THE HEAD OF Portland’s cop union is in disagreement with the national cop union’s line on whether armed rent-a-cops should be able to dress like real police officers. Portland Police Association boss Robert King told the Mercury last November he thinks downtown rent-a-cops working for Portland Patrol, Inc. (PPI) “provide basic security services for downtown […]
Matt Davis
Matt Davis was news editor of the Mercury from 2009 to May 2010.
Posted inNews
In the Shadows
Gangbusters
“I watched my uncle’s knee get blown off.” Rob Ingram was describing an incident from his West Fresno childhood over a bowl of chicken gumbo at the A.J. Java café, on the corner of N Rosa Parks Way and Albina last Friday morning, March 28. Ingram, who has been the director of the mayor’s Office […]
Posted inNews
Mixed Reviews
Cop Review Report Divides City Leadership
ARIZONA CONSULTANT Eileen Luna-Firebaugh finally presented her critical report on the city’s Independent Police Review (IPR) to council last Wednesday, March 19—but it appears to have done little to bridge the divide between critics and proponents of the way police oversight is conducted in Portland. The IPR currently dismisses 68 percent of the roughly 700 […]
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In the Shadows
Dying Hard
The man in Room 220 of the Multnomah County Courthouse reminds me of Bruce Willis in Die Hard. He’s about 35, white, dressed in a thick navy coat with a high collar, and his hair is closely cropped. When police brought “Willis” to Emanuel Hospital five days earlier, he was agitated, disorientated, and delusional, telling […]
Posted inNews
Commitment Issues
Chasse Death Cited in Involuntary Detention
Multnomah County’s commitment court ruled at the end of 2006 that an allegedly mentally ill woman should be locked in a psychiatric hospital, because it would be safer than wandering the streets like James Chasse—where the person risked being “beaten to death” by cops, according to the judge. The Oregon State Appeals Court overturned the […]
Posted inNews
Scooting under the Influence
Prosecutors Run down Handicapped Veteran
VIETNAM VETERAN John Wayne Ruff struggled to Multnomah County Circuit Court last Friday, March 14, to defend himself against a five-year-old driving under the influence (DUI) charge, originally received while crossing the street on his electric handicapped scooter. “This is ridiculous. The judge dismissed the case five years ago,” Ruff, 60, exclaimed in frustration. His […]
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A Trail of Tears
NE Commuters Want a Safer Route to Work
EMPLOYEES AT a NE Columbia music distribution center are demanding safety improvements on the trail they use to walk from the bus stop to their work. Two years ago, CD Baby Human Resources Director Craig Hennecke bought yearly TriMet bus passes for all the company’s 100 employees, in an environmentally friendly effort to discourage them […]
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Bagging the Burnside Booster
Shoplifted Boutiques Fight Back
A GROUP of boutique shop owners on East Burnside have found a creative new way to fight back against a recurrent shoplifter: crafting their own wanted poster. The allegedly light-fingered young woman first struck Lille Boutique last October, stealing $300 worth of designer underwear. The woman, in her mid-20s and dressed in brown overalls, was […]
Posted inNews
Twice as Bad
Is Cop Review Doubling Police Accountability Payouts?
NEW FINANCIAL ANALYSIS of police accountability settlements paid out by the city from 1993 to 2005 shows the creation of the Independent Police Review (IPR) may have, in fact, led to a 197 percent rise in cop-related payouts. City Auditor Gary Blackmer, who ran the IPR until the mayor moved to seize control of it […]
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The Thick Blue Line
Portland Cop Fired for “Snitching”?
A former Portland cop is planning to sue the city over allegations she was effectively terminated in retaliation for “snitching” on an officer who was supposed to be training her. The former cop, Officer Lindsay Hunt, says her coach officer told her to “look the other way” while he roughed up a suspect without probable […]
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In the Shadows
Badge and Dagger
The Mercury bought Michael Hopcroft a large hot chocolate with whipped cream and chopped nuts at Seattle’s Best across from city hall last Friday afternoon, February 29. He was pretty shaken up, having seen a man he knows get Tasered by two cops four days earlier, while riding the #6 bus downtown on MLK from […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera
Kitschy is a demeaning, overused adjective, and it’s one undeserved by Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera. Kitsch is about pretension and bad taste. It’s about being inferior to something “authentic.” This production is about none of those things. I was nervous it would be about all of them. The theme—Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan’s […]