From the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center:

EVENT: Community Forum to Share Experiences on Portland Police Oversight System — Thurs, Dec. 6

Community Forum to Share Experiences on Portland Police Oversight System

Have you ever filed a complaint about police misconduct with Portland’s Independent Police Review division? Did you feel the process and outcome were fair and just, or did you feel they were unfair or partial to the police?

Come to a community forum to take part in an assessment of Portland’s “civilian police review board.”

What: Community Forum - Share your individual experiences with the Independent Police Review division and the Citizen Review Committee with Ms. Eileen Luna-Firebaugh, the expert reviewing the program.

Where: St. Francis Church - Dining Hall (SE 11th Ave. and Pine St.)

When: Thursday, December 6th. 7:00 P.M. to 9 P.M.

Who: Anyone who has filed complaints with IPR - regardless of the outcome. We want to hear your stories.

Format: Each speaker will have approximately 2 - 4 minutes to tell their experience; additional time may be added for questions at the discretion of the evaluator.

Regardless of your experience with IPR, you are invited to share those experiences with Eileen Luna-Firebaugh, the expert hired by the city to conduct an independent evaluation of the IPR and its Citizen Review Committee.

Ms. Luna-Firebaugh is a law professor at the University of Arizona who has a long history working with citizen-based police oversight agencies and evaluating them. She currently is conducting a six- month evaluation of the IPR. The results will be presented to City Council in January 2008. The format will be that each person has 2-4 minutes to share their experiences with the review board (depending on turnout), with a brief description of your interaction with police and a more detailed talk about what happened when you filed your complaint with IPR.

This may be your only opportunity to share your comments on the IPR and CRC with her. We encourage you to come and participate. Together we can work to improve Portland’s system of police oversight.

Sponsored by: Portland Copwatch, Northwest Constitutional Rights Center, and League of Women Voters of Portland.

For more information contact:
Portland Copwatch (503) 236-3065
Northwest Constitutional Rights Center (503) 295-6400