The 950-member Portland Police union has elected a new president, after former president Scott Westerman stepped down in April on the heels of two outrageous road rage incidents.
According to the Portland Police Association, downtown patrol Officer Daryl Turner was elected with 426 votes to Sgt. Doug Justus’ 249 votes. Turner won’t be available for comment until Friday, but luckily he has an ample history on record.
For years, Turner has writing a column in the police union newsletter The Rap Sheet called, “Let’s Talk.” In a February 2010 column (pdf), Turner compared Commissioner Randy Leonard’s support of strengthening civilian influence in the police complaint process to sending the gestapo after officers:
How much more influence does Commissioner Leonard want Independent Police Review to have over Internal Affairs Division investigations? Maybe Randy wants his own little Gestapo to walk into Internal Affairs Division interviews and torture officers to get the outcome he wants. That would give the Independent Police Review “more teeth” as Leonard was quoted as saying. I can just see Randy Leonard, Sam Adams, and Storm Large downing a few cold ones sitting around on New Years Eve when Leonard admits his New Years resolution is to give Independent Police Review “more teeth.”
Yep, this is the new police union president.
All in all, the editorials show that he’s a union man through-and-through, with his writing often focusing on the perception that city hall has turned its back on the on-the-street officers. A typical column in May 2008 (pdf) criticized Chief Rosie Sizer’s revision of use-of-force policies, a move which won some praise from police accountability advocates because it told officers that “when practical” to use “less force than the maximum allowed by law” to resolve confrontations.
FYI, the fascinating Rap Sheet itself is going to an online-only version and former editor Sgt. Pete Simpson is heading to become one of two new police police spokespeople. Current spokeswoman Detective Mary Wheat is moving on to the Cold Case Division, so she’ll be out of the limelight after August.
When people refer to Leonard as “Randy,” I just picture the Aziz Ansari character.
Also, it’s funny that we liberals love unions, but usually only in the abstract.
Forgive my ignorance, but what sort of power / responsibilities does the union president have?
Does the Little Gestapo only employ midgets?
@mrbowers: The main power is to lead armed uniformed officers in protests at city hall. (I’m still waiting for 10% of the force to resign because they violated the terms of their employment.) That kind of sounds like the Gestapo, civilian oversight sounds more like a system of checks and balances…
As for responsibilities, there aren’t any except not have road rage issues that make the paper. (If the victims call 911 that is fine, in fact 911 will even cover for them.)
Doesn’t the union president negotiate the terms of the contract, on behalf of the union?
@commenty colin I think you’re right. A Union Chief is expected to be a biased, bulldog for his team.
Though, when his team is payed by the public & makes a habit of protecting its worst players–it’d make the public less anxious if his team elected a grown up.
@mrbowers, I think that’s a good question. The police union is just like any union in that it represents the interests of its members when negotiating for things like pay raises and healthcare. The Portland Police Association negotiates with the city and chief on issues that have high stakes for public safety, like what the firing and hiring policies should be and whether police should take drug tests.
The union also advises members who get into trouble. After any officer-involved-shooting, for example, the officer gets to meet with the union lawyer.
The union president is essentially the spokesperson of the on-the-street cops and sets the direction for the union regarding all these issues.
It’s not a union. Unions can go on strike. It’s an association.