Comments

1
"The media has painted our members in a very negative light while the facts of the case show they were within policy."

F**king weasel. Maybe you should endeavor to be more than just "within policy". Maybe you should endeavor to be just, and oh, I don't know, not kill people?
2
And on the off off chance that anyone from the Police Union might read this:

When I've been in unions my morale has been the lowest at those times that my union dues are being used to defend some shit-bag sexual harrasser or the like, and keep him working in the cubicle next to me, when I would gladly see him get booted and never have to see him again.

You want to improve morale? Let your crappy members get disciplined, so that their colleagues who do work hard and do their job well can continue to be proud of the force and the people around them.
3
Does he really expect high public support for cops that beat a person so bad he dies? I don't use this word much, But FUCK.
4
What Sergeant Westerman still fails to realize after 3 years is that even if PPB officers' actions in the Chasse case were "within policy," those actions were unconscionable. That's why there's still so much outrage.

Until PPB acknowledges that its officers were more concerned with following policy instead of treating another human being with the most basic level of respect and dignity, morale will remain low, and the perception of PPB's officers among the public and the media will sink even lower.

James Chasse was treated worse than we allow people to treat animals. Whether or not that treatment was "within policy" misses the point -- humanity trumps policy every time, and the Portland Police Bureau fails to realize this.

Sgt. Westerman: Get your nose out of the rule book and think about how people ought to be treated. Encourage your fellow officers to do the same. You'll be amazed at how quickly morale can recover.
5
Yes on all the above. Also, let's not forget the pointless murders of unarmed citizens who were pulled over for basic traffic infractions (James Jahar Perez and Kendra James), the point-blank pepper-spraying of children and non-protesters in 2002 and 2003, countless trigger-happy Tazer fingers (not so funny when it leads to death, like Tim Grant), the fishiness and cover-ups surrounding the Raymond Gwerder, Jose Mejia, and Damon Lowery deaths-in-custody, et cetera, et cetera. It's not even just Chasse, odious as that case may be. In each of the quite recent events listed above, the bureau responded with pointless, offensive, expensive claims to impunity, instead of owning up to the fundamental flaws in their so-called "policies". For fuck's sake, even my mom thinks Portland cops are screwed up and she is a tea-bagging cop lover.
6
Karma's a bitch, huh Officer Westerman?
7
Geraghty - one of the point-blank pepper-sprayers in 2002 and 2003 was then-Sgt. Mark Kruger.

He sprayed Channel 12 camerawoman Beth English point-blank in the face without provocation on 8/22/02 during a protest against President Bush fundraising for Gordon Smith.

During the 2003 anti-war protests, he pepper-sprayed Miranda May while she was covering up, and was laughing about it. In addition, Kruger shoved a handcuffed woman (arrested for the heinous crime of jaywalking) in the face, and was involved in an assault on a protester named Amber Hicks on 8/21/03 during a protest against another visit by then-President Bush.

Westerman is a mason in the Blue Wall of Silence. The reason there's no support from the public is because Humphreys and Nice killed someone due to their negligence and lack of self-control. Kruger has made poor decisions and has a history of assaulting women on duty. None of those three should be on the police force, and their DPSST certifications should be pulled, so they can't just go to another jurisdiction like Jason Sery, who killed James Jahar Perez, resigned from the Portland Police Bureau, then was hired by Beaverton.
8
Why doesn't the Oregon Attorney General do something abouts cops like these people.
9
You know what else will really sink your morale level? Getting stomped to death/randomly shot/strapped to a board and pepper sprayed until you suffocate by a gang of thugs who have the legal right to kill you more or less just because they panic or are feeling angry that day.

Westerman -I'd tell you to resign, but as long as I've been alive, your position has been held by some worthless fuck who hates the people who pays his and his brothers' salary. Another one every bit as bad as you will no doubt replace you one day. But still- grow the fuck up and get a little grace, pal: you're the one with the guns and no real oversight.
10
With such low moral I suspect more suicides within the PPD family. Department cleansing.

Please wait...

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