There have been several disturbing allegations of retaliation and harassment swapped back and forth among high-ranking Portland Police Bureau officers in recent days—fallout from a legal battle and scandal that exploded after Police Chief Mike Reese’s good friend, Mike Kuykendall, quit last week over a series of text messages calling another cop a Nazi.
(Never mind that the cop in question, Captain Mark Kruger, had been punished in 2010 over an illegal shrine to Nazi-era German soldiers.)
But among the most troubling questions, if largely ignored, is how, exactly, those text messages first went public. They first came out in a slander claim (pdf) filed by Kruger. But they were initially part of a harassment complaint filed against Kruger—by one of his former subordinates, Lieutenant Kristy Galvan. And Galvan, in a legal complaint (pdf) of her own, throws out a bombshell of an accusation: The bureau’s internal affairs division leaked the texts to the Portland Police Commanding Officers Association, despite promises of confidentiality. The PPCOA then gave the texts to Kruger and his attorney.
“I have concerns the information was released,” Charese Rohny, Galvan’s attorney, tells the Mercury. “But I’m open to the union’s explanation of how, why, and under what timeline. I’ve yet to have that conversation with them.”
If true—and let’s keep in mind that it is part of a tort claim—it could suggest collusion between bureau investigators, senior staffers, and a PPCOA president, Bryan Parman, who holds a high-profile job under Reese, running the bureau’s training division. That should send a chill through any cop thinking of filing an internal complaint. But if the PPCOA obtained those texts on the level and not from IA—there are rumblings from sources that the charge isn’t true, then it’s probably up to Parman to clear things up. Unfortunately, so far, he has not.
Asked about the texts during a break at last night’s inaugural Training Advisory Council meeting, Parman very politely said it was PPCOA policy not to comment on disputes involving two members. Asked to comment on the hanging implication—the very public accusation—that internal affairs might have breached its trust, he relented a little and told me he’d have to check with the PPCOA’s board.
Sergeant Pete Simpson, lead bureau spokesman, says the whole thing “sounds like a disconnect” and that turning over confidential information to the Portland Police Association or the PPCOA “would not happen.”
Simpson did acknowledge that “it appears a paper copy was shared” with the PPCOA, based on what Kruger’s lawyer has reported. But Simpson also said it’s possible that others had paper copies. Galvan’s complaint says she at least discussed the texts with a union rep last year but doesn’t say whether she provided copies. Union reps also participate in sitdowns with internal affairs investigators.
Simpson said the accusation could be looked at as part of the city’s unfolding examination of the two complaints, standard practice for IA probes that start down one track and sometimes finish down several.
But Simpson also noted that the charge came in a tort claim.
“The torts have opposing views,” he said. “The expectation that it’s 100 percent true isn’t there.”
We will likely never know exactly who leaked the text messages, but I think it’s pretty certain that the Internal Affairs division is just as corrupt and vile as the rest of the Portland Police Bureau. They are ultimately the ones who enable all of the nefarious and toxic behavior of the entire bureau. I’m inclined to believe Kristy Galvan, the person who does not like Nazis (for being Nazis), rather than the Portland Police Commanding Officers Association, who palls around with Nazis (because they are Nazis). Internal Affairs probably leaked them to the PPCOA because they’re all friendly chums who tell racist jokes together.
Does anyone else think it’s curious that the ongoing LAPD rampage was partially inspired by racism and Nazism within LAPD police ranks? In this city, we fired a cop for making fun of Nazis, what message does that send about Nazism within our police ranks?
Agreed fidelity. The PPB is corrupt. And I’m not using that term as hyperbole or shock language. I mean actually corrupt, from (some) officers on the street, to command, to internal affairs, to the unions, to the arbitrators.
The entire system is dirty to the core. We can’t fire Nazis. We can’t fire people for killing unarmed civilians, or beating the crap out of lawful protesters. We can’t demote someone who is stroking his subordinate’s leg.
Depressing shit.
THE ISSUE HAS NOW BEEN MOVED TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE PORTLAND POLICE BUREAU CLUSTERFUCK DIVISION.
In one’s humble opinion this is great reporting as always Denis on a very important story. Was just talking with @Lee Van Der Voo the other day saying nobody has yet laid this whole story out in a concise, readable way. “The Kruger Clusterfuck.” You know. Of course, it’s a novel. Or a documentary really. Sad but true. Yet this man’s corrosive influence on the bureau is starting to become crystal clear. If Mike Kuykendall *(who is a complete and total maniac bastard, unorthodox in the extreme, but one at least does sometimes respect his unorthodoxy and think, ‘well, at least you’re going with your poor old apparently Republican beliefs, misguided though they are, at least I know which pig I’m wrasslin’) has been forced to resign because Kruger is such an intractable weirdo, well, I think the story is there. Kuykendall should give an interview. I’d be all, showing up at Kuykendall’s house with a microphone and shit. Asking him whether he thinks Kruger is part of “rape culture.” He’s just itching to comment on it, I bet. Might even punch me in the face or something. Say, I actually happen to be in town Thursday. I might just track Mike down then. That’d be hilarious. He’d probably pull a shotgun on me or something. “Man dies in reporting incident.” But it’d be worth it. I’d be Portland’s reporter Jesus.