WHAT:     Support for City Council members as they vote on whether to appeal Ronald Frashour’s rehire

WHEN:     Thursday, Oct. 4, 2 p.m.

WHERE:  City Council Chambers, 1221 SW 4th, 2nd floor

Message from Dan Handelman, Portland Copwatch:

The Albina Ministerial Alliance (AMA) Coalition for Justice and Police Reform is putting out a call to action for community members to come to City Council Chambers (1221 SW 4th, 2nd floor) on Thursday, October 4 at 2 PM to support the Council’s proposed vote appealing the recent Employment Relations Board ruling to rehire Officer Ron Frashour.

In the long efforts to bring justice to Aaron Campbell, who was shot by Officer Frashour in the back nearly three years ago, and to create a just system that allows our elected officials to fire an officer for a wrongful shooting and keep them fired, it is important for the community to let Council hear our voices. It certainly would be unfortunate if the only people voicing their opinion to Council were the Portland Police Association and their supporters.

For those interested in staying after the 2 PM agenda item, the Council will be considering the tentative extension of Dr. David Corey‘s contract as the police psychologist.

In a separate email, the AMA Coalition also announced its monthly meeting (5 PM) and a Forum on the Department of Justice Report (6 PM) also taking place on the same day (Thursday).

Dan Handelman
Portland Copwatch (a project of Peace and Justice Works)
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065 (office)

By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian, September 25, 2012

Protesters in downtown Portland Sept. 25.

About 30 community members gathered outside Portland City Hall on Tuesday to condemn a state board’s ruling that orders the city to reinstate fired police Officer Ron Frashour.

Attorney Tom Steenson, representing the family of Aaron Campbell — the unarmed man Frashour fatally shot in the back in 2010 — read a statement by Campbell’s mother, Marva Davis, who is out of town.

READ – Statement from Marva Davis (PDF download -  590KB)

“The community doesn’t need people like you on the police force who act and then think later,” Davis wrote in prepared comments. “You are a liability… Putting you back on the streets is a big mistake.”

Davis and her husband, John Davis, thanked Mayor Sam Adams for continuing to fight Frashour’s reinstatement.

“I thank Mayor Adams and the community for drawing the line and taking a stand for what is morally right,” Marva Davis’ statement said.

She criticized Frashour for not showing remorse to her family.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams on Monday said he’ll urge the City Council to appeal the state Employment Relations Board ruling that ordered the city to bring back Frashour within 30 days, with back pay, benefits and 9 percent interest.

In a decision released Monday, the board unanimously ruled that the city violated the Public Collective Bargaining Act by refusing to follow an arbitrator’s award in March that ordered Frashour be returned to his job.

The board did not issue the city a civil penalty, but said the city must post a public notice in the Police Bureau and other city offices that states the city in a “calculated” action violated state law.

On Jan. 29, 2010, Frashour shot Campbell in the back with an AR-15 rifle, after Campbell had been struck with multiple beanbag-shotgun rounds shortly after emerging from a Northeast Portland apartment. Frashour said he thought Campbell was reaching for a gun.

Outside City Hall Tuesday, John Davis, Campbell’s stepdad, said, “I’m not against policing at all. I’m just against unjust policing.”

Aaron Campbell’s mother, Marva Davis

Steenson called the Portland police oversight system broken — “at the top with police leadership and at the bottom, with police and the union.”

The mayor and Police Chief Mike Reese fired Frashour on Nov. 8, 2010. But on March 30, Arbitrator Jane Wilkinson ordered the city to reinstate Frashour, saying a reasonable officer could have concluded that Campbell “made motions that appeared to look like he was reaching for a gun.”

Portland police training instructors testified before the arbitrator that Frashour acted as trained – contrary to testimony from Chief Mike Reese that Frashour violated the bureau’s use of force policy and training.

Steenson said either the trainers are lying about the training, and/or the police leadership knew exactly what the training is and ignored it, “or they’re so incompetent and didn’t know what the trainers were doing.”

Steenson called on the city to remove sergeants from the same union as the rank-and-file officers they supervise. He also called for strong police leadership.

“Repeatedly what you find is a police chief unwilling to take the police union on,” Steenson said.

In April. Campbell’s family, joined by members of the Albina Ministerial Alliance, had demonstrated outside City Hall to protest the arbitrator’s ruling.

The mayor refused to follow the arbitrator’s ruling – a first involving an officer terminated for use of force. The police union filed an Unfair Labor Practices complaint on Frashour’s behalf.

Attorney Tom Steenson reads Marva Davis’ prepared statement.

The arbitrator in the Frashour case, the state board noted, concluded there was an “objectively reasonable basis” for Frashour to believe that Campbell posed an “immediate risk of serious injury or death to others.” The arbitrator found the city did not prove Frashour violated the police bureau’s use of force policies.

The Albina Minsterial Alliance, made up of 125 Portland-area churches, argued in a legal brief submitted to the board that Oregon’s Employment Relations Board needs to consider “the rights of people in communities affected by excessive police use of force.”

The alliance’s position, which mimicked the city’s argument against reinstating Frashour, said it represents “the interests of communities disproportionately impacted by police use of force in the City of Portland,” including African American communities, people with mental health disabilities and other minority groups.

The Rev. Lynne Smouse Lopez, pastor of Ainsworth United Church of Christ, vowed that the Albina Ministerial Alliance will continue to fight Frashour’s ordered return to the police force.

“He was and is a danger to the community,” Lopez said, outside City Hall Tuesday. “We will not stop!”

Adams Monday pledged to make the Frashour discipline a “test case,” frustrated by repeated arbitration rulings that have overturned the city’s discipline of police. He said he’ll urge the City Council to hold a hearing within 30 days to vote whether to challenge the board’s ruling to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Portland Officer Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, earlier Tuesday blasted the mayor, saying his defiance of the order to reinstate Frashour reflects a “personal vendetta.”

“Mayor Adams has turned this into a personal vendetta and is using the hard-earned dollars of tax-paying Portlanders as his personal checkbook to extend this politically motivated witch hunt at the expense of the integrity of a process that protects the very core of collective bargaining,” Turner said. “He’s showing the questionable integrity that he’s had all during his tenure.”

Disturbed by Turner’s harsh remarks, Commissioner Randy Leonard on Tuesday decided to throw his support behind the mayor’s court challenge of the state board’s order on Frashour.

Leonard wrote a response to Turner’s statements: “Really, Mr Turner? How do you characterize the integrity of your members’ actions that led to a complete breakdown of all the training the Portland Police Bureau provides officers to avoid tragedies such as the indefensible killing of Aaron Campbell? And I don’t mean just the lack of integrity by the officer that pulled the trigger that killed Mr. Campbell.”

Leonard said he doesn’t expect the court challenge to be successful, however.

“No, I don’t think we have a great chance of winning…but we do have a chance,” Leonard wrote on his blog. “Consequently, I will support Mayor Adams’ request to appeal the Employment Relations Board decision to the Oregon Court of Appeals. ”

PPA Press Release on Employment Relations Boards Decisions

By Daryl Turner, PPAVigil.org, September 25, 2012

PPA President Daryl Turner

Integrity is essential to the believability of information produced during an investigation. The Employment Relations Board ruling in the Officer [Ronald] Frashour case asserts that during their investigation they have reviewed and researched all the information provided to them by both parties. After a thorough investigation that spanned over several months and thousands of pages documents the ERB has ruled that the City of Portland is in violation of ORS243.672(1)(g). Further the ERB has ordered the City to “cease and desist from violating ORS 243.672(1)(g)“ and to reinstate Ronald Frashour as a Portland Police Officer within 30 days.

The ERB is the sixth independent body that has ruled that Officer Ron Frashour committed no misconduct, violation of laws, civil rights violations, or violations of training and policies of the Portland Police Bureau. Yet Mayor [Sam] Adams snubs his nose at all of them including the U.S. Department of Justice, whom he praised so highly just last week for their findings in regards to their investigation into the patterns of the use of force by the Portland Police Bureau.

Mayor Sam Adams

Mayor Adams has turned this into a personal vendetta using the hard earned dollars of taxpaying Portlanders as his personal check book to extend this politically motivated witch hunt at the expense of the integrity of a process that protects the very core of collective bargaining.

Throughout this process Mayor Adams has desperately tried to tip the scales of this ill-fated investigation in order to justify his actions and statements made before the evidence and the facts of the Aaron Campbell incident had been presented before a grand jury. We knew how Mayor Adams felt when he marched through the streets of Portland rather than waiting to gather facts. Six independent bodies have reviewed the facts. All six have exonerated Officer Frashour of any misconduct. Mayor Adams stands alone, unsupported by facts. It’s time for him to end this mess, and provide the community with closure.

WATCH – Press Conference with Daryl Turner

Press Conference Statement Regarding Reinstatement of Officer Ron Frashour

By Daryl Turner, PPA Rap Sheet, September 24, 2012

Today, in a unanimous opinion, the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB) determined that the City violated State law by refusing to put Officer Ron Frashour back to work. The ERB is the sixth independent body to clear Officer Frashour of misconduct. A Multnomah County Grand Jury; the Oregon Employment Department; the United States Department of Justice; Oregon’s Department of Public Safety Standards and Training; a nationally recognized arbitrator hand-selected by the City; and now the ERB have all said the same thing—Officer Frashour acted reasonably and lawfully.

The ERB’s order is compelling given that its three members—one from a management-side labor law background, one neutral, and one from a union background—unanimously agreed that State collective bargaining law requires the City to honor the final and binding arbitration award that ordered Officer Frashour back to work. The ERB’s reasoning is clear:  Officer Frashour engaged in no misconduct and his reinstatement would not violate public policy.

From the beginning, the Portland Police Association has supported Officer Frashour because he followed the training and policies of the Portland Police Bureau on the night of January 29, 2010. The unnecessary battle that the City undertook should now be over. The City has spent over $750,000 of taxpayer funds to keep Officer Frashour fired. That sum is unacceptable in a time where local governments are struggling to provide core services to their communities. That sum is also shocking given that, in the words of the ERB, the City’s actions were “calculated” and in clear disregard of well-established State law.

