The city council spent the afternoon hearing a progress report on the Independent Police Review Citizen Review Committee, from IPR Director Mary-Beth Baptista and Joann Jackson, of the CRC IPR Structure Review Workgroup. You can check out the progress report here. This all goes back to 2007, when Mayor Tom Potter commissioned a report on […]
Cops
Posted inPortland
Downtown Cop Gets Another Ticket
An attorney who fined a cop $35 for parking illegally back in July has issued another citation to the same cop, for the same reason. Eric Bryant’s story went as far as CNN over the summer, when he used an obscure Oregon law that allows one citizen to give another citizen a parking ticket, to […]
Posted inMedia
Taser Claimed It Had Arrangement To Review Newspaper Articles About…Tasers
Hot on the heels of last week’s feature on Taser use (and giving us an opportunity, yet again, to post this fabulous illustration) comes news that Taser International told investors it had worked out an agreement with two Gannett Papers to review their articles on Tasers before they went to press. Check it out at […]
Posted inPortland
City Offers To Re-Train Cops On Videoing Arrests
Good news for police oversight activists: The city of Portland has offered to re-train its police officers on the video-recording of officer interactions with the public, following a controversial incident in April when a citizen journalist had his camera confiscated by an officer and was issued with a citation. Back in April, we ran a […]
Posted inNews
Taserific!
I’ve written a lengthy feature for this week’s upcoming issue about Taser use by Portland Police. While I’m not going to spoil the read for you by puking its guts out, prematurely, here on Blogtown, I did want to whet your appetite with a few fun-ish facts about Tasers that I gathered in the course […]
Posted inNews
Cops Shoot Aggressive Pit Bull On Se 72nd
No word yet as to whether it was wearing lipstick…from the cops: At 8:13 pm, a Southeast Precinct officer shot and killed an aggressive pit bull in the 8100 block of Southeast 72nd Avenue. Officers were dispatch to the area after two pit bulls reportedly entered a nearby yard and attacked three dogs. By the […]
Posted inPortland
James Chasse, Circa 1982.
Before he fell victim to schizophrenia, and ultimately, death in police custody. These photos were just developed yesterday by his childhood friend, Steve Doughton, who shot them on a Rolleiflex camera and never got the shots developed. It’s an honor to post them on Blogtown. And there are, like, 20 more.
Posted inCops
How Much Does Rent-A-Cop Boss Get Paid?
“I just went on a vacation through Albania, Croatia, Montenegra, and Greece,” says Portland Patrol, Inc. boss John Hren. He wasn’t here “in October,” he says, because of the trip. “In relationship to the rest of the world we’re doing a great job…” on graffiti, he says. In addition to drawing a full police bureau […]
Posted inCops
Cracking Down On Santacon
Santacon is once again due to hit Portland in December. This year the Portland Police Bureau has decided to take a more proactive approach to enforcement against the drunken Santas. “Hopefully we will be a little bit more on top of that this year,” says Lieutenant George Burke, sitting in at the downtown Public Safety […]
Posted inCops
DA Reopens Chasse Case
Loathe as I am to keep linking to Nick Budnick’s stories over at the Tribune, I have to give the guy credit when it comes to dogging the Police Bureau and District Attorney patch. I’ve been out of town for four days, but Budnick posted this important update to the James Chasse story last week, […]
Posted inPolitics
The Next Police Commissioner Is…
… “definitely” not going to be Amanda Fritz or Charles Lewis. That’s about all the news coming out of Mayor-elect Sam Adams’ office on the who’s-it-gonna-be drama. Which makes sense: With a decision on the matter expected by the 31st–but probably sooner–the outcome of the Fritz-Lewis runoff won’t even be known.
Posted inPolitics
Assigning the Police Bureau: What Sam Adams Should Do
Commissioner Randy Leonard took himself out of the running for Police Commissioner last night, citing the ongoing drama between himself and Police Chief Rosie Sizer. Now Mayor-elect Sam Adams has to figure out what to do. Who should head up the Police Bureau? Here’s my suggestion. Adams should watch the Parent Trap (1961 edition) and […]