It’s entitled “Repairing the Breach Starts Now.” A few excerpts:
The letter from the Multnomah County grand jury, which offered a stinging criticism of the actions of the police that day, got it right. The question is, what will we do about it? Where do we go from here?
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This is a difficult discussion made more so by the passions of the moment. The idea that Aaron Campbell was somehow responsible for his own death is offensive. No less offensive is the notion offered at one community meeting that this was some sort of “lynching” by police or that police “have the sole intent to kill somebody.”
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This shouldn’t have happened — and to simply chalk it up to a bad chain of events would ignore the reality that there was a serious and inexcusable failure to communicate, which resulted in a young man’s death.
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I will continue to make aggressive changes. I have directed a top-to-bottom review of how the police communicate in incidents that could conceivably end in the use of deadly force — including an unsparing examination of the Campbell shooting along with disciplinary actions as appropriate.
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A columnist for The Oregonian recently referred to me as “introverted.” It is true I am not much for speeches or pounding the table. There has been more than enough of that. But do not mistake that for a lack of resolve. In the wake of Aaron Campbell’s death, no words will suffice. In the quest for justice, it is by our deeds that we will be judged.
I’ve done some analysis after the jump.
That last part about not mistaking being “introverted” with being “resolved” seems eerily similar to the line Saltzman delivered at our recent Bus Project Brewhaha: “I’m dull, but I get things done.”
Remember, Saltzman is up for reelection in May. Anna Griffin also described him as “exceedingly stiff” in another column, and our illustrators have taken to drawing him as a literal scapegoat. It was also hard not to cringe for the Commissioner’s campaign staff the other day when the Reverend Jesse Jackson mocked him at the presser on the Campbell shooting. Saltzman said Officer Ron Frashour would be reassigned to “livability duties,” and standing two feet from him, Jackson said: “You hear that title? Neighborhood livability. What a title. Neighborhood livability.”
- SALTZMAN: CERTAINLY TOOK HIS MEDICINE THIS WEEK
Saltzman, for his part, certainly seems to making all the right noises, and doing many of the right things in reaction to the shooting. His election opponent has made some grumbling noises about his approach, but as I have written recently, it’s highly unlikely that the police commissioner will even be forced into a runoff come May.
But there’s no mention of the police union in Saltzman’s editorial, and it seems a fairly glaring ommission. I think one of the most insightful comments on all of this came on Friday from a Blogtown commenter, Blabby:
But I find this incredibly embarrassing for the city. Our Police Commissioner is throwing up his hands and writing a cry for help to the AG of the United States after trying… what exactly?
Saltzman hasn’t attempted to initiate any discipline in the Campbell case. He’s basically shrugging and saying “What can I do? I’m only the Police Commissioner.”
In case anyone is still missing the subtext here:
The Mayor and Police Commissioner of Portland, Oregon need to call the Attorney General of the United States in D.C. in order to take on the local police union.
Indeed, there’s a breach that needs healing, alright. Whether it’s because our police commissioner is dull, introverted, stiff, or for some other reason. There’s a breach that needs healing, and it starts with standing up to the police union.
I posted these thoughts in response to Blabby’s comment on Friday, but I think they bear repeating in a post of their own. You’ll remember that last year Commissioner Saltzman suspended an officer prior to discipline, prompting a 650-strong rally by the police union. Ultimately, Saltzman backed down. So Blabby is right that the “subtext” here is that Saltzman can’t suspend an officer without the union crying “murder.” Even in this case when the officer is being branded an “executioner” by one of two living Americans with his face on a postage stamp.
I would also remind readers that the Albina Ministerial Alliance supported Saltzman last year, when he originally suspended Officer Christopher Humphreys for shooting a 12-year-old girl with a beanbag shotgun. These are the same guys who were ultimately ignored by Saltzman, in favor of the union. So they decided to call in Jesse Jackson, this time around: The cop union rallied 650 last year, and Jackson rallied 1500 plus. It’s a chess game.
Scott Westerman and the police union have of course been keeping a low profile this week. Westerman was at a breakfast on Thursday with Saltzman and the African American Alliance, and Joyce Harris from the AAA said Friday morning that Westerman had faced some “tough questions” from members of the Alliance. “Of course he represents the union and has a different perspective,” Harris said.
I did ask Westerman on Tuesday whether he had made “I am Ron Frashour” t-shirts yet. He said yes, qualifying that they were only mocked up on the union’s Facebook page, at this stage. I’ve noticed that some of the protesters over the Campbell Shooting have been responding to the “I am Chris Humphreys” t-shirts that the Union wore during that protest last year, for example:
With contract negotiations looming, it’s now the union’s move. Let’s hope they make it a smart one, and whatever happens, let’s hope the Police Commissioner has learned his lesson about how to parent the Portland Police Association. One thing is certain: He can’t just ignore them, and hope they’ll go away.
Excellent analysis Matt!
As a progressive, who grew up in Detroit, I know how important unions are when it comes to battling the corporate pandering government we have today. But, like the bus drivers’ union, the police union seems to have far to much power when it comes to protecting persons who abuse minorities and persons with disabilities.