Now is the time to move forward and provide closure to this incident. For nearly three years, Officer Frashour, Mr. [Aaron] Campbell’s family, and the community have endured the politicizing of a tragedy. No good has come of it. The City asserted that transparency, accountability, and integrity of the process compelled it to seek review of the arbitration award; the ERB has now affirmed that the arbitration award satisfied each of those concepts. The time has come for the City to honor its legal obligations and return Officer Frashour to work.

Aaron Campbell

The president of the Portland police union blasted Mayor Sam Adams Tuesday morning, saying Adams’ defiance of an order to reinstate officer Ron Frashour reflects “a personal vendetta.”"He’s showing the questionable integrity that he’s had all during his tenure,” said Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner. “We’re obviously upset about it but more than upset, we’re disillusioned with the fact that he’s our police commissioner.

Turner said Adams should heed the findings of the employment relations board which yesterday ordered the city to follow an arbitrator’s ruling and to reinstate Frashour within 30 days, with back pay, benefits and 9 percent interest.

Frashour was fired after he fatally shot an unarmed man in January 2010. Frashour has said he believed the man, Aaron Campbell, was reaching for a gun.

Turner said the employment relations board’s decision follows independent reviews that concluded Frashour’s actions were justified and followed proper police procedures and training.

“Mayor Adams has turned this into a personal vendetta and is using the hard-earned dollars of tax-paying Portlanders as his personal checkbook to extend this politically motivated witch hunt at the expense of the integrity of a process that protects the very core of collective bargaining,” Turner said. “Mayor Adams stands alone unsupported by the facts and it’s time for him to end this mess and provide the community with closure,” Turner said.

The union president said he plans to speak with the other city commissioners to urge them to vote against an appeal of the ruling, adding that Frashour is ready to return to work.

---

UPDATED: State Board Orders Mayor Adams to Reinstate Ron Frashour

By Denis C. Theriault, Portland Mercury, September 24, 2012

The Oregon Employment Relations Board, in a perfunctory ruling reached on Friday, has told the city of Portland and Mayor Sam Adams to reinstate Ron Frashour, the officer fired for fatally shooting Aaron Campbell in the back in 2010. The board decided that putting Frashour back to work, with back pay, wouldn’t amount to a “public policy violation,” something the city tried to argue using an obscure state collective bargaining law.

The board’s decision—the latest turn in a case that generated enormous community outrage and helped lead to a damning federal report on how Portland cops treat the mentally ill—may mark the end of a monthslong effort by Adams to do anything in his power to keep Frashour from working as Portland cop. Adams has a press conference planned at 3 to respond. To keep fighting, via a court challenge, he’ll now need two other city commissioners to join him.

Frashour was fired later in fall 2010 for the Campbell shooting and for a history of other questionable judgment calls involving the use of force. But an arbitrator this spring ruled Frashour’s decision to shoot the distraught and suicidal Campbell—tragically ending a welfare check gone chaotically awry amid a breakdown in police communication and a dubious use of a beanbag gun—was reasonable because Frashour said he believed Campbell was reaching for a gun. When Adams balked at reinstating Frashour, the Portland Police Association filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the ERB.

UPDATE 3:25 PM: Adams, at a short press conference where shared the lectern with City Attorney James Van Dyke, said he expected the ERB’s decision and promised he would hold a public hearing in the next 30 days (before Frashour would return to work) and ask his fellow commissioners to back sending the matter to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

“That’s what were fighting for here: our ability to manage our own police bureau on behalf of Portlanders who have their own set of values and have the right to have a police force that reflects that,” said a clearly emotional Adams, lamenting that “labor unions and their connected institutions” have a greater say on discipline and values than “the city council, the police commissioner, the police chief.”

“It is frustrating to have so much of what should be our local control taken away from us with these arcane or misused state labor laws,” he also said.

Update 5:05 PM: I’ve just finished buzzing the four city commissioner offices, and it’s looking like the mayor will have his work cut out for him convincing his colleagues that a court challenge makes sense.

I’ve previously reported that Randy Leonard disagreed with the initial decision to send Frashour’s reinstatement to the ERB. Leonard, who worked on the law the mayor is citing when he served in Salem, says he doesn’t know “that you can convince the Court of Appeals that first an arbitrator and then the ERB disregarded collective bargaining laws.” He’ll never be convinced “it’s a good idea,” but if it’s a close decision for him—he worries an adverse court might “embolden bad behavior”—he’ll support the mayor.

“He’s the police commissioner,” said Leonard, a close Adams ally and a former union leader himself.

Nick Fish maybe comes closest to distilling what’s in play for the rest of the council. He says he wants a full briefing from the city attorney’s office and that he needs to see the city has a “plausible legal strategy” for a challenge and that “we’re not just kicking the can down the road” if the courts say no.

Dan Saltzman said he hadn’t read the ruling yet and didn’t have any comment, other than to say he wasn’t surprised. Amanda Fritz was out of the office; I’ve sent her a message asking for comment.  Later she said couldn’t comment because she hadn’t read the ruling.

Original post resumes here:The panel looked closely at the arbitrator’s ruling clearing Frashour, seizing on a key distinction raised the Portland Police Association: Not only was Frashour punished too severely, the arbritrator found, but more importantly there also wasn’t any misconduct to punish.”There is no need for any further analysis by this Board once the arbitrator determines that the greivant did not engage in misconduct,” the ruling said. “The arbitration award must be implemented.”

The decision wasn’t unexpected. As the Mercury first reported this spring, legal observers who helped write the law Portland tried to use to keep Frashour from the police force were convinced the city was on shaky ground.

UPDATE CONTINUED: A Portland court challenge challenge would follow other—losing—court fights that came after ERB reinstated other public employees. Van Dyke explained that the city wants to challenge ERB’s basic approach to this kind of case—complaining that it shouldn’t stop at the question of whether an arbitrator did or didn’t misconduct because arbitrators sometimes get that finding wrong. As an example, the city cited its attempt nearly 20 years ago to punish Officer Douglas Erickson in a deadly force case, a case held up as one of the reasons a “public policy” exemption was added to collective bargaining laws.

Adams said he’s been keeping his fellow commissioners apprised of the case but didn’t way whether he had any commitments. The PPA’s president, Daryl Turner, has also been making the rounds, as I reported in Hall Monitor earlier this year.

“I want them to have the time over the next couple of weeks to sit down on their own with our outside counsel and the city attorney and learn all the details on the matter and make a decision,” Adams said. “I don’t speak on their behalf.”

Adams also took the chance to hit back at the PPA for telling a “very selective and distorted story about the investigation into the use of force by officer Frashour,” referring to leaked transcripts from the arbitration hearing that forced the city attorney’s office to write a stern letter to the PPA’s attorney. Turner, in describing the confidential transcripts in the PPA’s newsletter this summer, argued they revealed Frashour’s firing was politically motivated. The city has bristled at that but declined to release, citing the ongoing legal fight, the full set of transcripts to rebut that. Instead the city has promised a review by the auditor’s office.

“We’ve used restraint,” Adams said.

Adams also batted away complaints over the cost of the legal fight to keep Frashour off the police force: approaching, if not already surpassing, $1 million. He defended it as an “investment” in our values.

“It is totally worth it, and Portlanders expect us to do this.”

Meanwhile, over the PPA’s newsletter, Turner has posted a statement of his own.

Today, in a unanimous opinion, the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB) determined that the City violated State law by refusing to put Officer Ron Frashour back to work. The ERB is the sixth independent body to clear Officer Frashour of misconduct. A Multnomah County Grand Jury; the Oregon Employment Department; the United States Department of Justice; Oregon’s Department of Public Safety Standards and Training; a nationally recognized arbitrator hand-selected by the City; and now the ERB have all said the same thing—Officer Frashour acted reasonably and lawfully.

The ERB’s order is compelling given that its three members—one from a management-side labor law background, one neutral, and one from a union background—unanimously agreed that State collective bargaining law requires the City to honor the final and binding arbitration award that ordered Officer Frashour back to work. The ERB’s reasoning is clear: Officer Frashour engaged in no misconduct and his reinstatement would not violate public policy.

From the beginning, the Portland Police Association has supported Officer Frashour because he followed the training and policies of the Portland Police Bureau on the night of January 29, 2010. The unnecessary battle that the City undertook should now be over. The City has spent over $750,000 of taxpayer funds to keep Officer Frashour fired. That sum is unacceptable in a time where local governments are struggling to provide core services to their communities. That sum is also shocking given that, in the words of the ERB, the City’s actions were “calculated” and in clear disregard of well-established State law.

Now is the time to move forward and provide closure to this incident. For nearly three years, Officer Frashour, Mr. Campbell’s family, and the community have endured the politicizing of a tragedy. No good has come of it. The City asserted that transparency, accountability, and integrity of the process compelled it to seek review of the arbitration award; the ERB has now affirmed that the arbitration award satisfied each of those concepts. The time has come for the City to honor its legal obligations and return Officer Frashour to work.

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From PortlandOnline.com, September 24, 2012

Dear Portlander:

Aaron Campbell rally.

In April, I told you that I believe that Officer Ron Frashour violated our policy and training protocols regarding allowed use of deadly force in the case of Aaron Campbell. I further explained that in our City Attorney’s opinion, we had sufficient legal grounds to challenge the reinstatement of Officer Frashour. I did not implement the Arbitrator’s decision then, (and the Portland Police Association challenged my actions) taking the case back to the Employment Relations Board (ERB).

ERB just came back with its decision, which is to enforce the arbitration award and reinstate Officer Frashour.

This is no surprise to me. There is no precedent for a case like this. As noted on page 18 of the ERB ruling, case such as this has never been tested in court and it has never been adequately challenged.

Aaron Campbell

I will recommend to my fellow commissioners to appeal this decision and take it to a court of law. It is time we test what we believe to be true: that the City Council and Police Commissioner, along with the Chief of Police should be the ones who set the code of conduct and discipline for our Police Bureau, not unions or its connected institutions.

