Portland, USDOJ agreement includes more oversight of police
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The city of Portland has reached a proposed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice on police reforms in the wake of an investigation that found officers too frequently use excessive force against the mentally ill.
The deal announced Friday afternoon by Mayor Sam Adams, Police Chief Mike Reese and U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall includes more oversight of the police bureau as well as additional training and revisions to its policy on the use of stun guns.
"When I took over as police commissioner, I said I would aggressively pursue changes. These are the changes that will make Portland a better place," Adams said via Twitter and Facebook.
The City Council will hear public comment on the settlement at its meeting Thursday. Once the council approves it, the agreement must be signed by a federal judge and filed in U.S. District Court, The Oregonian newspaper reported.
The Justice Department opened its investigation last year to examine whether Portland police engaged in a "pattern or practice" of excessive force when dealing with the mentally ill. Agency officials concluded in September that such a pattern exists, and began negotiating with city leaders on reforms.
The city has agreed to hire a compliance officer to ensure the agreement is followed and form a Community Oversight Advisory Board. The board, which will be chaired by the compliance officer, will include 15 voting members and five advisory panelists.
The Justice Department investigation listed several examples in which officers used stun guns without justification against people in a mental health crisis. The police bureau's updated policy limits the use of stun guns on people suffering from mental illness and prohibits their use on handcuffed suspects.
It encourages officers to attempt to handcuff suspects rather than subject them to repeated "cycles" from Tasers, referred to as electronic control weapons in the settlement agreement.
"After one standard ECW cycle (5 seconds) the officer shall reevaluate the situation to determine if subsequent cycles are necessary," the agreement states, "including waiting for a reasonable amount of time to allow the subject to comply with the warning."
In other reforms, the city must:
- Create a crisis intervention team, comprised of patrol officers with specialized training, to be dispatched when a mental health issue is the main reason for the call.
- Expand its mobile crisis units from one car citywide to one car per precinct. The cars will be staffed with an officer and a civilian mental health worker.
- Ensure that investigations of officer misconduct are completed within 180 days.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
Wow a corrupt police department with oversight from a corrupt government agency, isnt this just the blind leading the stupid?
Now, the DOJ might want to look inward to itself since it seems to have difficulty with it's own policies. Re: "Fast and Furious" and punishment of whistleblowers (http://www.rgj.com/article/20121011/NEWS/310110073/ATF-critic-Fast-Furious-Reno-U-S-Attorney-rift-cases-fired).
Now: Â "When I took over as police commissioner, I said I would aggressively pursue changes. These are the changes that will make Portland a better place..."Â
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Previously: Â "I lied."
sammy always looks like he has no idea of whats going on.
 @LostSoul ~  I think he always looks like he just took a big bite out of a sour lemon... does he ever smile..?   I don't think I've ever seen a picture of him when he looks like he's happy with anything or anyone...Â
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If his job makes him that unhappy, maybe he should find another line of work...(which probably wouldn't be a bad idea anyway)...
@margay1 "Â I don't think I've ever seen a picture of him when he looks like he's happy with anything or anyone..."
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That's because he is unhappy with himself.
@I812 .....and he's trying so hard to make people happy and like him he'll do anything. That seems to be a liberal mind set..........if I can just give other people things, they'll love me !
Adams has made Portland the worse city in oregon.
"When I took over as police commissioner, I said I would aggressively pursue changes. These are the changes that will make Portland a better place," Adams said via Twitter and Facebook." Â Â (from the story)
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Seems to me that if Sam Adams had actually pursued positive changes in the way the PPB was run, etc - AND if those changes had had any positive effect on the interaction between the police and the citizens - the Federal DOJ wouldn't have gotten involved in it at all. Â Â
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Tell me something, Portlanders... If you have a rainstorm up there, and then the sun comes out, does Adams take credit for the rainbow? Â Â But I guess he's not all that different than any other politician... if something good happens, they're right there, taking all the credit...if it goes sour, though, they just vanish right through the walls..!
