- DARYL TURNER: We must “vindicate their names, careers, and integrity”
Newly elected Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner has issued a statement of support for the police officers involved in the in-custody beating and death of James Chasse Jr.: Chris Humphreys, Kyle Nice, and Bret Burton. Read more from the Oregonian here; the statement is after the jump.
Since 2006, the Portland Police Association has seen the
death of James Chasse as a tragic accident. His family was devastated and the lives of the officers involved have been changed forever.The officers and supervisor who responded to the incident followed their Portland Police Bureau training according to the policies and procedures at that time. Since then, Bureau policies have changed, attempting to adapt to law enforcement’s changing role in society. The PPA will continue to support Officers Chris Humphreys and Bret Burton, and Sergeant Kyle Nice. We will work to vindicate their names, careers and integrity.
Vilifying law enforcement masks the real issue of the broken mental health system in Oregon. The system has been stripped of its staffing, funding and resources by local and state government. A 2010 study by the Treatment Advocacy Center ranks Oregon 36th in the nation in per capita expenditures by its state mental health authority.
Across the country, law enforcement management is all too aware that jails and prisons have become modern-day mental hospitals, returning our mentally ill to conditions of the early nineteenth century where 15-20% of incarcerated inmates suffered serious mental illness.
We look forward to participating with the community and the City to find innovative and appropriate solutions to better protect and care for our mentally ill citizens.
This is the expected party line; nonetheless it offends a lot of people who think the officers should be punished. Discussing a recent audit of the case (by the OIR group) in city council yesterday, Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch said, “We’re most disappointed by the fact that OIR outlines various acts of misconduct for which the officers involved will not be held accountable.” Those acts include include (by Humphreys’ own admission) tackling Chasse to the ground, kicking him, and later dragging him with broken ribs back to a police car.
You should clarify that he’s the prez of the Police Union, not the Bureau (in the headline). Otherwise it sounds like he runs the PPB.
meet the new boss. same as the old boss.
I came to the comments with a comment in mind, but eric had already made it.
Good call, @sgtgrumbles.
Wait a second, he doesn’t run the PPB?
(rimshot)
Heh. Sometimes I wonder if some of these cops would have gotten fired by now if not for the union….
@Roger, Sorry to hear about your friend, What your friend needs is a free consultation with a personaly injury lawyer, here is the one that I know of http://bit.ly/aK73S0 hope he feels better soon
Ummm… he is the president of the Police Union…. whether he agrees with his statement or not, you can’t expect someone in his position to publicly dress down his members.
Anyone who has ever worked in a union environment knows that the unions job is to defend the membership. period.
@rufus: He didn’t have to issue a statement supporting them though. He could have just kept his mouth shut. Yet again, we have a police union chief who doesn’t seem to realize that good community relations actually help his members do their job, and confrontational public statements like this stir resentment and make their jobs harder.
(see also: the reduction in serious threats to the US since Obama came to power spreading goodwill, even through gritted teeth, instead of threats)
Apparently common sense wasn’t one of the criteria for election.
Well, he just made me feel alienated.. that didn’t take long.
Isn’t that his job? In other news: public defenders work to free murderers, rapists, and child molesters.
@rufus92: The issue is that by defending these particular union members and their actions, he’s harming all the other union members by continuing to damage the reputation of and trust in *all* cops in the eyes of the community. He cannot represent both. He has to choose between representing the worst or representing the best.
I just don’t understand why the PPA membership supports this, if I were a good cop I would want to get rid of the bad cops. The damage to the integrity of the whole force would outweigh the benefit of having the PPA leadership support me in the odd case where I broke some homeless guy’s ribs in 26 places (mostly with my boot), and then maybe followed it up with bean bag shotgunning a 12 year old (she was big), or pulling my gun on some guy who cuts me off in traffic (off duty with my child and a few propane tanks in my truck).
whether he had to make a public statement or not is a great question Stu – I assumed he was answering a question which may have been wrong. And to Pangloss’s comment – those cops are still dues-payers who were convicted of nothing (right or wrong), its his job to stick up for them.