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Police Oversight
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Police Oversight Board Members Say Budget Ordinance Could Erode Public’s Trust in New System

Six members of Portland’s Community Board for Police Accountability caution that a new attempt to raid funds could invite legal trouble.
Avatar photoAvatar photo by Jeremiah Hayden and Courtney Vaughn

Members of Portland’s new police accountability system are speaking out amid a proposed supplemental budget ordinance that could draw money from the Office of Community-based Police Accountability to repay contingency funds borrowed from the city’s general fund. An ordinance from Council Vice President Olivia Clark, along with Councilors Steve Novick, Loretta Smith, and Elana Pirtle-Guiney, […]

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Portland City Council Adopts New Law Enforcement Mask Ban, ID Requirements

The city ordinance won’t give local police the authority to unmask ICE, but its supporters say it will help verify and prevent law enforcement impersonators.
Avatar photo by Courtney Vaughn

When federal immigration agents started showing up for duty last year in plain clothes with their faces half covered, it stoked fear in immigrants. It also sparked concerns about accountability and transparency within the broader community. Still, an ordinance aimed at requiring police to display agency ID and keep their faces visible at all times […]

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Cop Union Alleges City Councilor Interference in New Police Oversight System

Councilor Sameer Kanal was invited to present at a meeting of the Community Board for Police Accountability. The Portland Police Association is crying foul.
Avatar photo by Courtney Vaughn

City officials say they’re evaluating complaints made by Portland’s largest police union against a city councilor.  On March 19, Aaron Schmautz, president of the Portland Police Association, fired off a memo to Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, City Administrator Raymond Lee III, and other top city administrative staff, alleging District 2 City Councilor Sameer Kanal had […]

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Despite DOJ Intervention, Portland Police are Still Killing People in Mental Health Crisis

A grand jury declined to indict officers who used deadly restraint on a man with schizophrenia in June. His family is weighing legal options.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

Teri Johnson never expected justice. Her brother Damon Lamarr Johnson died in June after being restrained by Portland police for several minutes as they tried to take him into custody for behavioral health evaluation.  A medical examiner’s report concluded Johnson 52, died of a prone-restraint-induced cardiac arrest, with methamphetamine use being a “contributing factor.” Prone restraint […]

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Oregon to Feds: Rein in Your Officers or We’ll Prosecute

Top state attorney says his office will investigate federal officers’ criminal conduct during protests and immigration enforcement
Avatar photoAvatar photo Courtney Vaughn and Jeremiah Hayden

Prosecutors in Oregon are warning the US justice department to rein in federal agents who’ve repeatedly used excessive force on protesters, immigrants and even local police. A joint letter from Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and district attorneys from Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington Counties, demands the US Department of Justice “immediately halt unlawful and reckless […]

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Portland City Attorney to US DOJ: “Please Do Not Fail America”

City’s legal team says federal police are brutalizing protesters, and the government is weaponizing its longstanding settlement agreement with the city.
Avatar photoAvatar photo Courtney Vaughn and Taylor Griggs

Portland’s city attorney says federal police are brutalizing protesters, and the government is weaponizing its longstanding settlement agreement with the city.  In response to an investigation launched last week by the federal government into the Portland Police Bureau’s policing practices at the local ICE facility, the city’s legal counsel shot back, laying out a pattern […]

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Workers in Portland’s Independent Police Investigation Unit Authorize a Strike

The complaint investigation unit says the city’s new voter-approved police oversight system could leave them jobless.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

In 2020, Portland voters approved a major overhaul of the city’s current police oversight and accountability system. A ballot measure called for a new, civilian-led police oversight board and a city-funded team of investigators with the authority to investigate complaints and issue discipline.  Five years later, the new Community Board for Police Accountability (CBPA) is […]

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Deadline Approaches to Apply for New Police Accountability Board

Portland’s new civilian-led oversight board, approved by voters in 2020, is finally coming to fruition. Applications for a board seat are due April 14.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

Portlanders have until April 14 to apply to serve on the city’s new Community Board for Police Accountability. The new board was established by a ballot measure Portland voters approved in November 2020 that creates a civilian-led oversight body with authority to investigate police conduct and community complaints against Portland Police Bureau (PPB) personnel. The […]

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Will Portland Police Cooperate with Trump’s FBI?

The Police Bureau’s relationship with a federal anti-terrorism task force triggered a broader conversation about illegal surveillance, racial profiling, and Islamophobia.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

For years Portland Police Bureau has cooperated with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), but with a new federal administration intent on broadening the JTTF’s scope and power, city leaders are uneasy about PPB’s arrangement. What seemed like a routine annual report to City Council sparked a broad discussion Wednesday about racism, immigration, surveillance, […]

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Can Portland’s New Independent Monitor Help Prevent Police Misconduct?

With nearly $3.3 million paid out to injured protesters, a follow-up assessment highlights Portland Police Bureau’s progress and shortcomings on new policies, crowd control tactics.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

Dustin Ferreira wasn’t looking for a fight. Ferreira recently accepted a $400,000 legal settlement with the city of Portland and the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) over a bodily injury lawsuit stemming from brushes with police during and after racial justice protests in 2020 and 2021. He’s one of more than 260 people who filed either […]

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Activists Express Skepticism After Revisions to Police Oversight Board

In 2020, Portland voters called for a bold, independent police accountability system devoid of law enforcement influence. Now, police will help pick the new board members.
Avatar photo Abe Asher

This story is one in a two-part series on Portland’s new Community Board for Police Oversight. At the end of August, approaching four years since it was overwhelmingly approved in a ballot measure by Portland voters, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon approved a plan for the city’s new Community Board for Police Accountability.  Judge Simon’s […]

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