
Director, Zone 2
Zone 2 High Schools: Jefferson, Cleveland
Current: Paul Anthony
Candidates: Michelle A DePass, Shanice Brittany
Clarke
Director, Zone 3
Zone 3 High Schools: Lincoln
Current: Amy Kohnstamm
Candidates: Wes Soderback, Deb Mayer, Amy
Kohnstamm (Incumbent)
Director, Zone 7
Current: Mike Rosen
Candidates: Robert Schultz, Eilidh Lowery
Current School Board Members: https://www.
pps.net/Page/1788
