When Police Chief Mike Marshman incorrectly told OPB yesterday that his officers hadn't demanded pictures of demonstrators' IDs in order to release them from a police "kettle" on Sunday, it raised questions about how closely the chief had been monitoring the day's events.
It turns out there's a simple reason Marshman wasn't abreast of the pictures, which the ACLU of Oregon believes were illegal: Unlike Mayor Ted Wheeler, Marshman didn't monitor the rallies from the Portland Police Bureau's command center. He was at home.
"Chief Marshman was not in attendance on Sunday but was monitoring the event by police radio and phone," PPB spokesperson Sgt. Pete Simpson tells the Mercury. "Procedurally, the Chief is not the incident commander at these events so his attendance is not critical—and he’s been to many of them and is continually updated on major developments."
Even so, Marshman's absence on Sunday is noteworthy. The chief is in the process of re-applying for his job, as Wheeler carries out a promised national search. More crucially, though: Prior to Sunday, all signs pointed to mayhem.
Remember, the Sunday "Rally for Free Speech" organized by local "alt-right" vlogger Joey Gibson occurred roughly a week after two alleged killings by a vocal white supremacist. With allegations flying and a robust anti-fascist response being prepared for the event, Wheeler went so far as to call for the free speech rally to be canceled. When the federal government refused to pull permits for the event, Wheeler and other leaders convened meetings with law enforcement at the local, state, and federal level.
This was a big deal.
The heavy local and federal police presence at the demonstration—and three counter-rallies in response—has been partly praised since Sunday, because there were no large-scale clashes between the various factions.
But local activists and the ACLU have also voiced concern. Some say Portland police were more interested in cracking down on leftist demonstrators than the alt-right folks in Terry Schrunk Plaza. The police wound up using pepper spray, flashbangs and less lethal projectiles on demonstrators in Chapman Square. The PPB has said that's because the antifa folks were hurling bricks and other objects.
And the ACLU yesterday issued a statement strongly critiquing a police "kettle" at SW 4th and Morrison, in which riot cops surrounded a group of marchers, and demanded they have their pictures taken with their IDs in order to be released. Such a practice, the ACLU believes is illegal.
But Marshman, when asked about it on OPB's Think Out Loud yesterday, had no idea that had even occurred.
"I actually have not heard that at all frankly... That's not our practice, we do not do that," he said.
Simpson said immediately afterward that Marshman hadn't been briefed on that part of the day's enforcement, which suggests that the chief didn't have a true play-by-play of events from his house.
Meanwhile, both Wheeler and his chief of staff, Maurice Henderson, were posted up at the PPB's command center for the rallies. (Wheeler faced questions by a member of the audience at this morning's city council meeting, who wondered why he wasn't on the streets.)
Under PPB policy, the bureau has four designated "Crowd Control Incident Commanders" who have "the authorization and responsibility for all police actions at such events." According to that policy, Central Precinct Commander Kelli Sheffer is the default crowd control incident commander, unless Assistant Chief Chris Uehara decides otherwise.
Simpson says the incident commander on Sunday was a Central Precinct captain named Larry Graham. But it's Marshman—who's taken flack for police response to repeated marches and demonstrations since the election of Donald Trump—who'll be facing public pressure.
