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| Seattle PD |
The feds rode
into Portland at the behest of concerned community members who were
ignited by the police shooting of Aaron Campbell and a well documented
history of friction between the minority community and Portland Police.
The catalyst for the federal investigation was based on the continuing
community drum beat about lack of criminal charges brought against police in this case
and the general lack of accountability by the locals over a much longer
time period.
Continuing
claims of disparate enforcement tactics of whites versus minorities are an exact replica of the Department of
Justice model used in the just completed Seattle investigation. Expect a cookie cutter
investigation but even heavier DOJ demands to be placed on Portland City
Hall than the settlement in
Seattle.
Look for the DOJ findings from the Portland inquiry and what are rarely and in this case will be barely negotiable demands before the end of October.
A) The appointment of a "strongman" (my word) monitor who will oversee implementation of the department from within. This monitor will need to have the power to:
- Overrule those within the police department who do not want change.
- Identify which members are friends to reform.
- Recognize the community as an equal partner in developing new procedures
This will have a strong racial disparity component.Look for an Office of Inspector or Inspector General to be created in SPD. Look for it to be "civilian."B. Require the Mayor to create a community police commission with a "broad scope of work" and thus far reaching authority. They need to be ready to take it to the ground.Look for a "Police Review Commission" much like Portland's except look for it to have much more specific powers. A Police Commissioner is in the works. This one might go the ballot for a structural change the City of Seattle charter.C. All parties must acknowledge that the racial issue is not a person by person problem but one of people of color being treated differently than whites for the same act. If that scenario exists then there is a systemic problem within SPD.
When Portland's report is issued look for a hard hitting report with many
of these same requirements--not recommendations-- imposed by the USDOJ. I
think the point-by-point fixes will be even more onerous than in
Seattle and will prompt a huge debate within the community.
The Political Effect:
I can tell you if the DOJ report is issued before the ballot come out for Mayor, the race may turn on this issue and how well Hales and Smith are prepared to address the recommendations. They need to prepare their responses now and take a general position even before the report is issued and adjust accordingly.
Bernie Giusto is the former Multnomah County Sheriff, former Gresham Police Chief and is a former OSP Trooper. He appears on The Victoria Taft Show every Friday at 11 for "Week's End With Bernie" where he tackles your questions and opines on law enforcement issues throughout the country and their impact locally.
Bernie, thanks for the essay. Well done.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion, for what it is worth, is that the USDOJ evaluations have their value when local government activities need (request) assistance or when third-party input (imposed oversight) is required to get them squared away. I have not had much of a quarrel with that over my many years of watching.
But it sure sticks in my craw that local desires, local concerns, and needs for particular USDoJ enforcement/targeting/policy-making activities, seem to get little or no reciprocal response from DoJ.
Yes, there are task forces here and there, and the offenses du jour get their assigned Federal agents sometimes. But what have you seen done by the US Government to the DoJ itself that compares with what they impose upon localities? What is the DoJ response to halt, for example, our region's ILWU port closures and act even administratively against ILWU malcontent terrorists who closed the ports? How about they slam dunk the animal rights and environmental terror gorups that cost Oregon citizens and businesses millions? And, most important, what is the DoJ official reaction to Congressional oversight of DoJ itself (Fast and Furious)?
It leaves me wondering who they think they are.
The iron fisted orders of DoJ would get my respect and admiration if I was of the opinion that USDoJ was a trustworthy and no-nonsense criminal justice and national security enterprise. I do not hold that view at this time, because I see a greater tendency these days for DoJ's lawyer-administrators to please political interests than to perform bona fide criminal justice operations and local oversight.
When the report is published I will have to wonder what parts of it are derived from real problems and what parts are based on how Obama/Holder think the world ought to operate. I will probably be uninspired. And the PPB and Portland's citizens will be stuck with the irreversible and decades-long effect of the findings.
Hi Bernie,
ReplyDeleteI suspect you might be right, I hope not. The language contained on race is troubling. Local "community" spokespeople have long complained of disparity in enforement with no real standard other than they consider arests beyond their representation within the communty as per se racially based. Ten years ago another of these opus evaluations on the State of Oregon's justice system determined that it was racially biased as well...based upon that theory. You would think that such a system would be riddled with easily identifiable judges, DAs, defense attorneys, and cops that are racist. Somehow we seem to be unable to ferret them out. Why?
This is yet another chapter in Portland's war of reality. There is a very good reason why black males are "overrepresented" in the prison population, because they commit more, and more violent crimes than their representation within the community. According to the CDC, homicide rates for black males is 5 times that of whites, three times that of hispanics, and those figures are similar here in Portland. The leading cause of death for black males is another black male with 94% of the suspect's in those cases being black. Despite the media's best efforts to not mention the race of shooting victim's and suspects, no one should be surprised that the overwhelming majority of them are black males. However, the myth of "disaparate" treatment is so entrenched and no one in a position of leadership will say otherwise.
You can see the "equity" model at work her. Over the last 8 years, the Portland Police Bureau had kept track of the racial identities of people they stop. "Community" outrage was sparked by the fact that blacks were 1.5 times more likely to be stopped than whites. Ip so facto, racism. If all things were equal, that might be true, but since young black males in this town are 6 times more likely than their representation in the community to commit gun crimes, any sane person would expect the police to have more contact with those more likely to commit the most serious violence and a community that cared would want the people who victimize thenm stopped as well. But this is Portland.
Punishment should be based on behavior not race. The converse is the "equity" model as seen above where somehow past transgressions of others should mitigate your behavior, no matter how heinous, anti social, or self destructive it is. All you have to do is look through the "equity" lense. Not so long ago, the conventional wisdom on those crime levels spoke of poverty and a lack of opportunity being major contributing factors, but now it's easier to claim disaprate treatment based upon perceptions that the system is biased than do the hard work of fixing the moral and social decay that is the underlying cause of these issues. Every social metric for that community you care to use like out of wedlock births, school drop out rates, domestic violence et al shows a steep decline....sorry, "racist" cops are not the problem...though the politcally popular one.
Disparate treatment is two people being stopped for DUII and the white guy gets let go while the black man is arrested. With such "injustice" prevalent in Oregon, there should be dozens of cases of innocent minorites in the prison system. Where are they? Considering only 25% of convicted felons actually go to prison in Oregon, only the most serious and violent offenders are housed.
Now I have been a sheriff's deputy and police officer in Multnomah County for the 26 years, so I may not be the most objective person on this matter, but the facts speak for themselves...of course, that's if they're spoken.
No matter what model the DOJ decides to impose, any solution based upon "perception" rather than reality wil fail....to the detriment of all of us.
Only 26 years? Sheesh.
DeleteTake care, Mike, and all the best.
Yeah, trust the Feds to know nothing about the demands of local law enforcement. The men and women of the PPB do a great job, always have, always will. Lets worry about federal law enforcement agencies.
ReplyDeleteJames Chasse?
Delete