UPDATE: OCTOBER 16: Several other news outlets took up this story. Here’s the Oregonian’s take on it. Meanwhile, here’s a great report by KGW. And a spectacularly inaccurate account by KOIN 6—apparently there’s a video to go with it, but their website is about as friendly as a terrorist attack to my computer, so I lost hope.

ORIGINAL POST, OCTOBER 15: Today’s coordinated volley of four legal claims against the Portland Police Bureau is aimed squarely at improving the bureau’s internal affairs investigations, and the city’s so-called Independent Police Review.

The message behind the claims is that if the police bureau does not start doing a better job of policing itself, then civil rights attorneys are only too happy to start hitting the city for $30,000 here, and $50,000 there, every time its officers act with impunity and as if they are above being held to account for their actions. There’s both a first and fourth amendment theme running through all four suits, making them all the more emotive for any casual observer.

In the long run it would both be cheaper for the City, and better for the community’s trust in the Police Bureau, if the city invested in a more thorough police review process.

“This is a case of police taking the easiest route in the middle of the night, and it’s time to take a stand against the excessive force in these cases,” said Benjamin Haile of Haile Greenwald, which has filed all four of the suits (working in conjunction with another attorney, J.Ashlee Albies on one)—referring to the example of Greg Benton’s case.

“The right to engage in free speech without government targeting, discriminatory treatment or arrest is a fundamental bedrock of democracy and the suits seek to ensure the protection of our basic constitutional right to free speech,” said Leah Greenwald.ATTORNEYS: Benjamin Haile (left) and Leah Greenwald (front, right) of Haile Greenwald, with J.Ashlee Albies (second row, right), who is co-counsel on the Benton case…

“The Northwest Constitutional Rights Center is supporting these actions because we feel it’s the only viable recourse that people in Portland have when they feel their constitutional rights have been violated by the police,” says Alejandro Queral of the NWCRC. “The Independent Police Review is not doing its job. It does not have the trust of the community, and it still is not conducting impartial investigations.”

“Until the Independent Police Review stops having its investigations conducted by cops,” concludes Queral, “the public will not have faith in it.”

And the lawsuits will just keep coming…