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Tuesday, February 16, 2010
News / Cops Sizer on Campbell Shooting: People/Press "Coalesce Around Tragedy." Mayor Will Be "More Visible."
Posted by Matt Davis on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 12:34 PM
Police Chief Rosie Sizer was joined at a pre-Jesse Jackson press conference at 11:00 this morning by Mayor Sam Adams. The chief set the tone for the presser by telling journalists she thinks the community occasionally expects "perfect outcomes" from every police interaction. "What I cannot promise is perfect outcomes," she said. "I can promise that we will strive to do our work in the framework of law and policy."
- SIZER AND ADAMS: JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE THIS MORNING, AS POLICE COMMISSIONER DAN SALTZMAN LOOKED ON
Sizer said she welcomed the arrival of Reverend Jesse Jackson this afternoon. "I hope he can bring healing to the family and community," she said. "I'm not sure if he's an expert on use of force issues."
The chief stood next to a pair of charts showing that citizen complaints against the bureau are down 48% since 2004, while officer involved shooting shootings are down 54% in the last six years compared to the previous six years. "There doesn't seem to be a high tolerance out there for what I would call the wonkish process of developing training," she said. "People coalesce around tragedy, and the press tends to coalesce around tragedy too. It isn't necessarily always there to show some of the successes."
I asked Sizer about her own testimony last year against Officer Ron Frashour in the Waterhouse Federal Court Case which the bureau lost. If even she thinks he's trigger happy, what is to prevent the community from thinking that her policies and procedures are inadequate to bring "renegade officers" under control?
"I didn't call anybody trigger happy," said the chief. "We collect data on our people and we examine that data, and supervisors have access to that data, as part of the bureau's early warning system. I'm not sure what you mean by renegade officers. On the issue of the Waterhouse case particularly, there was an internal affairs investigation. I found two members out of policy, one for failing to give a warning on, and using a beanbag round, the other, and that was Officer Frashour, for failing to issue a warning before Tasering the suspect. And I testified in court, we ultimately lost the lawsuit, for I think a judgment of $50,000."
Officer Frashour is "expected back to work tomorrow," said Sizer. He has been reassigned to the Neighborhood Response Team.
Mayor Adams said he stands behind Chief Sizer, in response to a question about City Commissioner Randy Leonard's blog post this morning, appearing to call for her resignation. He said "people have asked to be more visible on these issues, and I will," as Police Commissioner Saltzman looked on. The Mayor and Saltzman will meet privately with Reverend Jackson and members of the Albina Ministerial Alliance at 4 o'clock.
More after the jump.
"This is an incredibly important learning opportunity for the entire city to learn what it is like in Portland if you happen to be African American," he said. "On average, African American Portlanders are on one third of the median income. When something like this happens, that race is viewed by some as being a factor, that response comes from a place of being part of a community in Portland that has always struggled more than others. I want us to be the place of the most equal opportunity. And that is our challenge and problem."
Adams also brought up mental health, referencing Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler's speech at city club last Friday. "Cuts at the state and county have been devastating," he said, referencing the "millions of dollars" in city money going toward subsidizing mental health services. "But with the totality of the situation, we have not been keeping up," he said.
Sizer also put pressure on the mayor and city council to fund the Police Bureau better. She opened her speech by thanking Portland Police Officers "for the work they do every day," then did a little rhetorical jiu-jitsiu, asking city council to re-commit to funding a new regional training center for the police bureau, since community concerns about police training had been aired in light of the Campbell shooting. Money was earmarked by former mayor Tom Potter in his 2008 budget, but got sucked away in last year's budget hole. "We don't have the funds for that," said Mayor Sam Adams, later.
1
Can you promise not to shoot unarmed people in the back?
"Officer Frashour is "expected back to work tomorrow," said Sizer. He has been reassigned to the Neighborhood Response Team."
Oh good....
2
3
Just 2 weeks ago Sam was justifying why he did not take control of the PPB on KGW:
http://www.kgw.com/video/featured-videos/Straight-Talk-Mayor-Sam-Adams-83762712.html
5
1.I asked the mayor what could give the community confidence that the city would be able to negotiate a tougher new contract with the police union, following the union's aggressive posturing late last year over the suspension of Officer Christopher Humphreys. The mayor said he didn't want to "give people false hope" about the city's ability to negotiate a new contract with the police union, adding that arbitrators in union contracts tend to side with against the city as often as not.
2.Adams said he "reached out" to Jackson because he has a national perspective on these issues.
6
I bet there are a thousand able young people like him who would be interested in Frashour's job. Not to mentioned the throngs of unemployed African American men and women here in Portland.
Pity. Frashour's job has a PPB union chastity belt around it.
7
At this juncture, I would urge Mayor Adams to remove Dan Saltzman as the Police Commissioner. As the elected leader of our City, Portlanders are reliant on the Mayor to remove a Bureau from an unprepared commissioner and in this case to restore confidence in the management of the Police Bureau.
Once that occurs, Portland must take a huge step back and reconsider many aspects of our Police Bureau, from the recruitment and testing process to ongoing training, internal communication and accountability in use of force cases.
While it may make headlines, the knee-jerk responses by Commissioner Saltzman will not help save lives or improve the Police Bureau's standing in the community. It is disheartening that a citizens’ grand jury has a better understanding of the problems facing the Police Bureau as a whole and individual officers on the beat than does the Police Commissioner.
We must work to prevent future deaths and expand the tactical crisis training of officers so they are better equipped to deal with the difficulties they may face. In an environment of budget cuts, we can choose to pay for requisite training or we can continue to pay for lawsuits.
Actions should be taken immediately. We don’t need to wait until June to address the deficiencies in training to handle tactical crisis situations and lack of a $100 million regional training facility should not be used as an excuse.
11
You certainly took a fact and managed to turn it into a massively racist point. Good for you, when will you offer to pay to ship the "colored" back to Africa.
17
Excuse me, I have to go to the mall and buy some jeans of blue.
Excuse me, I have to go to the mall and buy some jeans of blue.
20
Re: Question of Reverend Jesse Jackson's expertise on use of force.
Oh, please. Before you and your mutiply-fined bunch of violence-loving killers bankrupt this city, anger our citizens to incite, and kill our kids, get a clue. That "both ways" rhetoric is the stuff of disaster, not discretionary leadership.
You don't want the powers that be on these issues to land in this city, cause if someone has to explain to you just how expert Rev Jackson is about excessive use of force, it's gonna involve feds raking through your files and taking testimony from here to Washington. And then there is the fallout of the financial.
You think that the big contracts from the sustainable countries and businesses are going to come to a city that is so toxic to civil rights the police chief thinks she can feign with such impunity? That's fertile ground for business with pimps and gun dealers, not progressive growth industries.
Bye Bye business plans.
CC: Mayor Sam Adams on use of force.
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