All Out For Police Accountability 11 16 11

ALL OUT FOR POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY!

• Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2011
• Time: 2 PM
• Location: Portland City Council 1221 SW 4th Ave, Portland OR 97204

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Purpose

Organized and Sponsored by: Copwatch
For more information, details and updates:

Portland Copwatch (503) 236-3065

http://www.portlandcopwatch.org

ACTION ALERT!

      City Council Hearing on Changes to Police Oversight System
               Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 2 PM
                  City Hall, SW 4th and Madison

Calling all Portlanders who want to see a strong, vibrant, and credible Civilian Police Review Board:

Come to Portland City Council Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 2 PM!

Portland's "Independent" Police Review Division (IPR) was established in 2001 and given the authority to conduct investigations separately from the Portland Police Bureau's Internal Affairs (IA)... yet no such investigation has ever happened. In March, 2010, the IPR was given some broader authority to review IA investigations, but IPR's 9-member Citizen Review Committee was told to wait before they receive more power. A group of citizens, police, and city officials met for four months and presented 41 recommendations for change to City Council in December, 2010.

On November 16, the City Auditor (who oversees IPR) is proposing a meager SIX changes to the ordinance, only three of which in any way reflect community concerns, with the others administrative tweaks. The Mayor and Chief put out a document essentially agreeing that the CRC should not have any more power than what the Auditor is proposing, claiming the CRC's role is just to review the quality of investigations. CRC's tagline is "community oversight of the Portland Police Bureau," not "community oversight of the IPR and Internal Affairs."

We need to demand more change. Ask for ALL the Stakeholder Report recommendations to be adopted. We need true civilian oversight, and if we don't get more meaningful change now, we may have to wait another 10 years for a chance. The City wants to avoid ruffling the feathers of the powerful Portland Police Association. While we support the rights of workers to collectively bargain for wages and benefits, we do not support public policy being set through those negotiations, especially when done by police officers.

If you are not able to attend, if you can: 
Please send us a blind cc: of what you write to Council, and/or let us know if you plan to testify.
Thanks
Dan Handelman

--Portland Copwatch (a project of Peace and Justice Works)

PO Box 42456
Portland, OR  97242
(503) 236-3065 (office)
(503) 321-5120 (incident report line)
copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org
http://www.portlandcopwatch.**org <http://www.portlandcopwatch.org>

Note: OP is also asking that individuals call the Salem police chief at 503-588-6080 to let him know that you would like to see police in crowd control situations have badge numbers clearly visible to the people they are facing. Some of you may have noticed that the police involved in the incident on Sunday had no name tags, no badge numbers, no ID of any kind.

The Salem police sergeant commanding that unit has said that it is a long-standing policy for the Salem police to not have name tags on the front of their riot gear, as they are often deployed in racially charged situations (e.g. anti-immigration protests). He says they don't want officers with non-anglo names to be targeted by racist protesters but that he has had several complaints about the lack of name tags, so he was writing up a proposal to consider changing the policy. I suggested that badge numbers would be sufficient for our need to be able to know exactly which officer was involved if something happened.

Thank you for your support!

Other details
http://www.portlandcopwatch.org/ipr_allout_flyer1111b.pdf Official Flyer

Detailed Information more information