The Mercury way back on Tuesday noticed that the Portland Police Association had filed court documents trying to intervene in the federal effort to reform the way our police bureau uses force and deals with people suffering from mental illness—arguing that the whole thing should be put on pause because of the union's contract with the city.

The Oregonian also picked up on the filings, running a story on Thursday's front page. But the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform, a critic of both the PPA and the federal settlement (they think it's too weak), quibbled with the way the O's story presented their position on the settlement. I didn't really read it that way, but they sent out a statement last night making sure no one could possibly mistake their desire to reopen the federal police reform settlement with support for the police union's similar request.

Says the AMA's chairman, Dr. LeRoy Haynes:

The Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform would like to clearly distinguish between our desire for intervention and the Portland Police Association (PPA) petition in the court mandated Settlement Agreement between the US Department of Justice and the City of Portland.

The PPA intervention is based upon their opinion that the courts do not need to intervene in the agreement of union contract matters, police policies or training as well as other areas in the Settlement Agreement.

The AMA Coalition believes not only does the court need to intervene, but we need stronger intervention in the Settlement Agreement.

Therefore we call upon the community to be in support of this desire and to request a fairness hearing allowing the community to give valuable input into this process to strengthen the Settlement Agreement.