I agree with Saltzman when he says, ‘we will be judged by are deeds’.
But, I truly hope you are wrong Matt when you say Saltzman will win easily in the May primary.
Who do you think, of the six candadates running, has the best shot to unseat Saltzman?
Thanks, Matt. Exceedingly well done.
@Whistle Blaster: Jesse Cornett obviously has the best chance, because he’s the only candidate who qualified for the $150,000 in public campaign financing.
It’s still damned near impossible to unseat a rich incumbent in this race, however.
Also, I’ve just read Steve Duin’s column describing Officer Ron Frashour as a “loose cannon.”
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/s…
Thanks for posting the link to Steve Duin’s article [one of the last good editorial writers they still have] Matt. I’ve been trying to gather as much info. as i could on killer cop Frashour – this should help.
You are far too easy on Saltzman – his examination will be “unsparing,” will it? Who will it unspare? Before they were shut down on the Oregonian blog, the PPB contingent uniformly blamed Campbell’s death on . . . Campbell, of course. He was an ex-felon with too many children who didn’t do what he was told and thus deserved to be shot to death, was the meme.
Let’s face it – as long as the grand jury exonerates policemen involved in this kind of thing, “discipline” is virtually impossible. If the grand jury finds “not a true bill” in a case against a civilian, the cops tell him/her “we’ll get you next time.” If it happens in a police case, it is spun as a total vindication, if not a public accolade.
The long-term solution is clear – we need an independent police review board with subpoena power and the authority to involve a special prosecutor with access to the grand jury – independent of the Multnomah County District Attorney – in cases of death or “serious physical injury” (a term defined in the criminal code), such as those of Campbell and Chasse.
This does nothing more than expose the police to the same level of responsibility for their behavior as everyone else. In fact, the criminal implications would be limited to cases of death or serious injury, and the city could still fly experts in from all over the country to impress the grand jury, or a trial jury, with how difficult and dangerous it is to be a policeman and how little time they have to act in any given situation. It is very likely, in fact, that no more policemen would get indicted than get indicted right now.
But at least the system would not appear to be, or really be, so obviously *fixed* for the benefit of those to whom society’s only legitimate coercive power is entrusted, and against those who must, ultimately, do the entrusting.
A point I’d like to throw out there is that I don’t think so much that Campbell was killed specifically because he was black. It strikes me as more like the officers involved behaved stupidly, communicated poorly (a sniper with no radio contact?) and ultimately fucked up about as badly as a police officer can – and knew that they *could get away with it* because Campbell was black. So far, they’re right.
What are we gonna do? The grand juries always side with the armed people, and there is no effective police oversight in this town. The cops themselves have proven themselves entirely unwilling to hear even the slightest criticism, but also factor in that Saltzman’s attempt to discipline Humphreys was too little, too late, and arguably for the wrong offense.
So far, I’d say that Saltzman ought to step down, I’d like to see Westerman removed from his post (not that you and I have anything to say about that), and Rosie Sizer needs to rein in her rogue cops because she has lots of them. Then we can begin this conversation.
Alright? Because as it currently stands, you can kill someone in this town as a city employee and publicly call it persecution when the worst thing that happens to you is paid leave.
Saltzman needs to go. We need new leadership. I am voting for Jesse Cornett. But, frankly, any candidate except Saltzman will do.
It sounds like the bean bag rounds dramatically escalated the situation just as it was near being resolved. There were plenty of mistakes made, but that one shouldn’t be lost in the crowd.
@Sue agreed. It’s the main line in our reporting this week: That the beanbag round was the snowballer, the precipitator of the whole crisis. And that it was almost certainly out of policy and excessive. We’ll do our best to bang this drum loudly over the coming days.
“It’s still damned near impossible to unseat a rich incumbent in this race, however.”
“Rich” is unnecessary. Saltzman isn’t self-funding and “rich” has nothing to do with him potentially winning this race. The fact is that he’s an incumbent and has a great deal of name-recognition (10+ years), as well as, respect, in the community for a variety of things, including the Children’s Investment Fund. Your personal bias has nothing to do with his abilities or chances of winning this race. In fact, wealth, in Portland, is like a dirty word and if anything, only increases his chance of losing. Of course, that may be the reason you used the word.
I personally will be voting against Saltzman because I think Jesse Cornett offers a fresh view, is the most capable of all of the alternatives to Saltzman and I think he’s asking questions that few / no of the sitting commissioners are asking in regards to MLS, police and more.
In addition to being hit with bean bag rounds, which seemed to be IMMEDIATELY followed up with deadly fire (thus, never allowing a chance for Campbell to even surrender), i’d like to know this: the specific weapon that was used – that Ronald Frashour used to murder Aaron Campbell.
What justifies police using AR-15 military assualt rifles on a civilian populas? Had Campbell been shot with a typical cops’ handgun, it would’ve been bad enough. The fact that such an extreme form of over-kill was used against an un-armed, non-threating man in distress is what really gets me.