To reiterate what I said April 12, 2012: As Police Commissioner, I have deep respect for the often dangerous and difficult work of the men and women of the Portland Police Bureau. I have been quick to praise the Bureau’s great work, even in

the face of criticism. I have backed that praise with tangible support: I prevented deeper budget cuts than those faced by other City Bureaus, implemented new legal enforcement tools to keep illegal guns off our streets and approved a new training facility.

As Police Commissioner, I am also responsible for holding accountable those who fail to follow Bureau policies; one such policy is Portland’s procedures for the acceptable use of deadly force. Our standards for the allowed use of deadly force are more restrictive than national standards and the local standards of other police departments. Our policy and training requires Portland Police Officers to use restraint when we receive a call to check on a person’s well being, as was the case with Aaron Campbell. I believe Frashour violated our policy and training protocols regarding allowed use of deadly force.

I promised in April that I will take this case as far as I can: it’s that important. I will consult with my council colleagues and I hope that they will feel as strongly as I do that we need to take this case to a court of law to get the hearing that it deserves.

Onward,

Sam Adams,
Portland Mayor

Portland Police Chief Mike Reese, standing off to the side at the news conference.

READ – Statement of Findings of the DOJ investigation of the Portland Police Bureau, September 2012
READ – Statement of Intent between Portland Police Bureau and Department of Justice, September 2012

WATCH – Department of Justice Use of Force News Conference, September 13, 2012

Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez Speaks at the City of Portland, Ore., Press Conference

September 13, 2012

READ – this speech on the DOJ web site.

Good morning. It is wonderful to be back here in Portland. I am honored to join Mayor Adams, Chief Reese, and my colleague U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall to report on the results of our investigation of the Portland Police Bureau, and to discuss the road ahead. Today is an important and exciting day for the people of Portland, and for the dedicated men and women of the Portland Police Bureau.

I would like to thank Mayor Adams and Chief Reese for their cooperation throughout this investigation. When we announced our investigation, Chief Reese observed that this is a “unique opportunity to be at the forefront of best practices.” You correctly noted that Portland is not the only city that is addressing the difficult issue of providing police services to people with mental illness. Mayor, you noted at our announcement that you were “humbled in the knowledge that we don’t have it all figured out.” Both the Mayor and the Chief expressed an understandable and well-founded pride in your police department, and pledged their complete cooperation. They delivered on that pledge, were consistently responsive to our document requests, maintained an open door and open file policy throughout our site visits, and have been very receptive to our feedback. I would also like to thank the officers of the Portland Police Bureau for their cooperation and feedback. Our job is to make your job safer and more rewarding. Finally, we are very grateful to the community. We held a town hall meeting, conducted scores of interviews, and listened and learned from so many community members. Your perspective was and continues to be critical, and we will continue to seek out your views.

As a result of the cooperation we received throughout the investigation, we made remarkable progress in record time. As U.S. Attorney Marshall pointed out, we have completed our review; we have diagnosed the problem; identified its root causes; and have reached a preliminary agreement with the city of Portland and PPB, which will remedy the problems and enhance both officer and public safety, while allowing PPB to be at the forefront of best practices.

As U.S. Attorney Marshall outlined, for more than a year, the Justice Department has been conducting an in-depth investigation of PPB’s use of force, with a particular focus on its interactions with people with mental illness or in mental health crisis. Our review was prompted in large part by the high number of officer involved shootings of people with mental illness. The investigation was driven by a single goal: to ensure that Portland is served by an effective, accountable police bureau that controls crime, respects the Constitution, and earns the trust of the public it protects.

Our investigation was exhaustive and was conducted by department attorneys, investigators and subject matter experts, including police practices experts and a psychiatrist who specializes in working with law enforcement to develop models for effective interaction with people with mental illness. We conducted a thorough review of use of force by PPB officers, which included reviewing thousands of pages of documents, and conducting extensive outreach to the community, through hundreds of interviews with community members, mental health service providers, city officials, PPB officers, supervisors and command staff. We looked at a range of police interactions, including encounters with people who have mental illness or were perceived to have mental illness. Let me focus on the problem we identified. Based on our review, we have concluded that, while most uses of force were lawful, there is reasonable cause to believe that PPB is engaged in a pattern or practice of using excessive force against people with mental illness, or those perceived to have mental illness. We found that encounters between PPB officers and persons living with mental illness too frequently result in a use of force, or in a higher level of force than necessary. We further found that, when dealing with people with mental illness, PPB officers use electronic control weapons, or tasers, in circumstances where the use of tasers was not justified, or deploy them more times than necessary. Finally, in situations where PPB officers arrest people with mental illness for low level offenses, we found that there is a pattern or practice of using more force than necessary in these circumstances.

It is important to reiterate that the challenges we identified here are not unique to Portland. Police work has transformed dramatically in recent years. One Portland officer described how years ago, encounters with people who have mental illness were few and far between. Today, it is a daily occurrence for most officers, and often occurs more than once per day. Communities across the United States are wrestling with how to deliver police services to people with mental illness. We have seen and are working on these issues in other communities and believe that the work we do here in Portland will serve as an important guidepost for communities facing similar challenges.

Let me next turn to root causes. We conclude that deficiencies in policy, training and supervision contribute to the problems we identified. These underlying deficiencies have existed for many years, and precede the tenure of Mayor Adams and Chief Reese. While they did not create the problems, they own the problems, and they have accepted ownership of both the problems and the solutions. They wasted no time in beginning the reform process. A number of critical reforms are already in place. When we presented our findings to them, we immediately pivoted to brainstorming and problem solving, even though they did not agree with everything we found.

As a result, we have reached a preliminary agreement with the city and PPB about the path forward. We have developed a blueprint for sustainable change that will enhance public safety and officer safety, ensure constitutional policing, and enhance public confidence in PPB. The blueprint, which we are in the process of memorializing into a binding, court enforceable agreement, will require PPB to do the following:

• Develop state of the art policies and protocols for interacting with people who have mental illness or are perceived to have mental illness;
• Dramatically expand its capacity to provide services to people with mental illness by expanding its mobile crisis unit, establish a mental health desk at the Bureau of Emergency Services so that 911 calls are properly funneled to the appropriate response team, and assist in leading efforts to increase community mental health treatment options, such as 24 hour walk-in centers and other facilities that expand options for police officers seeking to assist a person who is experiencing a mental health crisis;
• Revamp and expand training related to crisis intervention and use of force;
• Enhance usage of its early warning system to better identify officers whose actions may require review;
• Ensure that effective supervisory and accountability systems are in place to review use of force; and
• Create a mechanism for ensuring that community stakeholders and front-line officers have a meaningful opportunity to weigh in on critical reforms.

Before we finalize any agreement, we want to go back to the community and hear from them again, and hear from other key stakeholders, including police officers. To all who have weighed in during this process, I recognize that this is your agreement; this is your department; this is your community, and we want to ensure that your voice is heard.

I am very excited about our blueprint, and look forward to hearing feedback from key stakeholders in the days ahead. Our goal is to complete our work in the next month.

I am acutely mindful of the fact that this agreement alone will not solve the problem in its entirety. Our findings take place against the backdrop of a statewide mental health infrastructure that has a number of key deficiencies. The absence of a comprehensive, community-based mental health infrastructure means that front line officers confronting a person experiencing a mental health crisis frequently have only two options: take the person to jail or the emergency room. In communities across the country, the largest mental health facility is the jail. That isn’t right. People in mental health crisis are sick, and generally don’t belong in jail. The largest mental health facility in a state or county shouldn’t be the jail. Officers must have additional options, and people in crisis must have additional options. We have worked successfully with other states, such as Delaware, to build a comprehensive community based mental health infrastructure. As the United States Attorney mentioned, we are working here in Oregon with state officials in a constructive, collaborative fashion on the development and implementation of a holistic, community based mental health infrastructure that, when implemented, will enhance both officer and public safety.

Our formal findings in this case are focused on PPB’s interactions with people who have mental illness. While the bulk of our investigation focused on this area, it was not limited to this area. A number of additional concerns were brought to our attention. While we did not make any formal findings regarding these additional concerns, it is impossible to ignore the tensions that exist between PPB and certain communities of color in Portland. Last year, Mayor Adams noted that one reason he welcomed our presence was his hope that this would lead to improved relations between PPB and Portland’s communities of color. We heard consistent and serious concerns from across the city that members this community, particularly the African American community, believe that they are subjected to bias stops and force based on their race. Although these tensions predate Chief Reese’s tenure, they persist to this day.

Our agreement with the city will begin to address these important issues in two ways. First, the new policies, procedures, training and accountability surrounding force will help ensure that unnecessary and unreasonable force is eliminated. Second, a community body will be created to monitor the agreement, collect feedback from the community and provide recommendations to PPB and the department. The mechanism for community engagement and input that we are creating as part of this resolution will not be limited to mental health issues. Rather, it is deliberately designed to create an opportunity for dialogue and action between PPB and communities of color.

Considerable work lies ahead. Change is not easy. Change requires time, persistence, partnership, a sound plan, resources, effective leadership and sustained community engagement. All the ingredients are here in Portland. We have made great progress. I am very confident that we will achieve Chief Reese’s goal of placing PPB at the forefront of best practices. Portland is a great community, and when these improvements are fully in place, it will be an even greater community.

The Department of Justice Reviews The Portland Police Bureau

September 13, 2012

When the Department of Justice announced a federal investigation into our officers’ use of force last year, I said that I welcomed the inquiry and noted that we had even asked for a best practices evaluation. What I said then holds true today: “We are humble in the knowledge that we don’t have it all figured out.”

In its year-long investigation, the Department of Justice has committed to rooting out the issues this City and its Police Bureau face, especially in dealing with a growing population facing mental health crises. I am grateful for the expertise brought to bear in its evaluation.

