This Week in the Mercury
Friday, September 9, 2011
Cops Police Bureau Fires Road Raging Scott Westerman
Posted by Alex Zielinski on Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 11:29 AM
The Portland Police Bureau has officially fired Sergent Scott Westerman, the former president of the Portland police union who verbally assaulted a Smart car driver twice in January 2010. According to PPB Chief Michael Reese, Westerman was in violation of a heap of Bureau regulations, including truthfulness, courtesy, and professional conduct.
"I have determined that Sergeant Westerman did violate the above directives and that termination of his employment is the appropriate level of discipline," writes Reese in a press release. He also added that Mayor Sam Adam was included in this decision.
Following the pair of road rage incidents coupled with heavy news coverage, Westerman announced his resignation from the Police Association union in June of last year. However, he remained with the Police Bureau on the telephone reporting unit. His termination will conclude 19 consecutive years of service at the PPB.
Kudos to the Portland police for taking the clearly necessary move of firing Westerman. They could have just let him live out his days in the telephone unit, rather than taking a public stand against his disrespectful behavior. Compared to many cases where police officers in similar cases of violation are simply reassigned to a different department with a slap on the wrist, this smart move makes it seem that Reese isn't always afraid to lay down the law among law enforcers.
Most Commented on Blogtown, PDX
-
Slate: What's the Matter with Portland? by Dirk VanderHart
-
KATU Poll Brings Bad News for Fluoridation Campaign by Denis C. Theriault
-
My Least Favorite Piece of Misogyny This Week: Girl Friendship Edition by Barbara Holm
-
PTERODACTYL MONSTER ALERT by Erik Henriksen
-
Unsurprising: Kerns Neighbors Might Fight a New Apartment Building by Dirk VanderHart
-
Fuck Pacific Rim, Now It's All About Atlantic Rim by Erik Henriksen
-
Professor Blastoff Live at Mississippi Studios by Alison Hallett
-
Obama Has "No Apologies" for Spying on Reporters by Dominic Holden
-
Help a PDX Hiphop Lover Out by Ned Lannamann
-
Good Morning, News! by Denis C. Theriault
Our Friends
- UrbanHonking
- Culture Shock
- Portland Roundball Society
- Steph Cassano
- Cort and Fatboy
- Street Roots
- Powell's Books Blog
- Portland Transport
- Portland Afoot
- Bike Portland
- Eater: PDX
- Portland Food and Drink
- Mr. Movie
- Sunday Softball
- BlueOregon
- Sightline Institute
- Ultra: Arts Portland
- Bitch Magazine
- Blazer's Edge
- Reading Local: Portland
- Portland Food Carts
- Stumptown Vegans
Our Enemies
RSSGoing to Seattle?
