The Oregonian this weekend broke a bit of juicy news about one of the longest-running and most controversial stories involving the Portland Police Bureau: Capt. Mark Kruger—the cop accused of building a shrine for five Nazi Germany soldiers at a city park several years ago—could face discipline after a top commander and the city’s Police Review Board determined his actions brought “discredit and disgrace” to Portland.
City officials have long defended Kruger with regards to his memorial for the German soldiers—and as others have complained about him. Kruger also has faced, and continues to face, criticism over his conduct during anti-war rallies several years ago.
From Maxine Bernstein’s story:
During the course of the police investigation, Internal Affairs investigator Mike Barkley learned the city attorney’s office had stashed away the plaques in a litigation file for at least six years.
But the city had never initiated an investigation into what they were for or why Kruger put them up until the city got pressure from Robert Seaver, a former friend of Kruger’s who dogged city officials with explosive e-mails, interviews with the media and an embarrassing YouTube video featuring Kruger posing in German uniforms.
Former police Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who said he was alarmed there hadn’t been a prior in-depth inquiry, last October called for an internal investigation of Kruger. Seaver filed a formal complaint with the Independent Police Review Division the next month. Both prompted the Police Bureau’s first, wide-ranging internal investigation of Kruger and a sustained violation.
Now, a former Portland attorney who had sued the city and Kruger in federal court, and Seaver, accuse the city attorney’s office of a “cover up.”
The police Performance Review Board found Kruger nailed “memorial plaques” of five Nazi soldiers as a shrine to a tree on the east side of Rocky Butte Park sometime between 1999 and 2001, according to a letter Internal Affairs Capt. Ed Brumfield sent to Seaver. The letter is dated Sept. 7, 2010.
I don’t want to have a picnic with Mark Kruger or anything, and I really, really don’t want our police to be Nazi sympathizers.
I’m just wondering – is there any allegation that Kruger did this stuff on city time, or in some way brought “being a nazi” in to work with him? I see why he can be fired for committing the crime of vandalizing the park, but what if these were blog posts, or plaques on trees in his back yard?
It’s the “obvious” cases like this one that always form the thin end of the wedge when it comes to paring back civil liberties. As has been asserted over and over in the comments, both accidentally and on purpose: it’s not ordinarily against the law to be stupid and wrong, and you shouldn’t be fired for being stupid and wrong in your off-time.
From a 2004 Phil Busse story – “One of Kruger’s former friends came forward to say they used to drive around the city listening to recorded Adolf Hitler speeches and shouting racial epithets at people.” That qualifies as behavior in his off time that justifies firing in my mind, though the source is a little suspect.
I want to see him fired for his past behavior against protesters more than his nerdy hobbies. However they justify it is fine with me.
There are a lot of stories about Kruger being particularly brutal and verbally abusive with protesters, one most notably being the case where he used excessive force with a female protester and bragged about it and – I believe – had pictures of the confrontation posted in his work area.