The Portland Police Association has hired the same public relations firm as Merritt Paulson did for Major League Soccer, just in time to deal with the fallout from the cover-up inquiry into James Chasse jr’s death. Greg Peden and Shannon Berg from Gallatin Public Affairs were in council this morning with PPA boss Scott Westerman to listen to Jason Renaud from the Mental Health Association of Portland accuse the city of “impunity” related to Chasse’s death in police custody back in 2006. Gallatin worked with former mayor of Portland, Vera Katz, on the MLS deal, and Westerman said he would consult with Peden and Berg before commenting on Renaud’s remarks. We’ll update you as soon as we have a comment from the PPA.
Update, 12:51: Westerman says the PPA “wholeheartedly agrees” with Renaud’s request for better collaboration and dialog between the mental health community and the Portland Police Bureau. “It would be beneficial for all involved.”
“The issue that the PPA has with Renaud’s seven requests is that he is specifically focusing on the three officers. If they’re going to pull those three officers from patrol, the city may as well pull all police officers from the street,” Westerman says. “Because any officer on the Portland Police Bureau that was present in that situation would have likely had the same same outcome. The officers followed the bureau’s policy and procedures. The simple fact is that the three officers are being singled out in this tragic situation.”
Original post:
“I’m not surprised the PPA has hired a public relations firm,” says Renaud, in response. “I think they’re in trouble. They’ve made an enormous public relations mistake by siding with three guys against 900. They’ve lost the media, they’ve lost the public trust, and even the commenters on the Portland Tribune‘s website have turned against them.”
Renaud called on city council to remove the three Police officers involved in Chasse’s death from active duty this morning, along with six other actions to restore public trust. “The majority of police officers are well trained, and do an excellent job,” he said. “They do not make mistakes like these officers did.”
“Our organization and thousands of people in Portland believe injustice has prevailed, that a fair hearing on what happened to James Chasse has not occurred,” Renaud said to council this morning. “The final opportunity for intervention was a internal review of the officer’s actions, and a decision whether those actions were within the policy of the police bureau. After three years the bureau distributed a press release citing reasons their review was late. A minor technicality was found, so minor punishment may occur.”
“What’s occurred is impunity,” he continued. “The message delivered is a brutal beating and death of a person with a mental illness, even one with caregivers, friends, family, a home, a clean record, is acceptable within the Portland Police Bureau.”
Renaud called on council this morning to:
1.Release the full internal investigation of what happened to James
Chasse – not a press release;
2. Move the three officers involved with the death of James Chasse -Humphreys, Nice and Burton – off patrol duty;
3. Make a goal to reducing the use of Tasers on persons with mental illness by 50% per year for the next five years;
4. Reopen the Chief’s Forum;
5. Form a joint effort by local governments and local police bureaus with mental health advocates to seek full funding for mental health services from the state legislature;
6. Open a sincere, staffed and ongoing public meeting between police senior staff and persons with mental illness;
7. Release the Crisis Intervention Team curriculum to public inspection, release data about police encounters with persons with mental illness.
“We expect council to do these seven actions,” says Renaud. “We’ll give them until the middle of next week. They are fairly simple, straightforward actions to take and will really help begin the rebuilding process.”
City Commissioner Amanda Fritz thanked Renaud for his remarks, apologizing for Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman’s “scheduled absence.” “I’ll be working with our human relations and police and community relations committee to continue working on this,” she said.
Update, October 1, 1:55pm
“We have had a public relations firm on retainer for years and years and years, we have just switched firms,” says Westerman, responding to Renaud’s comments about hiring a PR firm. “This is about contract negotiations, public relations, branding—trying to differentiate the PPA from the PPB, and media response.”
Typical response. Maybe instead of working with your “public relations” people to deal with this, Amanda, you should work with the actual friggin cops, who seem to be under the impression that they can do ANYTHING in this town without getting more than a slap on the wrist.
Amanda can’t work directly with the cops. She’s not the police commissioner. Saltzman can, but he is AWOL.
She is a City Commissioner. She can certainly introduce legislation to defund the police bureau until they comply or introduce legislation to require the suggested goals. That would then allow each commissioner to vote on Renaud’s suggestions.
Passing the buck top the police commisioner like that is what got us into a situation where the city spends 95% of its time protecting the 5% of cops that are bad apples.
You can’t fob off all the important stuff to the “police commissioner” since that is a position selected for the commissioner least likely to cause trouble for the cops. When Randy wanted to be police commissioner, the police stopped it. When Sam should have been the police commissioner he avoided it because he knew they would be investigating him. Saltzman shows up at the proper gang shootings, gives his pretty ‘pprotect the children’ speechs and has made no public opr substantive statements negative of the police. Apparently the cops like him and/or don’t have dirt on him. He is therefore perfect for the job from the view of the cops.
It used to be a commissioner couldn’t introduce legislation concerning another commissioner’s buearus. Has that been changed?
If it has been changed, she could do that, but she would be the lone vote, so it would just be a gesture.
At any rate, the recourse to “community relations” is an appalling impulse, and seems to demonstrate either a lack of understanding about the extent of the problem, or, at the least, a lack of willingness to engage in a meaningful way.
There’s a picket line growing around small governments of committees, task forces, queues for public testimony, designed to identify kooks, cranks and creeps; probably an essential response to instant media and Travis Bickel-types.