Sam Adams,
Portland Mayor

The Oregonian, September 14, 2012

Mayor Sam Adams’ Statement 9/13/12

Dear Portlander,

Two years ago, community leaders, Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman and I asked the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to review the Portland Police Bureau for bias, regardless of whether or not it is intentional, unconscious or institutional. Anything.

During this federal investigation, we opened our books, our doors and our minds.

Yesterday, I received a 42-page letter detailing the findings of their 14-month investigation.

It includes a critique of our financially-starved community-based mental health system. It states, “Our findings take place against a backdrop of a mental health infrastructure that has a number of key deficiencies…” with, “…insufficient options for adequate community based mental health services.”

Given our anemic community-based mental health system, I appreciate that the findings note that the already tough job of our police officers has gotten even tougher, with situations that “…often shifts to law enforcement agencies the burden of being first responders to individuals in mental health crisis.”

In my last budget, this local mental health system crisis was a key reason I did not cut sworn police or firefighter positions. My thanks to the hardworking officers of the Portland Police Bureau for working in a tough situation.

I am pleased that the findings state that, “…most uses of force we reviewed were constitutional…” that “…many of the systemic deficiencies discussed in this letter originated prior to the current PPB administration, which has been aggressive in pursuing reform.” I agree, we have a great improvement-minded Chief of Police in Mike Reese.

But the findings are blunt in its assessment that we get a failing grade dealing with the growing number of Portlanders who face serious mental illness and addiction. We occasionally use, “…unnecessary or unreasonable force during interactions with people who have or are perceived to have mental illness.”

Without defensiveness or finger pointing, we all need to absorb the seriousness of this critique and the urgent need for change. We all need to take our portion of the responsibility to improve the situation.

We will improve and we will begin to do it quickly.

Some needed changes are already underway. Like our new Police Training Center and Citizen Advisory Council. Like the diverse classes of new police recruits, drug testing and officer evaluations. I have agreed in concept to others changes in the letter of agreement:

1 Use of Force: The City is committed to revise its use of force policies to ensure that officers have necessary guidance when encountering someone with mental illness or perceived to have mental illness. In particular, the City will enhance its policy guidance on the use of Electronic Control Weapons (ECW) and techniques to de-escalate encounters arising from non-criminally related well-being checks and arrests for low level offenses.

The Chief’s initiative to ensure that supervisors respond to the scene of uses of force will be continued and there will be meaningful use of force reviews through the chain of command. Training curricula will be reviewed and adjusted where appropriate to reflect the requirements of the agreement.

2 Crisis Intervention: PPB will continue to provide crisis intervention training to all officers. In addition, it will expand its Mobile Crisis Unit to ensure availability at all times and enhance non-law enforcement capacity to respond to persons in crisis that do not pose a public safety threat. Each Mobile Crisis Unit team will consist of one specially trained officer and one specially trained mental health worker from a local social services agency.

The City agrees to establish a mental health desk at Bureau of Emergency Communications (911) staffed by trained dispatchers to ensure that calls are properly dispatched. BOEC will also direct suicide prevention/mental health calls to the County Crisis Call Center or Lines for Life when on-site PPB response is not appropriate.

The City also agrees to lead efforts to increase community mental health treatment options, such as through the establishment of a 24 hour secure drop-off and walk-in center that will provide police officers more options when assisting persons experiencing a mental health crisis.

3 Early Intervention System: The City has a robust Early Intervention System (EIS) that can track officer specific information as well as unit level and trend data. The City will utilize the system to identify individual officers, supervisors, and units for non-punitive corrective action, and to assess gaps in policy, training, supervision and accountability.

4 Misconduct Investigation: Investigations of allegations of officer misconduct are effective and fair to the officer, complainant and community only if they can be completed in a timely manner. The City agrees to take necessary steps to expedite the investigations of those complaints while preserving the thoroughness and quality of investigations and community participation.

5 Community Engagement and Outreach: Community participation in the oversight of this agreement will be important to its success. A community body will be adopted to assess on an ongoing basis the implementation of this agreement, make recommendations to the parties on additional actions, and advise the Chief and Mayor on strategies to improve community relations. The body will also provide the community with information on the agreement, its implementation and receive comments and concerns. Membership will be representative of the many and diverse communities in Portland, including persons with mental illness, mental health providers, faith communities, minority, ethnic, and other community organizations, and student or youth organizations.

These reforms and new resources will propel the Portland Police Bureau further down the path as it becomes the best local peacekeeping agency in the nation.

I welcome your thoughts and ideas.

Thank you,

Sam Adams – Portland Mayor

Feds: Portland Police Bureau has pattern of excessive force

From KGW.com, September 13, 2012

A U.S. Department of Justice investigation concluded that the Portland Police Bureau engages in “a pattern and practice of excessive use of force,” specifically when dealing with the mentally ill, U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall announced Thursday.

The investigation found such use of force violates the U.S. Constitution. Still, she said, the problems revealed in the probe are not unique to Portland and the vast majority of PPB’s use of force falls within constitutional limits.

The investigation was launched in June, 2011 to examine the use of deadly force against all citizens, with a specific look at the mentally ill.

The PPB had a “high number of officer-involved shootings, especially those involving people with mental illness,” Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez explained at a press conference Thursday.

The findings revealed that too often Tasers and other uses of force were used when they were not necessary, Perez said.

He said training deficiencies within the department helped lead to the civil rights issues, and department has wasted no time in beginning the process of improving.

The investigation followed several controversial police shootings, including the death of Aaron Campbell. The January 2010 incident sparked protests and one officer was fired for his use of deadly force.

Another high-profile case was the death of James Chasse, who died in PPB custody after an encounter with police in Old Town in September 2006. Officers said Chasse appeared to be urinating outdoors and when he tried to get away they tackled him. His autopsy revealed that Chasse suffered 26 rib fractures and a punctured lung.

Investigators said they would look for systemic problems within the PPB and would also meet with community leaders outside of the bureau.

A press conference was scheduled for 10:30 a.m.

Mental health expert: PPB report good 1st step

From KGW.com, September 13, 2012

A federal investigation has concluded the Portland Police Bureau has a pattern of excessive use of force, and a mental health advocate told KGW the findings should be seen as a positive step.

But he said the agreement between the Dept. of Justice and the bureau lacks the teeth to effect significant change.

Chris O’Connor is a local attorney and board member of the Mental Health Association of Portland.

He agrees with the conclusion that there is a lack of infrastructure to deal with people suffering from mental issues. But he does not agree that the suggested policy changes laid out Thursday–like expanding the city’s mobile crisis team–will reduce excessive use of force cases involving the mentally ill.

“At the end of the day, there’s still no power in the hands of civilians,” O’Connor said, “to remove dangerous officers or discipline in a meaningful way, those who are violating their own policies,”

O’Conner believes local governments need to redirect resources to provide mental health services up front, instead of arresting and incarcerating people suffering from them.

Report: Portland police using excessive force against mentally ill

From KOIN Local 6, September 13, 2012

Portland police officers use excessive force against people with mental illnesses, a U.S. Department of Justice report has found.

The Justice Department presented its findings in a press conference Thursday in downtown Portland. The investigation, which began in June of 2011, determined that the “Portland Police Bureau (PPB) has engaged in an unconstitutional pattern or practice of excessive force against people with mental illness,” according to a press release.

The joint investigation by the Civil Rights Division Special Litigation Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon focused heavily on the police response to mental health situations. There was “reasonable cause to believe that PPB engages in a pattern or practice of excessive force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, in certain contexts,” the department said.

Specifically, the report found that officers are often utilizing Tasers for situations that do not justify their use, and furthermore, that they frequently Taser someone more times than necessary. It also found that officers will often use excessive force for what it termed “low level offenses.”

At Thursday’s press conference, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas Perez said that over the last three years, Portland police have used deadly force 12 times, 10 of which involved people with mental health issues. Perez cited longstanding training practices as the root cause of the problem.

“These underlying deficiencies have existed for many years, and precede the tenure of Mayor Adams and Chief Reese,” Perez said. “While they have not created the problem, they own the problem, and they have indeed accepted ownership of both the problems and the solutions that lie ahead.”

The Justice Department stated that the 42-page report was presented to Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Portland Police Chief Mike Reese, who were in attendance at Thursday’s press conference. A preliminary agreement has since been reached to make changes to PPB officer training, practices and supervision, the Justice Department said.

Perez disclosed that Portland police cooperated fully with the over one-year long investigation, maintaining what he called an “open door policy.”

In response to the report, Adams issued a statement that read, in part:

“The findings are blunt in its assessment that we get a failing grade dealing with the growing number of Portlanders who face serious mental illness and addiction… Without defensiveness or finger pointing, we all need to absorb the seriousness of this critique and the urgent need for change.”

The mayor laid out a series of changes that will be implemented, including setting up a mental health desk at the Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC) and expanding its Mobile Crisis Unit, which handles mental health calls.

Q&A: DOJ Critical Of Portland Police Over Use Of Force

From OPB News, September 13, 2012

LISTEN – OPB News Q&A on police and civil rights, September 13, 2012

The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday that the Portland Police Bureau has “engaged in a pattern and practice of excessive force against people with mental illness.”

OPB’s Kristian Foden-Vencil has been covering this issue and joins us in the studio now. Hello.

Kristian: Hi, Beth

Beth: This sounds pretty serious. Can you give us a little background?

Kristian: Absolutely. Last year, Mayor Sam Adams, Commissioner Dan Saltzman and many others called for a civil rights investigation into the police.

It came after a series high profile cases, like the shooting of Aaron Campbell, who was distraught over the death of his brother; and the death of James Chasse, who was mentally ill and died after being forcibly arrested.

So, the Department of Justice has now finished that investigation and delivered this report.

Beth: Apart from the finding that police use unreasonable force against people with mental illness, what else was in the report?

Kristian: Well it’s extensive and it found officers used stun guns when they weren’t justified – or stunned suspects repeatedly without reasonable cause.