It's sad. Most of the settlement is the rules they had before, there is no teeth what so ever in this settlement. Â Nothing to motivate change other than a warning. Â Sure this is a public spectacle which will look bad for the upper echelon but the offenders (patrol officers) don't care and have zero reason to change. Â There needs to be several examples made, it would be best to see all the officers noted in the federal report get fired. Â This is the type of leadership people expect, it's the least that can be done for those in authority misusing their power.
Sam is just planning for his retirement, when he will be crossing paths with the police force, and claiming that he is the victim of mental illness and abuse from the police department.Â
 @washcomom Sammy needs to make use of all those bicycle lanes. Maybe not being in the office all day will benefit him.
Drug test all police once a month and every time a weapon is used. I know for a fact it will help eliminate most of the bad ones.
@sugarfree1 ....you know that for "a fact"??? Wow. Prove your "fact" is not just opinion.
 @sugarfree1 - Please tell me you are not part of that lunatic fringe group that call themselves the East County Cop Watch because that is their mantra?
 @boned  Please tell me your not a cop ?
 @herman 29 1/2 years and I am a product of society and not a fan of the current criminal justice system at all...
 @boned  @sugarfree1 Why not? Drivers are forced to submit to testing if a officer suspects them of driving under the influence. Why is it so much to ask that our own officer are clean too? After all their gun is taken away as a matter of police. Why not add a drug test too?
 @Jamie  @boned  @sugarfree1 Jamie, blood draws are taken in case of injury, or death - that is not a 'DUI' which is only a Misdemeanor. If the bad guy injures, or kills someone then it becomes a felony and blood draws are usually done at the hospital. When you say "blow initially" where does that happen?  What I was talking about is a simple DUI and no one can 'make' you do any tests - I did suggest blowing in an OSP Certified machine at the jail. Oh, and just because folks want to have all officers submit to 'pee tests' for no justifiable reason would be like asking all citizens to submit to a test for the heck-of-it. Clackamas County SO deputies recently agreed to random tests, but that is not PPB.
 @boned  @sugarfree1 You have to submit to the breathalyser or they haul you & your car away. You really think a drunk is going to say no to an officer and just drive away? In some states police have the right to take blood samples on the side of the road.
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BTW, refusing to blow initially will get your license suspended for some period of time.
 @Jamie  @sugarfree1 Not sure what you are saying. Anytime an officer is involved in an injury crash there is a blood draw and duty weapons are only taken for inspection in case of a fatal shooting. DUI drivers are not "forced" to take any tests of any kind - it is up to the individual and me personally, I would submit to no tests and blow in the machine at the jail...
Isn't it a little ironic for Eric Holder's USDOJ to be investigating local stun gun abuses when they intentionally let real guns fall into the hands of murderous foreign drug criminals?Â
Nothing in this edict addresses the low moral of the PPB line troops unless Chief Reese goes and thank GOD Sammie is gone. Two things happen when police/departments adopt the policies PPB has - Apathy, and Who Cares. We became a product of societies wishes and conduct on the streets...
"When I took over as police commissioner, I said I would aggressively pursue changes. These are the changes that will make Portland a better place," Adams said via Twitter and Facebook.
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Yeah, right, Sammie. That is why it took the Federal Department of Justice to come in and tell you to clean up your little shop of horrors. Of course since it is government there will be no accountability, no dismissals, no nothing. Once again the taxpayers keep paying the tab for malfeasance, mismanagement, incompetence, and poor performance.
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And why does Adams always look like he has a foul taste in his mouth? It is the taxpayers that are being fed a bunch of crap.
 @I812 Oh he pursued changes all right, like covering up a high profile political sex crime (besides his own) for his own political gains by making sure that the corrupt and politicized PPB lied and covered-up the "investigation" not once, but TWICE. Evil, evil little bastard.
Man from all that I have heard, it is sounding like Portland needs some serious help.
I doubt much will change for day to day operations.
Doesn't this mean that the jack a s s behind the police chief, as head of the police bureau, mismanaged this too !!
Does this mean the police state will violate less citizens rights... not likely.