News Jun 10, 2010 at 4:00 am

Checking in on How We Investigate Cops

Comments

1
Pffft, and people say this little ol' rag is for 'entertainment' only?

Service complaints should be accessible to the public.
Are they? It'd be nice, a crime map...and a map that includes the amount of 'service improvement opportunities' etc filed for police in that area ...or something.

Also, who elects or appoints ' IPR Director Mary-Beth Baptista and two assistant directors'?
How long have they been there? What are her credentials? Etc.

Good article.
Needs way more depth though, in my opinion.
Maybe a five part series is in order?

Thanks for the write up though!
Good work.
2
Hey thanks Stefan for taking this on. I like JustinB's suggestion of a series with a more in-depth analysis of the details to walk a Portlander through the actual process of the complaint and the sorely lacking action of the IPR when it comes to holding an officer accountable for misconduct. I believe my complaint offers just that.

To be fair, I was not only filing to find the glitches in the system, but it was as equally important to let the city and the Police Bereau know that misconduct of any kind will not be tolerated, and if officer's are participating and I know about it, I'm gonna do all I can to make sure they don't get away with it.

Besides the racial profiling, illegal search, harrassment, bullying, threats, innapropriate physical contact, unwillingness to give business cards, false charges, and falsification of the police report they also had the audacity to not show up at court. I was referred back to the Beareau itself--the same body I was complaining against--to remidy the situation. Really? And how does the IPR get away with calling itself INDEPENDENT? That is not accountability.

The major allegations were found insufficent for an investigation because neither the man profiled, nor the woman who was assaulted filed their own complaints; both, by the way were homeless at the time, not able to find the time between meeting basic needs and daily survival to make a complaint with the city agency. Wow! IPR dismissed the most serious charges because they claimed they couldn't reach the victims for interviews due to outdated contact info. Never once did they contact me to request updated information.

Anyway, it's important to know that the IPR is what we got. It isn't gravy like it should be and that's politics for you, but we need to make it stronger, especially when, as Ms. Baptista stated herself, that there is no set criteria for investigations, and it is the body that is supposed to hold police accountable when misconduct occurs.

The Citizen Review Committee was silent on the issue when I contacted them requesting help and an ally. The City Auditor refused to meet to discuss concerns, and the cops involved recieved no discipline and are still out there in the community. It's our responsibility to watch the police, document their actions, and hold them accountable when they abuse their power because they have guns and they can intimidate our communities into submission--submission that often comes as a consequence of our allowing them to stomple our civil rights.

If we really want change, we can't just walk by anymore and hope someone else pays attention. We must get involved, take notes, speak up, educate, organize, and do the hard work ourselves.

Stoop Nilsson
3
Thanks for the interest... I'd definitely like to pursue the complaint process in more depth, which it absolutely deserves. It is good that we have a process, but it won't improve if nobody pushes or questions it.

Please wait...

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