One example in the report, involved a man who was screaming in his apartment. Police got a key and found him naked on the floor shouting for help. When he saw them, he leapt-up and ran towards them. But an officer immediately fired his stun gun. The man fell to the ground and when he attempted to get up, he was stunned three more times. Anyway, it turned out he was diabetic and experiencing a medical emergency.

So the report has several of those kinds of examples and it concludes that the police bureau acted unconstitutionally.

But I want to make it clear that the Justice Department did not to point to problems with individual officers. Instead, the Department found that there are key deficiencies in the mental health infrastructure which leave police as the line of last resort when dealing with the mentally ill. Here’s Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas Perez.

Thomas Perez: “The challenges we identified in Portland, are not unique to Portland. Police work has transformed dramatically in recent years. I remember vividly a Portland police officers who described how, years ago, encounters with people who have mental illness were few and far between. Today that person pointed out, it is a daily occurrence.”

Beth: How have the police bureau and Mayor Sam Adams reacted?

Kristian: Well, the mayor said there’s a need for change and that the police bureau has already begun that change. He was also pleased the report highlighted the problems in Oregon’s mental health system.

Sam Adams: “Without defensiveness or finger pointing, we all need to absorb the seriousness of this critic and urgent need for change. We all need to take our portion of the responsibility to change the situation.”

Kristian: The chief of police, Mike Reese, took the report hard. He was sombre, but stressed that his agency has already entered into a preliminary agreement with the Department of Justice to rectify the situation.

He told me afterwards that his officers will be trained to look for the difference between a suspicious criminal and someone who is mentally ill or in crisis.

He said officers will be trained to de-escalate situations and check to see if someone is not taking commands because they’re being belligerent or because they’re having mental health problems.

Finally, he said he’s hoping for new tools, that will provide officers the information they need when they’re in a tricky situation.

Mike Reese: “There’s a lot of information that health care providers have, that we don’t have access too and in a moment of crisis I think we should access to that information if we’re going to provide a better service to that person. Conversely we have a lot of information we would be happy to share with mental health providers so that they know this person is interacting with police frequently. There are things we can do in terms of dispatch protocols. So when dispatchers take that 911 call from a citizen, and they ask, police, fire or medical, we want them to ask mental health.”

Beth: Finally, how are people in the mental health community reacting to this report.

Kristian: Good question. In a nutshell, they’re pleased. Derald Walker of Cascadia Behavioral Health says he hopes this will wind up helping the mentally ill.

Derald Walker:“I think sometimes unfortunately what has to happen in these situations is that the Department of Justice has to step in, render an opinion and almost force our system to provide the funding necessary to really get us up to where we should be.”

Beth: So, what’s next?

Kristian: Well, a series of public meetings will be organized for the next month. That’ll give Portland residents a chance to look at the preliminary agreement — and perhaps add their own recommendations.

Beth: Thank you Kristian.

Kristian: My pleasure.

Justice Dept.: Portland police use excessive force, particularly against mentally ill

From the Oregonian, September 13, 2012

The Portland Police Bureau has engaged in a “pattern and practice” of excessive use of force, particularly against mentally ill suspects, the U.S. Justice Department has concluded after a 14-month investigation.

U.S. Attorney for Oregon Amanda Marshall announced the findings at a news conference Thursday.

Marshall said the findings of the report were “grave and serious.”

The report found problems with Portland Police Bureau’s policies, training and supervision.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas E. Perez pointed to deficiencies in Oregon’s statewide infrastructure for mental health. He added that it was impossible to ignore the “the tensions that exist” between police and communities of color in Portland.

The federal inquiry also found that Portland police have too frequently used Taser stun guns on suspects.

Officials at the news conference said that the Justice Department and the police bureau had reached a preliminary agreement to implement changes that address the problems highlighted in the report.

The agreement calls for community feedback and input on Portland police practices.

Mayor Sam Adams, who also attended the news conference along with Police Chief Mike Reese, said, “Without defensiveness or finger-pointing, we all need to absorb the seriousness of this critique.”

He said the police bureau already has begun making changes, citing the creation of a new training center and police training advisory council.

“There is an urgent need for change,” Adams said.

Reese reacted to the report by saying, “It’s disappointing to learn the Department of Justice believes you haven’t got it right.”

But he also said he sees room for bettering the way the bureau works.

“We need to react to people in mental health crisis with empathy and compassion,” Reese said. “We can’t treat them the same way we treat a bank robber.”

He said the bureau needs to forge better relationships with social services partners.

“We all agree this bureau and this community can improve the way we serve Portland’s vulnerable population,” Reese said.

Feds find cause to believe Portland police use excessive force on mentally ill

From CNN.com, September 13, 2012

Federal civil rights investigators have found “reasonable cause” to believe that police in Portland, Oregon, use “unnecessary or unreasonable force” with persons who have mental illness, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The department’s civil rights division and U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon issued a letter to Portland Mayor Sam Adams stating that local and federal authorities will “continue our collaborative relationship to craft sustainable remedies.”

In the 42-page letter, federal officials outline remedies that include training and new policies to investigate alleged police misconduct.

Investigators found cause to believe that the Portland Police Bureau engages in “a pattern or practice of using excessive force in encounters involving people with actual or perceived mental illness.”

“We found instances that support a pattern of dangerous uses of force against persons who posed little or no threat and who could not, as a result of their mental illness, comply with officers’ commands,” said the letter, which was signed by Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez and U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall.

“We also found that PPB employs practices that escalate the use of force where there were clear earlier junctures when the force could have been avoided or minimized.”

One incident in December 2010 involved several officers who used “repeated closed-fist punches and repeated shocking of a subject who was to be placed on a mental health hold,” the letter said.

Adams, in a posting on his web page, vowed that the city and its Police Bureau would improve quickly, and listed a series of changes:

– The city will revise its use-of-force policies — particularly those regarding the use of stun guns — “to ensure that officers have necessary guidance when encountering someone with mental illness or perceived to have mental illness.”

– The police will expand their Mobile Crisis Unit — composed of an officer and a mental health worker — “to ensure availability at all times and enhance non-law enforcement capacity to respond to persons in crisis that do not pose a public safety threat.”

– The city will establish a mental health desk at its 911 calling center to ensure calls are properly dispatched.

– The city will lead efforts to boost community mental health treatment options, such as establishing a 24-hour secure drop-off and walk-in center, “that will provide police officers more options when assisting persons experiencing a mental health crisis.”

– The city will use an early intervention system to identify officers, supervisors and units “for non-punitive corrective action, and to assess gaps in policy, training, supervision and accountability.”

– The city will move to speed investigations of complaints about possible officer misconduct.

– A community body composed of representatives of a variety of groups will assess how well the agreement is being implemented, offer recommendations on additional steps, and advise the police chief and Adams on how to improve community relations.

Justice Department cites five instances to show Portland Police’s pattern of excessive force

By Helen Jung, The Oregonian, September 13, 2012

The U.S. Department of Justice pointed to five instances from 2010 and 2011, taken from a “larger group of problematic cases” to show the Portland Police Bureau’s pattern of excessive force. These are summarized from Justice Department findings and police reports of the incidents:

May 14, 2010: Police were called to Old Town to investigate reports of a man wandering in the street, spitting on cars and talking to himself. They found Aaron Emanuel Ferguson who “raised his fists to the officer’s face in an effort to show the officer his hospital identification bracelet,” the Justice Department report states. Assistant Sgt. M. Delenikos shoved his fist away and saw Ferguson take “a fighting stance.” He ordered him to back up and then pepper-sprayed Ferguson, who walked backward toward the street. Delenikos warned him to sit or he would use a stun gun on him, but Ferguson didn’t sit down. Delenikos fired his Taser at him four times, claiming that Ferguson “turtled up” and wouldn’t extend his arms to be handcuffed.

Among several issues, the Justice Department report notes that “spitting on passing cars is a low-level offense, if an offense at all and does not warrant this degree of force.” The federal investigators wrote that the supervisor found the use of force to be permissible “and no attempt to even counsel the officer on better tactics was even offered.”

Aug. 15, 2010: Police entered a downtown apartment where they heard the occupant yelling for help and believed him to be suffering a medical emergency. Inside, they saw Anthony Charles Caviness lying naked on the floor. He was unarmed. Police say he leapt up and ran toward them. Officer Joshua Sparks fired his Taser without warning at Caviness’ chest and repeated the cycle three more times. After police handcuffed him, officers learned he was diabetic and suffering a medical emergency.

Federal investigators noted, among other things, that “though the officers may have felt threatened when the individual ran towards them, this threat is mitigated, at least in part, by the presence of three PPB officers facing a naked, unarmed individual.”

Dec. 26, 2010: Two officers were called to help mental health workers who wanted to evaluate Samuel Michael Serrill at an Old Town apartment building. Serrill followed officers’ orders to come out of his room, put his hands on his head and take a seat. Officers verified he had no weapons. After Serrill made incoherent statements, the mental health workers asked police to detain him. Officers grabbed for his arms, but Serrill rolled onto his stomach, hiding his arms under his body, according to the Justice Department report. Officer Chad Phifer warned him to show his arms and then applied his Taser to Serrill’s back. Phifer continued firing it several more times as the man tried to pull away. Phifer then punched Serrill in the ribs as many as six times while Officer Kevin Allen hit the man with a closed first to the back of his neck and shoulders. The officers fired the Taser at him another six times before handcuffing him and taking him to a mental health hospital.

Among other issues, the Justice Department investigators noted “the officers were there to perform a welfare check, not to arrest someone for committing a crime.”

May 15, 2011: Officer Richard Storm went to check on an unarmed man who was standing in the rain in Southeast Portland for more than an hour. They couldn’t communicate because of a language barrier and Storm went to call for help from a Spanish-speaking officer. When Storm stepped out of his car, Fausto Brambila-Naranjo “kicked at” the officer but did not make contact, the Justice Department report states. Storm grabbed his leg and threw him on the ground. As Brambila-Naranjo rolled onto his back, Storm punched him seven to 10 times in the face while the man tried to grab the officer’s hands to stop the blows. After learning Brambila-Naranjo’s name, Storm recalled he had been reported missing by a group home that was concerned about his diabetes, according to his police report. The Justice Department investigators noted that Brambila-Naranjo was acting in self-defense from being hit in the face: “The officer made no attempt to explain in his (report on use of force) why so many punches to the head were necessary to control the subject.”

