Many thanks, Denis and the Mercury, for staying on top of this stuff. The current state of the Portland Police Bureau Training Advisory Council, tasked with infusing the community's values into the training of its police force, underscores the kernel of the larger problem by highlighting the state of the conversation regarding the values and practices of the PPB. The resistance shown by City Hall to bringing our watchdogs to heel, to ensuring that the Bureau and its leadership understand and are ready to implement the values of the city, tells the real story. There should be no question that the meetings of the civilian body tasked with infusing “values” into the Portland Police Bureau's training regimen be held openly. “Values” sounds soft and vague, and it is inasmuch as it supports the notion of keeping the meetings open. It's not as if the Council will be reviewing individual training records and disciplinary sleeves. It's not as if the Council will be directing tactical situations in real-time. There will be no exposure to sensitive information. There is no need for closed, secret meetings. There is no need for a non-disclosure clause, unless the point of the whole venture is to provide window dressing.
Largely in line with Portland's values (as recently demonstrated in our Occupy movement: concern and engagement, defiance of irrationality, non-violence, and respect for others), the Portland Police Bureau is comprised of a goodly number of members who actually DO care about doing the right thing, and want to be of service to their community. The actions of the Portland Police Bureau have been good for many people of the city of Portland, in many ways. We have a relatively even-tempered downtown, riding public transportation is much less of a dreary experience than in many similar places, violent crime is, while always a concern, not a major factor in the ability of the city to function and the people to thrive, and our schools are generally thought of as safe. This is in part due to tasks performed by members of the Portland Police Bureau. Their willingness to put themselves in danger, in order to protect the well-being of others, should never be forgotten.
While all of the above is true, it is also true that past a certain point any hero becomes a predator. When this happens within our police force it must be dealt with sternly. It is not to be tolerated, even for a second. We rely too heavily on the trust between the police and the rest of society. It is absolutely fundamental and necessary to our growth and our happiness. If an individual police officer puts that trust in jeopardy, it is the duty of the rest of society in total, both within and without the ranks of the police force, to be swift and resolute in its response to such behavior. The motivation and fortitude to appropriately respond when one sees one's colleagues overstepping their bounds begins in the training of the Portland Police officer. For it is in the training of an officer that the officer begins to get an impression of where they will be serving. The culture of the police force is, obviously, much more of a factor in the continued professional growth of an officer than the bigger culture of the city itself. It is not until that officer enters into that sub-culture that they become aware of the reality of their chosen field and the reality of the demands and expectations of their colleagues, superiors, and the people. This is when an officer truly begins to become the agent of influence on the community that each and every officer is. Thus, the training that an officer of the Portland Police Bureau receives is of the utmost importance to the people of the city of Portland. Without an open and honest process to ensure that the values of the People of Portland are woven into that training, we rely on the Bureau to determine what those values are, which voices it will listen to, and what it claims to understand as its mandate. This is too much to ask, and impossible for the Bureau to achieve.

Jimmy Tardy
Portland