Evading these berms and wallows take some political savvy, and the ability to make continuous eye contact for more than 10 seconds.
Thanks to Amanda for the offer, but it’s Saltzman’s call to make.
“Unfortunately, because the City is involved in a civil suit regarding Mr. Chasse’s tragic death, we are not able to comment more fully. “
That’s the stock response you’ll get from Saltzman’s Director of Public Safety…you know…if you want to save yourself some time.
Read the upcoming Mercury news section piece entitled “Not Policing Themselves—Are Lawsuits The Only Real Discipline For Portland Cops?”
It’ll be live on the website tonight at 5pm.
FIRING them is the real discipline. Matt, go do some research on how many cops have actually ever been fired for anything.
Weaterman’s comments are SHOCKING. You mean, every singly policeperson on the force would have used enough force to kill the guy?
Fucking unbelievable.
Perhaps Duin is suggesting that if one of us, or several of us are killed that our use of deadly force would be more acceptable. Perhaps others in the community believe the same thing.
I don’t believe it and I’m not willing for that to happen to change the minds of Steve Duin or anyone else.
Surviving the shift and going home at the end of the night is your number one priority.
Randy Leonard, the next mayor of Portland, and the pro-tem mayor now(just ask him) WAS told about a project that was being proposed to assist all “first responders” that may receive a call for service to all elements of those that may go to a “PSRB” CRIMINALLY INSANE GROUP HOME in the city of Portland, Oregon.
These locations are in the city, they are not on the “radar” of information given to officers, firemen, etc if the call over the computer is made to the location.
I have been calling for this action, for a number of yrs, I will provide 3 noted articles regarding these CRIMINALLY INSANE patients.
1. Washington County sheriff’s deputies went door to door in Corneilus on Friday to notify 1,300 residents of criminally insane sex offenders living within a half-mile of their homes.
Sgt. David Thompson, spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said three of the eight residents at Connell House, a locked residential treatment facility at 117 N. 29th Ave., were dangerous sex offenders who’d been found to be guilty “except for insanity” at trial. One had assaulted a 3-year-old child.
2. Just before Christmas 1994, 27-year-old Perez suffered a violent break. He had been unable to sleep since his release from the hospital two days prior. His mother told police she felt sorry for him: “He looked anxious and nervous and scared.”
She was cooking breakfast when he attacked. Perez punched his mother, cut her and bit off four of her fingers. She thought he was hallucinating. “He’d never done something like that before,” she said in a police report.
Later, Perez asked a Woodburn policeman to “shoot him” and “tell the other officers that he tried to get away.”
He was found guilty except for insanity of attempted murder and assault. Instead of prison, the court placed him under the jurisdiction of Oregon’s Psychiatric Security Review Board for a maximum of 40 years.
3.When they arrived, officers found 40-year-old Sean Liam Kelly severely injured across the street, who appeared to have been stabbed. Kelly died a short time later.
Later Tuesday, homicide detectives charged Ralph Anthony Williams with one count of first-degree murder in the death. Williams and the victim both lived at a mental health group home at the address but had separate rooms.
The James Chasse case, stands for what it is…..a terrible wrong, and while many fingers will be pointed, the mental health community has purposely refused to separate the mentally ill( James Chasse) from the violent..violence of the criminally insane.
First responders…NEED ALL AVAILABLE INFORMATION to assist those there in need, and to protect those that go to render aid by protecting themselves.
Many times…this support was asked for by myself, because as a citizen, I KNOW, more about it then some who are supposed to know, and get paid well to do so.
Sheriff Rob Gordon of Washington County, and county Commissioner John Lindsey will write an OP-ED,that a the very least,will call for this information to be given to all who would benefit from it.
For to long, as an activist( I hate that cover word) more inline would be husband, now grandfather, want those who do that first work to have all they need to do it, and until these two good officials became involved and concerned…my pleas for help with my own officials have fallen on “death ears”.
Sent a letter to Randy Leonard asking for support…directly…NO RESPONSE…A STAFFER RESPONDED…answer NO! one word…..no
People who WERE are running for city hall Jason Renund(a supposed mental health activist) he was asked to get behind this project….no answer… SCOTT WESTERMAN..PPB union president NO RESPONSE EVER.
I have polled personally many, many PPB officers…some contacted 2 blocks from where we stood from the PSRB group home in SE, They had no idea…no clue to the nature of the possible threat to them. they were not happy..their managers refused to give them that field support.
Bottomline: As a young cop. or a veteran….they know, they cannot look now, to these people to protect them, they must work for Rob Gordon, in Washington county, or Commissioner John Linn, clear down in Linn county.
It tell’s me a lot….Randy Leonard has bike paths to vote for..140,O00 dollar toilets to build, and cares nothing..for the safety of those he once worked with…Stay off burning roofs Randy, your not welcome there anymore.
Jack Peek
PS: Left out,but got same response or had issue tabled for two yrs by Rep, Ben Cannon, Sen Jackie Dingfelder…and many others in city..county./.or state offices…SAD…SICK…NO EXCUSE!
The current “so-called leader at City hall of the PPB..Dan(“trees have feelings”)Saltzman promised me help if I voted for him….like RANDY….DAN….NICK…the mayor knew personally of this issue as Chief of staff way back when…and is as worthless as he was then.