May 17, 2011: Officers were called to a home where 42-year-old Joseph James Dowless allegedly threatened his mother and hit her in the head. Dowless had a history of mental illness. Officers were told that he had a sword in his room. Police went up to the son’s room after he ignored their orders to come downstairs. They opened his door and ordered him to stand and put his hands on his head. Although Dowless stood up, he wouldn’t put his hands on his head and moved toward the door, the Justice Departmentreport states. Officer Gedemynas Jakubauskas shot him with a beanbag round. Officer Kevin Wolf wrote in his police report that Dowless then refused to interlace his fingers, prompting Wolf to fire his Taser at Dowless’ back. This occurred, the Justice Department report noted, even though Dowless’ hands were clearly visible and officers didn’t see a sword or any other weapon in his possession. “There were less intrusive alternatives available than shooting the suspect with a bean bag gun” and Tasing him, the federal report said.

Portland police promise improved approach to mental illness after scathing Justice Department report

By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian, September 13, 2012

Facing an ultimatum from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Portland Police Bureau Thursday pledged to pair more officers with mental health experts, bring back a specialized team of experienced officers to respond to mental health calls and help reroute certain 911 calls to mental health providers.

These are some of the reforms that the bureau has agreed to make after federal justice officials announced they’ve found Portland police have engaged in a pattern and practice of using excessive force against people who suffer from or are perceived to suffer from mental illness.

Many of the Justice Department’s recommendations aren’t new. Community activists, mental health advocates, lawyers who have sued the police bureau, and even some Portland officers have urged the bureau to take similar actions for years, without much success.

“On paper all of the recommendations seem to make sense, and actually parrot lots of complaints that the community and people like me have been making for a long time,” said Tom Steenson, the attorney who represented the families of James P. Chasse Jr. and Aaron Campbell, two men who died in police custody.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas E. Perez released the highly critical report of Portland police use of force after a 14-month-long federal investigation. Perez stood with U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall, Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Police Chief Mike Reese in a police bureau conference room at the downtown Justice Center.

Marshall called the findings “grave and serious.” Yet Marshall and Perez said they’re confident the city of Portland would embrace the necessary reforms to ensure people from Portland’s most vulnerable population and their families aren’t afraid to turn to police for help.

The bureau and the Justice Department aim to finalize a more-detailed agreement by Oct. 12, after seeking further community input. The agreement will be signed by a federal judge and could be enforced by the court. Federal justice investigators would provide continued oversight.

“While we have indeed identified serious deficiencies” Perez said, “we have reached a preliminary agreement to improve public safety and to ensure the Constitution is respected.”

Perez highlighted the considerable gaps in mental health care in the state and the high number of homeless people in Portland as conditions that have forced police to serve as first-responders to people suffering mental health crises.

Adams acknowledged the city and police “get a failing grade” in dealing with the mentally ill. He estimated the changes may cost “millions of dollars,” and suggested the city will be working with the county, mental health providers and also pursuing federal grant money to help pay for them.

“Without defensiveness or fingerpointing, we all need to absorb the seriousness of this critique and urgent need for change,” Adams said.

The police chief described his initial reaction as one of disappointment.

“It’s disappointing to learn the Department of Justice believes you haven’t got it right.” Reese said. But while defending his officers, he pledged to move ahead with the reforms.

“We all agree this bureau and this community can improve the way we serve Portland’s vulnerable population,” Reese said. He added, “What we’re talking about today is about process and systems, not about police officers…They’re not the ones to blame. I support them.”

The Justice Department found that Portland police:

• too frequently use a higher level of force than necessary against people suffering from mental illness;

• use Taser stun guns when their use is unnecessary or fire repeated Taser shocks against individuals that are unwarranted; and

• use a higher level of force than justified for low-level offenses.

In a 42-page letter to the mayor, the federal officials found officers frequently escalate conflict, rush in to an encounter when they can hold back, and continue to use force even when the need for it has waned.

Portland police have used Taser stun guns without warning, fired multiple Taser stun gun cycles on a single person and failed to re-evaluate the stun gun’s use between cycles. Even when officers’ Taser use clearly violated existing bureau policy, the Taser deployments later “were approved by the chain of command,” the letter said.

“We found that PPB officers often do not adequately consider a person’s mental state before using force and that there is instead a pattern of responding inappropriately to persons in mental health crisis,” Perez’s letter said. “These practices engender fear and distrust in the Portland community, which ultimately impacts PPB’s ability to police effectively.”

The DOJ said that its expert found Portland officers seem to harbor greater fear of people with mental illness than do officers in other cities.

The federal agency found that the excessive force used by officers results from bureau “deficiencies in policy, training and supervision” that have existed for a long time. Supervisors have failed to hold officers accountable for excessive force, and the city’s process for reviewing police use of force complaints takes too long, is “byzantine” and “self-defeating,” the review found.

The city of Portland has paid out about $6 million in the last 20 years to settle lawsuits related to alleged police misconduct.

“While they have not created the problem” Perez said of the current police administration, “they own the problem.”

Justice officials recommended that Portland police immediately stop using the term “mentals,” which the investigators heard used in a police roll call presentation.

In a footnote, the Justice Department cited as callous the Portland police training division’s use of former Officer Chris Humphreys‘ controversial use of a beanbag shotgun against an unarmed 12-year-old girl as an “exemplary” model of how a less-lethal weapon is used. The federal justice officials informed bureau managers, and Reese then forbade the incident from being used in training.

The proposed settlement between the police and federal justice department calls for an array of changes in bureau policies and practices.

The bureau would revise its use of force policies so officers have “necessary guidance” when encountering someone with mental illness. Taser use would be restricted and officers would be directed to focus on de-escalating encounters. The bureau would expand its single Mobile Crisis Unit team, which pairs an officer with a Project Respond mental health expert, to provide 24-hour, 7-day-a-week coverage. A Mental Health Triage Desk would be created at the dispatch center so that mental health-related calls are properly routed to the appropriate agency.

Under the agreement, the city would also work with community mental health providers to try to open a 24-hour secure center where police could drop off people suffering with mental illness, which would give officers more options. Clients could also walk into the center.

Justice officials also urged the bureau to bring back scenario-based role-playing in its crisis intervention training. The report advocates training officers to go “hands on” to make an arrest after an initial use of less-lethal force, and called for the bureau to find a way to interview officers involved in shootings immediately afterward.

Derald Walker, Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare’s chief executive officer, said many of the recommendations will take added resources. “Like so many thing, it’s all about the money,” Walker said. “It’s going to require a huge amount of political and public will to see that happen.”

Officer Daryl Turner, Portland Police Association president, said he disagreed with the federal agency’s conclusions. He called on the city to hire more officers to meet the requested reforms.

“As Chief Reese has said, the officers ‘are not to blame,’ ” Turner said, in a statement.  “Nevertheless, we all can take comfort in at least two things – the USDOJ did not find a pattern and practice of unreasonable force against any particular race, nor did the USDOJ find a pattern and practice of unreasonable deadly force.”

Perez, at Thursday’s news conference, said there were obvious “tensions that exist between the Portland Police Bureau and communities of color.” Perez said he hoped a new community group set up to monitor the proposed bureau reforms will also work to address this problem, as well.

He urged the bureau to conduct a bureau-wide “intensive cultural sensitivity and competency training.”

“All citizens – especially our most vulnerable – must be able to trust the police,” Perez said.

Mental health in Oregon: State has more work to do

By Michelle Cole, The Oregonian, September 13, 2012

At the podium, Amanda Marshall, U.S. attorney for Oregon. Behind her (L to R): Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas E. Perez; Portland Police Chief Mike Reese; Portland Mayor Sam Adams.

Six years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into Oregon’s mental health system. A lot has happened since then but advocates say a person in the throes of a mental health crisis may actually be worse off today.

That was crystal clear Thursday when the federal Justice Department released an investigation into the Portland Police Bureau that concluded the “absence of a comprehensive community mental health infrastructure” means police are shouldering the burden of being the first to respond to people in crisis. That, despite the fact that Oregon has a new, state-of-the-art mental hospital.

The Justice report, released Thursday, quotes one “high level” Portland Police officer who said he used to encounter people suffering mental health issues “a couple of times a month.” Now it’s “a couple of times a day.”

Everyone seems to agree that the Portland Police report focuses on fixing a short-term crisis but the state needs to continue to work toward long-term solutions.

There are a lot of people working to improve mental health care in Oregon, says Bob Joondeph, executive director for Disability Rights Oregon.

“But I would not say that we have a significant change in conditions on the ground,” he adds. “That may be even worse because there are fewer resources available now than there were a few years ago.”

Still, Joondeph and other advocates say they’re hopeful about national health care reforms, which broaden insurance coverage for more people, and about Oregon’s new coordinated care organizations, intended to focus on prevention and integrate physical and mental health care.

U.S. Justice Department officials are also waiting to see whether the health reforms will take care of their concerns.

In 2006, federal officials warned Oregon that conditions at the state mental hospital violated patients’ civil rights. The state built a $458.1 million hospital in Salem.

Then, in 2010, the Justice Department widened its inquiry, looking at whether Oregonians with mental illness were able to receive care in their communities rather than in a large hospital far from home.

Just as it appeared that federal officials were running out of patience with Oregon’s progress, Gov. John Kitzhaber persuaded them to give the state more time.

The Justice Department agreed.

“We want to be sure we get it right,” Thomas Perez, the department’s top civil rights lawyer said Thursday.

Dr. Bruce Goldberg, head of the Oregon Health Authority, said Oregon has added about 100 beds — community residential treatment or supported housing — in the past two years, Goldberg said.

“It’s good, but it’s not enough,” he acknowledged. “I think we need to do more … Part of the issue is we’ve been challenged as a state by our economic issues.”

