September 25, 2019 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
45,000 community cor-
rections professionals
nationally.
She currently sits on
the organization’s exec-
utive committee of past
presidents.
Preuitt sat down with
The Skanner to talk about
her role overseeing the
600-person department,
and to discuss how she
When I was a PO, we didn’t
have the tools we do today to
do this work, and to be able
to understand our history
gives me a really clear vi-
sion for our future
believes the role of PO
has changed for the bet-
ter over the course of her
career.
This interview has
been edited for space and
clarity.
The Skanner News:
As a former parole and
probation officer, what
insight do you bring to
your new position?
Erika Preuitt: One of
the things that I think
is really important to
note is that we stand on
the foundation that we
believe that people can
change their behavior.
And I think the unique
perspective I bring from
coming to the depart-
ment starting as a parole
and probation officer
working with justice-in-
volved women and gang
members, is really un-
derstanding the power
of stating that we believe
people can change, be-
cause I’ve seen people be
able to change their be-
havior.
The unique perspective
I bring is not only wit-
nessing people changing
their behavior, but really
understanding the prac-
tices we engage in, and
how they’ve evolved over
literally the last 26 years.
When I was a PO, we
didn’t have the tools we
Climate
havior, and look at those
ways they can turn their
behavior to be more pos-
itive?
I look at it from the
perspective that we are
about public safety, but
our public safety impact
really is a long-term im-
pact.
Because when we help a
person change their life,
and help them to restore
their family, we help our
communities grow stron-
ger. So it’s really a multi-
plying effect.
TSN: How have the
tools for POs changed
since you began your ca-
reer?
EP: When I was a pa-
role and probation offi-
cer, we did not have the
evidence-based practices
that we have right now.
And so as I was coming
through our organiza-
tion and through my ca-
reer, I’ve been able to see
our profession shift and
change.
I came in as a PO, and I
was given a file cabinet of
probably about 100 cas-
es, and I was given some
training on de-escala-
tion, and I had a really
experienced field train-
ing officer.
Read more at
TheSkanner.com
Patton Square Park Playground Reopens
On Sept. 14, Patton Square Park friends and neighbors hosted a grand reopening party for the park’s playground at N. Interstate and N.
Emerson. The Friends of Patton Square Park and the Overlook Neighborhood Association rallied supporters and fundraising. Together
with dedicated Parks System Development Charges (SDC) funds as a match, together they were able to expand the play area with new
play pieces, as well as add an interactive, natural landscape feature to allow more seating and nature play opportunities.
DA
cont’d from pg 1
for district attorney candidates
that they intend to use as a sort of
measuring stick for future candi-
dates and, when they’re elected,
future DAs. Among its demands:
stop targeting Black, brown and
indigenous communities; decline
to prosecute individuals with
mental health issues; and commit
to ending mass incarceration.
“That is part of a national move-
ment to change the role of what
the district attorney should be,”
Madeline Carroll, an organizer
with the group, told The Skanner.
For the last several decades, she
said, prosecutors’ performance
has been measured with metrics
like the number of convictions
they achieve – rather than reduc-
tion in crime, a reduction in the
number of incarcerated people
or an increased sense in safety
among community members.
One of the groups under its
umbrella, Pacific Northwest Fam-
ily Circle, was founded in 2017
by Irene Kalonji, the mother of
Christopher Kalonji, who was
killed by Clackamas County dep-
uties in January 2016, to support
families who have lost loved ones
to police violence. Searching for
solutions to police violence, they
realized that some of the entities
that could hold police account-
able – such as police unions or
police chiefs – are largely out
of citizens’ hands. But as elected
officials, DAs answer directly to
voters.
“We learned before Shaun
“
The coalition also intends
to hold DAs accountable once
they’re elected – and to raise
awareness of DA races, which
tend to be lower-profile elections.
In Oregon, they coincide with
May primary elections, when
turnout is usually far lower than
in November general elections.
That is part of a national movement
to change the role of what the district
attorney should be
King, before the ACLU started
their They Report to You cam-
paign that district attorneys were
not being held accountable for
their actions. Certainly our fam-
ilies have learned that again and
again,” said Maria Cahill, an or-
ganizer with Pacific Northwest
Family Circle.
Inspired in part by elections in
other parts of the country – like
the election of Larry Krasner in
Philadelphia in May 2017 – Pacif-
ic Northwest Family Circle began
talking to an anti-racist group
called Showing Up for Racial Jus-
tice – about how to replicate those
successes in Oregon.
Often, candidates for prosecutor
run unopposed, and many start
as appointees, stepping into the
role after a predecessor leaves of-
fice, then running as incumbents
when the election rolls around.
Alternatively, a district attor-
ney will announce impending
retirement a short period before
the filing deadline for the next
election, creating a glide path for
whichever candidate the retiring
prosecutor has shoulder-tapped
to run — and a short campaign
season should a contender step
up, Cahill explained.
Read more at TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
Earth’s snow and ice, called the cryo-
sphere, are also being eroded.
“The world’s oceans and cryosphere
have been taking the heat for climate
change for decades. The consequences
for nature and humanity are sweep-
ing and severe,” said Ko Barrett, vice
chair of the IPCC and a deputy assistant
administrator for research at the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration.
The report found:
• Seas are now rising at one-seventh
of an inch (3.66 millimeters) a year,
which is 2.5 times faster than the rate
from 1900 to 1990.
• The world’s oceans have already lost
1% to 3% of the oxygen in their upper
levels since 1970 and will lose more as
warming continues.
• From 2006 to 2015, the ice melting
from Greenland, Antarctica and the
world’s mountain glaciers has accel-
erated. They are now losing 720 bil-
lion tons (653 billion metric tons) of
ice a year.
“
The consequences
for nature and hu-
manity are sweep-
ing and severe
• Arctic June snow cover has shrunk
more than half since 1967, down near-
ly 1 million square miles (2.5 million
square kilometers).
• Arctic sea ice in September, the annu-
al low point, is down almost 13% per
decade since 1979. This year’s low,
reported Monday, tied for the sec-
ond-lowest on record.
• Marine animals are likely to de-
crease 15%, and catches by fisheries in
general are expected to decline 21% to
24%, by the end of century because of
climate change.
“Climate change is already irrevers-
ible,” French climate scientist Valérie
Masson-Delmotte, a report lead author,
said at a news conference in Mona-
co, where the document was released.
“Due to the heat uptake in the ocean, we
can’t go back.”
But many of the worst-case projec-
tions in the report can still be avoided,
depending on how the world handles
the emissions of heat-trapping gases,
the report’s authors said.
The IPCC increased its projected
end-of-century sea level rise in the
worst-case scenario by nearly 4 inches
(10 centimeters) from its 2013 projec-
AP PHOTO/TOM COPELAND
“
do today to do this work,
and to be able to under-
stand our history gives
me a really clear vision
for our future.
And that future really
is about, how do we con-
tinue to connect with
youth and adults that are
on our caseload, to help
those to be able to take a
critical look at their be-
PHOTO COURTESY OF PORTLAND PARKS & RECREATION
Preuitt
In this Friday, Sept. 6, 2019 file photo, storm surge
from Hurricane Dorian blocks Cedar Island off from
the mainland on NC 12 in Atlantic Beach, N.C., after
Hurricane Dorian passed the coast.
tions because of the increased recent
melting of ice sheets in Greenland and
Antarctica.
Read more at TheSkanner.com