zero comments, so far?! how is this possible? honestly, this has been one of the more innovative and entertaining stories I've seen from the merc's newsies. nicely done. you know, as a dead philosopher once could have said, we remember things not as they were but as we were. or something.

Here's another one:

What Should Have Happened: For once the Portland Mercury and other Portland Publications back the Portland Police. An Office was involved in a scuffle with a 160lb, 5 foot somethin' 12 year old (please note that this is an above average size for that age group) and in order to subdue said miscreant he used a beanbag gun...on her meaty leg.

What Really Happened: Every publication in the greater Portland Metro jumped on the same bandwagon and accused Officer Humphreys of using excessive force. They hyped up the fact that this gal was 12 (even though she did not look like it, and it shouldn't matter if she is throwing a tantrum, punching officers, etc) and rode that all the way to the bank.

For once it would be great to see some facts about what Police Officers are asked to do. I know quite a few that are working from 10pm-8am out on the streets of Portland, protecting the rest of us schmucks, having to go to court to testify at a trial from 8am-5pm and then are being asked to come back to work their typical shift from 10pm-8am later that day...so in a 24 hour period they have 5 hours to recoup from a long days work...quite frankly we are lucky to have these people out there doing the job that the rest of us don't want to do and could not actually handle, especially on that little sleep.

Stepping off my soap box...Happy 2010!

>>> Let'sGO!

Well it was 1st reported that the 12 yr old girl who was assaulted by that murderous pig Humphreys was around 130 lbs. Now according to you, she's grown to a 160 lb. "5 foot somethin" meaty behemoth! Nice.

It's nice to know that we have citizens who fully endorse grown cops beating children & murdering mentally ill people.

Maybe the cops took her to Voodoo Donuts before they tasered her. They go down faster if you fatten them for the kill, y'know.

"Yeah, that's it...Voodoo Donuts" as law enforcement expert Tommy Flanagan would say.

Hi Let'sGO!,

I have been reading the stories about Humphreys et al for two years now and have not commented until now. Your comment has finally pushed me over the line.

1. Do officers get overtime? What is the average number of hours worked per week? At 19 hours per day x 5 days per week that should be about 95 hrs/week, give or take. That's 55 hours at 1.5+ times normal pay per week. You can snipe at my math, but the point is that you get paid well for doing the job that you accepted. I don't feel sorry for you. Stop whining.

2. I'm sorry your job is so dangerous. How dangerous is it? Well, according to Forbes it's less dangerous than being a cook...or a carpenter...or a construction laborer...or a janitor...or a nursing aid...or a truck driver...or etc.. This idea that your job is so much more dangerous than others is a falsehood. Go work in a coal mine for a year and then whine to me about danger.

3. I have 5 screws and a plate in my ankle from subduing a mentally ill patient 100 lbs heavier than me, solo, for 10$/hr.. He walked away, I went to the hospital. Did I bitch? No. I took the job knowing the risks and I sucked it up. I'll have a limp for the rest of my life and got a $5000 settlement from worker's comp for the trouble. So stop whining.

4. If I do my job well 99% of the time and poorly 1% of the time my boss focuses on the 1% to improve performance. We're your boss, so deal with it. You signed up to protect us from the bad guys, not yourselves. Understand that I don't want you to get hurt, but the risk is part of what you get paid for. So stop whining.

5. Cops sometimes behave poorly. In my 20 years working with the mentally ill I have seen some really bad behavior from officers who felt put upon for being called to a mental health emergency. The few articles you are whining about are but examples of an attitude that I have personally seen on numerous occasions. I have also seen officers behave with valor, courage and respect on more numerous occasions. I can tell the difference. So stop whining.

I could go on but you see where I'm coming from. I have worked in a highly dangerous but low paid career (community mental health) for 20 years and I'm really tired of the holier than thou response to public attitude that the PPB offers. I don't hate cops (Thank you for showing up when that banger pulled a knife on me and my step-daughter in Irving Park!), I'm not a left-wing nut job, I don't feel the need to have my voice heard daily in various comments sections and I'm not anti-government. I just want you to do the job you've chosen like I've done the one's I've chosen. Nobody forced me to work with crazies and nobody forced you to be a cop. So STOP WHINING!

Very well put, ctwheby.

ctwhelby is my hero. Can we just cut-and-paste that comment in every time one of these mouth breathers comments? My father was a cop, but he believed that he was a "public servant" not a private authoritarian. Also Humphreys could have taken that 12 year old down with a simple Judo tactic taught to 1st year cadets, but that wouldn't have shown everyone how big his dick is.

Which, i might dare summerize, isn't very big at all. Quite tiny, as a matter of face, which would explain ALOT.

I really liked this story, too.

Also, I like that you refer now to the Oregonian as "the Oregonian newspaper." Just, you know, to help out the folks who didn't know. A style decision, or just a turn of phrase?

Anyway, nice work.

View from afar,
I agree 100% with the Guy above me,I got fired years ago from Riverbend,Youth facility in Oregon City,after following orders to help subdue a mentally out of control female teenager whom kicked me so violently, I got a shttered rotar cuff and
Surgery at Tax payers expense OHP, I was placed in lock up with her,until help could arrive to furture subdue her,as she was punching out the electrical socket with her fist and head(why would their be such a thing in a lock -up ?)
I was fired because I did not have the Parts training certification,yet as I was new to the job,I did not hurt her in anyway,but by following orderers to help a male ,My Boss ,taller than I and larger ,with parts training whom could not do his job right, and I got fired,and he did not ,sucked, but In the long run, it saved that facility a lawsuit from untrained employees whom may have hurt another youth.
The parts trainer kept putting off training,not me. I slept days to work nights, and still came in for day trainings and required weekly staff meetings, so like the guy above, stop your boo hoo whining...or get a job you like. dare you to live off of a straight 40 hour week,with no medical coverage

View from afar,
I posted a 100% agreement with ctwheby, RE: the whynie Portland Cops,
however , it posted in your general first page,not here.

Regarding ctwheby's comment.

Thank you. You very concisely wrote what I've been feeling for years.
It's a misconception that the Police have the hardest job, but that they do have a great deal of responsibility for their actions. Or rather, they should.

I'm inclined to think that the "whining cops" make up a smaller percentage of our local force, and that honorable cops are in the majority. Trouble is, in order to weed out the whiners, the more respectable will have to take it upon themselves to educate their fellow public servants. "Public Servants" being the operative words that whining cops seem to forget.

I've been pulled over several times for very bogus reasons by several police officers who were on obvious power trips. I've been threatened, harassed, profiled, and hit by a drive-by pepper spraying. I had guns drawn on me for riding a skateboard after 8pm, in a Safeway parking lot. No arrests on my record, and one ticket for a traffic infraction.

I have ever reason to be making negative generalizations about the police in our lovely city. And yet, when I've needed them, they have been there overwhelmingly and respectfully. And I have met more professional and honorable police officers in Portland than I have the whining "bad eggs". The trick is, I want the honorable professionals to police their own. Like it or not, they are marginalized when the feces hits the oscillator.

I understand the need for a Police Union, and that they should "stick together" for mutual support. But if good men and women are saying nothing when one or two of their own make bone-headed decisions, they look just as bad, if not more so than the "Christopher Humphreys" that keep making headlines. It's a tightrope between doing what is right, and getting kicked out of the union.

Whiners, shut up and quit attacking the people you swore an oath to protect. Do your chosen profession with dignity.
Honorable Police, thank you and keep it up, and see if you can't keep your less than respectable co-workers from doing further harm to the city and people you swore an oath to protect.