Beckie Child, an advocate who has dealt personally with mental health issues, says she wants to see the state invest in housing and peer support for people in treatment.

“They’ve been talking at the 90,000-foot-level and not what it is like for folks on the ground,” she said.

The state is planning to build a new 174-bed hospital in Junction City, though patient advocates argue that it would be better to spend the money helping people get care in their communities.

“The Health Authority needs to talk about how it’s going to make an investment to keep people out of crisis,” said Chris Bouneff, executive director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Oregon.

Instead, Bouneff says, state officials are “fixated on a giant institution in Junction City.”

Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, says the simple fact that Oregonians are talking more openly about mental health care is a sign of progress.

Several years ago, Courtney was taken into what he calls the “room of lost souls,” where thousands of corroding cans containing the ashes of former hospital patients had been stored and forgotten.

For him, that became a symbol of the state’s long-neglected mental health system.

“We’re moving in the right direction because the only direction we could move was up,” he said. “Are we going fast enough? No. Are we anywhere near where we should be? No.”

Portland officer apologizes for ‘knee-jerk’ message criticizing federal inquiry

By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian, September 14, 2012

Portland Police Officer John Hurlman was seated in his patrol car Thursday morning, listening to a local radio station’s coverage of a news conference at police headquarters. Federal justice department officials were about to unveil their findings after more than a yearlong review of Portland police use of force.

Hurlman sent a text message out to all officers on the patrol car’s mobile computer, alerting them to tune in.

Shortly after the U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall started to speak, another officer texted the news back to all: the U.S. Department of Justice had found that Portland police engage in a pattern and practice of excessive force against people suffering from mental illness.

Annoyed by the outcome, Hurlman said he typed back something like, “This is the same DOJ or people who created Waco and Ruby Ridge.”

The North Precinct officer was referring to two of the biggest federal law enforcement fiascoes in recent memory: the disastrous 1993 federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas. The other, the tragic 1992 encounter between the FBI and a band of white separatists at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

Hurlman said he thought he had just responded to one officer but soon learned his message had popped up on all patrol officers’ mobile computers.

“It was kind of a knee-jerk reaction,” said the 21-year Portland police veteran. “In the current political climate, it wasn’t appropriate. On second-thought, I probably shouldn’t have done it.”

Yet Hurlman doesn’t hide his anger with the Justice Department’s ruling regarding Portland police.

“I was really annoyed at that moment, and, in fact, I think it’s nonsense,” he said Friday of the federal review. “Quite frankly, we’re being judged by people who don’t have much law enforcement experience.”

Hurlman said he was one of the original Portland officers to volunteer for crisis intervention training, before it became mandatory for all officers.

“We all know the lengths we go to to try to defuse these situations peacefully,” he said. “Nobody wants to go out and harm someone who is mentally ill.”

North Precinct Cmdr. Mike Leloff soon learned of the patrolwide message and called Hurlman into his office for a stern talk. Hurlman said Leloff appropriately, “chewed him out.”

As a result, Hurlman later Thursday texted an apology to all on his patrol car’s mobile computer.

He said it read something like this: “To those who received my earlier message, my remarks were unprofessional and insensitive. I apologize to anyone who received it.”

Portland Lt. Robert King said Friday, “The issue was addressed immediately by the Command Staff and the matter has been dealt with appropriately.”

Hurlman was back on patrol Friday, responding to emergency calls at North Precinct. He said he was advised to be careful about what he says and remain respectful.

A day after the federal report was made public, Hurlman added Friday, “People here are frustrated, to put it mildly.”

Portland Police Chief Responds To Federal Investigation

OPB News, Sept. 17, 2012

Portland Police Chief Mike Reese

Last week, the federal Department of Justice released the results of a long-running investigation into how Portland Police officers use force. It that found a pattern of excessive force, especially with people with mental illness.

Monday, on OPB’s Think Out Loud, Police Chief Mike Reese discussed the findings and the future of his bureau.

Host Dave Miller asked Reese what the ideal role would be for police to play with someone with mental illness.

LISTEN -

OTHER NEWS:

Feds: Portland police use excessive force, The Seattle Times, September 13, 2012

Portland police to reform dealings with mentally ill suspects, Los Angeles Times, September 13, 2012

Portland Police used deadly force, often against mentally ill, in 13 cases since 2008, The Oregonian, September 13, 2012

Portland police used excessive force on mentally ill – report, Chicago Tribune, September 13, 2012

Feds: Portland, Ore., police use excessive force against mentally ill, U.S. News & NBC News, September 13, 2012

Department of Justice: Portland Police Used Excessive Force Against People with Mental Illness, The Skanner, September 13, 2012

Feds: Portland, Ore., police use excessive force, San Francisco Chronicle, September 13, 2012

Federal justice agency reaches ‘preliminary agreement’ with Portland police on needed reforms, The Oregonian, September 13, 2012

Feds: Portland Police Bureau uses ‘excessive force’ with mentally ill, KVAL, September 13, 2012

Q&A: DOJ Critical Of Portland Police Over Use Of Force, OPB, September 13, 2012

Portland Reaches Agreement About Police Bureau’s Use of Force Against Mentally Ill, Opposing Views, September 14, 2012

U.S. inquiry finds Portland police use excessive force, The Bend Bulletin, September 14, 2012

Portland police use excessive force on mentally ill, Feds say, q13Fox (Seattle), September 14, 2012

Portland police efforts to fix crisis response are a failure, feds say, The Oregonian, September 15, 2012

Federal justice report on Portland police use of force to be released today

From the Oregonian, September 13, 2012

Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice Thursday morning are expected to announce the federal agency’s findings from a more than 14-month-long investigation into Portland police use of force.

Thomas Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division

The federal agency opened a civil rights investigation June 28, 2011, to determine whether the Portland Police Bureau engages in a “pattern or practice’’ of excessive force, particularly against people with mental illness.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas E. Perez came to Portland last June to announce the federal inquiry. He said then that the review was prompted by a significant increase in police shootings during the prior 18 months, the majority involving people with mental illness.

Perez is back in town Thursday, set to announce the findings with U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall, Mayor Sam Adams and Mike Reese, chief of police, at 10:30 a.m. at the Justice Center, located at 1111 Southwest 2nd Avenue, in Room 14B.

Lt. Robert King, a police spokesman, declined to comment on the nature of the morning’s announcement.

The police investigation was to overlap with an ongoing federal investigation into Oregon’s mental health care system, federal officials said.

Special litigation attorneys in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, have been evaluating bureau policies, procedures and practices, as well as specific officer-involved fatal shootings or deaths in custody.

In February, federal authorities held their first public forum in Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood to hear citizens’ accounts of their interactions with Portland police officers. And in August 2011, Justice Department officials held individual interviews with community groups.

If violations are identified, the federal agency will recommend remedies and may monitor the Police Bureau until it’s satisfied the bureau has addressed the problems.

Since the inquiry began, Chief Mike Reese has made some changes in response to federal recommendations. He began to require sergeants immediately initiate investigations into officers’ use of force and assigned a new inspector to analyze data on such incidents, a gap identified by the Justice Department during the course of the inquiry. Just last week, the Portland police released its own 4-page statistical report on police use of force, showing a 35 percent decline between 2008 and 2011.

Earlier this year, Reese defended his officers’ use of force. He cited increasing calls involving suicidal people and decried the faltering safety net for those with mental illness.

Portland joined a growing number of police agencies, including Seattle, Newark, N.J. and New Orleans, that have been targeted for federal review in the last few years, under a 1994 law passed by Congress after the brutal beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

In Seattle, the federal agency announced this summer that a court-appointed monitor was to ensure that Seattle Police revise its use of force policies, and enhance its training, reporting, investigations and supervision of police use of force. The Justice Department found that Seattle police engaged in a “pattern or practice of excessive force,’’ but did not find a practice of discriminatory policing.

The federal inquiry in Portland – the first comprehensive federal investigation into the city’s police bureau- followed a string of controversial Portland officer-involved fatal shootings or deaths in police custody of people suffering from mental illness.

In February 2010, city officials, including former police Commissioner Dan Saltzman and Mayor Sam Adams, had asked the U.S. Justice Department to conduct a full review of the Police Bureau after the Jan. 29, 2010 police fatal shooting of Campbell, an unarmed black man who was distraught following the death of his brother earlier that day.

Community leaders disturbed by the high-profile police shootings and deaths in custody also pressed for such an inquiry.

Among their concerns: the high profile September 2006 death in police custody of James P. Chasse Jr., a 42-year-old man who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia; the fatal shooting of a 58-year-old homeless man Jack Dale Collins who emerged from a restroom at Hoyt Arboretum with an X-Acto knife; and the shooting of homeless veteran Thomas Higginbotham, who was shot 10 times after he emerged from a Southeast Portland car wash with a knife.

Portland police at the scene of a recent officer-involved shooting, which took the life of Billy Simms.

A Portland Police Bureau analysis shows the bureau’s use of force has dropped 35 percent since 2008, according to a four-page report released Wednesday.

The data shows there were 675 use of force incidents by Portland police in 2011, down from 1,039 in 2008.

It’s not clear from the report what the bureau’s use of force incidents include, but the report specifically notes that the data excludes an officer’s pointing of a firearm.

It also presents a graphic that shows that 3.9 percent of arrests in 2011 involved force, down from more than 4 percent of arrests in each of the three prior years.

Portland Police Chief Mike Reese credited policy, training and supervision changes for the drop in use of force.

They include new training for sergeants on when to walk away from certain suicide calls if the person is not a risk to themselves or others; dispatchers’ training to divert certain mental health crisis calls from police to the county’s crisis line and their mental health workers; and increased internal police bureau reviews of officer use of force.

The report says the bureau is planning to create a “mental health crisis triage desk,” but doesn’t explain what services it will provide.

Bureau spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said the bureau’s crisis intervention coordinator is trying to work out some agreement that would allow information on a caller’s mental health history to be shared immediately at a new “mental health crisis triage desk.” This triage desk would assist in getting a person help, rather than sending a police car out.

