- Denis C. Theriault
- Mayor Sam Adams told reporters that “our principles” over the appropriate use of police force “are worth fighting for.”
The city’s legal battle against a ruling that calls for the reinstatement of fired cop Ron Frashour—the officer who shot an unarmed Aaron Campbell in the back in January 2010—could last for a lot longer than anyone’s currently been mentioning.
How long? Depending on the city’s appetite for a fight, and the Portland Police Association’s newly beefed-up budget for legal fees, maybe several months. Or more.
That’s according to one scenario laid out by Sue Rossiter, chairwoman of the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB), when I called her this afternoon—not long after Mayor Sam Adams reiterated his promise to do whatever he could to challenge an arbitrator’s ruling that would otherwise give Frashour his job back.
Rossiter, speaking only generally, said a challenge by the city (she stuck to words like “employer” and “employee”) could work like this:
1.) The city would refuse to hire back Frashour. 2.) The PPA, citing ORS 243.672.1(g), the state law that says employers have to honor contracts, would then file an unfair labor practices complaint with the ERB. 3.) An ERB judge would investigate, hold a hearing, and make a ruling. 4.) If either side doesn’t like that ruling, it could appeal to the full ERB. 5.) If someone doesn’t like that ruling, then the Court of Appeals would get involved… and, well, anyone whose drooled through a high school civics class can follow what might happen next.
“It’s tough to give a projection of how long it can be, but it could be several months,” Rossiter says, explaining that the process doesn’t always work so smoothly and that she “doesn’t know what the city has planned.”
I asked Adams’ office if that’s roughly what they’re thinking. His spokeswoman, Caryn Brooks, says the deputy city attorney who led the arbitration legal work, Stephanie Harper, is poring over several different approaches. Rossiter’s scenario might work, Brooks says, but there may yet be other ways to fight.
“It’s uncharted territory for us,” she says.
I’ve also asked the PPA to comment on the chance that this stretches for months, and I’ll update if and when I hear back.
Solution #1 Get him back to work, but make him patrol Mill Ends Park only.
Solution #2 Get him back to work, but make him patrol only the block in front of the arbitrator’s house and the ERB office.
Solution #3 Someone needs to guard the entrance to the Big Pipe all night because you know, terrorists.
Solution #4 Someone needs to clean up the blood from all the PPB shootings and the backs of the patrol cars that take people to detox so guess what his new special assignment is!
Can’t the guy get a fucking hint? The mayor of his city doesn’t want him to be a police officer. The people in his city don’t want him to be a police officer.
Instead of being a pain in everyone’s crack and dragging this shit through the courts ad infinitum to get back into a job that no one wants him in, maybe he should just suck it up and find out what exciting opportunities Little Caesar’s has to offer.
The history is that no officer has been fired. What’s worse they end up getting reinstated with back pay for doing nothing while it’s fought in the courts.
The police union contract has to be rewritten to solve the problem. Would imagine the contract negotiations would be fierce.
But it’s really to the advantage of the police to decisively move out the bad apples.
The history is that no officer has been fired. What’s worse they end up getting reinstated with back pay for doing nothing while it’s fought in the courts.
The police union contract has to be rewritten to solve the problem. Would imagine the contract negotiations would be fierce.
But it’s really to the advantage of the police to decisively move out the bad apples.
“… deputy city attorney who led the arbitration legal work, Stephanie Harper, is poring over several different approaches.”
She just got her ass handed to her. Might make sense to put someone else in charge of the appeal, whatever it looks like.
It’s a bitter ass pill to swallow, but the City’s only play here is re-hiring Frashour and hoping he does someone to get fired, which in this city, is damn near impossible. Anything else, and they dig an even deeper hole. This guy’s great grandkids are going to be going to college on settlement money if the City continues to fuck around just because they’re liable for terrible use of force standards of the PPB.