“Since 2008, there has been a concerted and growing effort to emphasize de-escalation tools and a confrontation management approach in community contacts to minimize the need for the use of force,” the report says.

The brief report was released Wednesday as a federal investigation continues in the bureau’s use of force, and as some officers and rank-and-file union leaders are questioning what the chief’s standard is regarding police use of deadly force.

Reese testified last fall during fired Officer Ronald Frashour‘s arbitration hearing that Aaron Campbell posed no immediate threat to police before Frashour fatally shot him in the parking lot of a Northeast Portland apartment complex on Jan. 29, 2010. Reese testified that Frashour, who he fired in November 2010, didn’t have a right to shoot Frashour. An arbitrator has ordered Frashour be rehired, but the city has refused, and has challenged the arbitrator’s decision before the state Employment Relations Board.

“He never displayed a weapon. He didn’t take any offensive action towards the officer,” Reese said, of Campbell, in his sworn arbitration testimony in the Frashour firing. “We can’t use force on him.”

For Campbell to have posed an immediate threat, the chief testified, he would have had to take an “offensive action” — “turn toward us, pull something out, take a shooting stance.”

The chief’s testimony stunned Portland police rank-and-file officers, union leaders and the union’s use-of-force expert, who say the chief articulated a new standard, one that’s inconsistent with their training. And in the end, the arbitrator discounted the chief’s stance in her March ruling, ordering Frashour be reinstated.

On Wednesday, in a prepared statement released by the bureau with the use of force report, Reese said, “The community has expressed concern over police use of force and we are hoping to highlight the enhancements the Police Bureau has made and show the use of force numbers have declined. We also want community members to know we review every use of force report and will continue to monitor the numbers.”

Dan Handelman, of the police watchdog group Portland Copwatch,  called the report “thin.”

“It’s interesting information, but I think it’s too thin,” said Handelman.

He said the report doesn’t identify whether the use of less-lethal force is up or down or  the number of police shootings has dropped. Handleman said police shootings since 2007 have increased in number, with 2 in 2007, 4 by 2011 and 5 or 6 so far this year, depending if you include the shooting by a Portland cop in Aloha earlier this year.

“This mostly looks like a fluff, PR piece,” Handelman said. “We need more information to be able to have a meaningful discussion as a community.”

UPDATE: At 2:58 p.m, Portland police Sgt. Pete Simpson released further data, which was not included in the report.

Additional data not included in PPB’s original report.

The new data not included in the report breaks down use of force incidents involving the pointing of firearms, takedowns, Tasers, control holds, police Hobble restraints, pepper spray, bean bag shotgun use and batons.

It shows that officers’ pointing of firearms has dropped 37 percent from 2008 through 2011, from 813 incidents in 2008 to 509 in 2011. Police takedowns had a similar drop, from 539 in 2008 to 341 in 2011, a 37 percent drop.

Taser use dropped 40 percent, according to police data – from 378 incidents in 2008 to 228 in 2011, the data shows.

Yet, pepper spray use rose 21 percent between 2008 and 2011, from 58 incidents in 2008 to 70 cases in 2011, the new data released after the report shows.

Officer-involved shootings also have risen over the last several years, the requested data shows. The bureau data shows there were six officer-involved shootings in 2010, compared to 1 in 2009, 2 in 2008, 2 in 2007, 5 officer-involved shootings and two deaths in police custody in 2006.

By Jenny Westberg, Portland Mental Health Examiner

Michael Justin Evans

Around 10:30 p.m. on August 14, Michael Justin Evans became the latest casualty in a years-long series of bloody encounters between Portland-area police and persons with mental illness or addiction.

Evans, 23, was killed by one of the two Gladstone police officers dispatched to the home he shared with his grandmother, Judie K. Reich, in the 300 block of West Fairfield Street, after reports that Evans was tearing the residence apart. Soon after their arrival, either Officer Steve Mixson or Officer Christopher Spore fired multiple rounds at Evans, who police say was armed with a knife. Witnesses said they heard four gunshots.

Evans’ father, who was nearby, heard the shots and hurried to the scene, where he saw Michael’s body on the front lawn.

He started screaming. “The cops shot my son! The cops shot my son!”

To Jason Renaud of the Mental Health Association of Portland, it was grimly predictable.

Renaud has been cataloguing deaths at the hands of Portland-area police (see elsewhere on this site for a list, plus background information).

Early on in the process, Renaud recognized a pattern: Since at least the early 1980s, in 170+ documented cases, virtually without exception, the people who are shot by police (fatally or nonfatally) are those with a mental illness, an addiction problem, or both.

The latest death is no exception.

Michael Evans struggled with mental illness and substance abuse. His short life included trouble with the law, suicide attempts and erratic behavior. There were also attempts to get help: he joined AA at age 14. Those who knew him say he could be scary. But overall, friends remember him as a nice kid.

One of Michael’s friends, Jim Reynolds, told The Oregonian the cops knew Evans’ history, and he wonders why they didn’t take it into account.

“I don’t know why they had to shoot him four times,” said Reynolds. “They knew he was a mentally ill kid.”

The overkill of shooting four times — or continuing to shoot a person who is already dead; or going straight to lethal force when the situation could be handled other ways; or shooting a person who is unarmed, or who is surrendering — has, unfortunately, become a familiar part of police response to people with mental illness and addictions.

Aaron Campbell was shot in the back, unarmed, as he tried to surrender. Keaton Otis was shot so many times that another officer arriving on the scene thought it sounded “like World War III.” Jack Collins was shot and killed as he shuffled forward in a daze, holding a knife he had been using to harm himself. Anthony McDowell was shot dead as he came out of his house in a “surrender” position, his rifle held over his head. Thomas Higginbotham was coming out the door, holding a knife, but with a blood alcohol content so high it’s difficult to imagine him wielding it — but police didn’t wait to find out. James Chasse was just standing on the street, not committing a crime or suspected of one; even so, police confronted him, chased him, knocked him down, and while he lay on the sidewalk, they kicked him, Tasered him, and beat him so badly he died soon after, in the back of a patrol car.

Those are a just a few.

Renaud points out that when officer-involved shootings involve exclusively persons with mental illnesses and/or addictions, these are people with disabilities — a federally protected class.

Indeed, the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year launched an investigation into whether there is a pattern of conduct on the part of Portland police that violates the civil rights of persons with a mental illness.

For Michael Justin Evans, dead before he had much of a chance to live, it hardly matters. Or you could say it was the ultimate civil rights violation.

Officers Mixson and Spore are on administrative leave while the case is investigated.

And Dean Evans mourns his son.

By Pastor Mark Knutson and Dan Handelman of the Albinia Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform

In late May, consultants from the Los Angeles-Based OIR Group released a study on Portland Police Bureau shootings and deaths in custody. The Oregonian has supported the consultants’ call for the Bureau to learn more from its mistakes and to take simple steps like ensuring officers using assault rifles wear earpieces. What’s been lost in the discussion is that many of the recommendations– both formal and informal– have previously been made, over the course of a decade or longer, by community members.

READ – Report to the City of Portland Concerning the In-Custody Death of James Chasse (PDF)

The Albina Ministerial Alliance (AMA) Coalition for Justice and Police Reform compiled 49 community demands dating back to the death of Jose Mejia Poot in 2001, which it forwarded to the Chief and Police Commissioner in October 2010–19 months before the consultants’ report. While a letter from the Chief and Mayor made an attempt to show progress with some demands last November, many remain unaddressed. The AMA Coalition is made up of volunteer citizens concerned for the good of their own community, yet came up with many of the same ideas for change as the consultants.

For example: The AMA Coalition urged: “Reconcile the Bureau’s training on use of force with the de-escalation taught to all officers in Crisis Intervention Team [CIT] Training.” The consultants, in their first recommendation, tell the Bureau to “integrate [CIT] training into patrol tactics… [and incorporate CIT training] into its evaluation of shooting and force incidents and hold its officers accountable.”

The consultants’ analysis of the Raymond Gwerder, (Lesley) Paul Stewart and Aaron Campbell shootings indicates that the Bureau has far to go in ensuring communication among crisis negotiators, Special Emergency Response and other officers. They pointed to the issue of earpieces, saying that the Bureau instituted such a policy after the Gwerder shooting, though officers in both subsequent shootings were not wearing earpieces. AMA Coalition called for “Communication between negotiators and other ‘teams’ must be established,” and that “proper equipment must be bought, distributed and trained with to ensure communication, such as earpieces which allow two-way dialogue.”

AMA Coalition demanded, related to Kendra James‘ shooting in 2003, that “the initial interview with officers involved in cases of serious injuries or deaths should take place within 24 hours.” The consultants recommended, and the Oregonian and the Chief both support, the removal of the so-called “48 hour rule” in the police union contracts.

The consultants fall short by failing to call for more independent oversight of these serious cases. They indicate that since the Independent Police Review Division (IPR) has been more involved in shootings cases, both during investigations and at the Police Review Board level, investigations have improved. They fail to acknowledge the community’s distrust of police investigating other police. PARC, the previous consulting group, called for more independent oversight. The OIR Group’s consultants merely repeat a PARC recommendation to stop relying on other local law enforcement agencies to assist in criminal investigations. In contrast, the AMA Coalition has called both for an independent prosecutor to conduct such investigations and a fully independent review board that can “engage in administrative (non-criminal) investigations of these incidents.”

Clearly, the community has made and can make further common-sense proposals for change without waiting for another expert report to bolster its demands. The consultants’ ability to examine confidential material is helpful, but can also be done by the community invoking the public interest exceptions to Oregon’s public records laws.

The consultants’ contract ends in 2014, but they will only examine 11 other shootings up until early 2011. The community has and can make recommendations for change as any new shootings occur. The Bureau should be much, much quicker to respond.

Mark Knutson of Augustana Lutheran Church and Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch are co-chairs of the AMA Coalition for Justice and Police Reform’s Training and Policy Committee.