Mayor Sam Adams just emerged from a “very difficult, very sad” meeting with Marva Campbell-Davis and the six other family members of Aaron Campbell.

“They are in a lot of pain, they were very critical of the police actions, and of the officer going back to work this morning, they were wanting answers, and it was very painful,” he says.

The mayor made a personal commitment to the family to pass on their feelings about why Officer Frashour should be removed from the streets, this afternoon. He plans to talk with Chief Sizer and Commissioner Dan Saltzman in the next couple of hours.

“Mostly, my job is to listen. I expressed my sadness at the tragedy, and talked again about my commitment to a complete investigation,” says the mayor. “I asked them to express why they wanted the officer removed from the streets, and I committed to pass that on to Commissioner Saltzman and the chief, personally.”

The family thought Officer Frashour being pulled off the streets would be “a sign of respect,” said Adams. “I said to them that Commissioner Saltzman will have an opportunity for a lot more facts tomorrow, and that Commissioner Saltzman had told me that then, he will work with the chief, and consult with me, and that the final decision will be his. The family wanted action at that meeting. I said I couldn’t do it at that meeting.”

Meetings like this are very unusual. Why did the mayor agree to meet with the family?

“I saw them, I noticed that there was a group of folks hugging tightly together and they looked very distraught,” said Adams. “My initial concern was that they were feeling penned in, and then one of the family members introduced himself. I saw clearly their look of distress and pain.”

Adams also met for ten minutes with Sanford Webb, the man who was frustrated outside his office, during the protest. Adams committed to look into his issues with law enforcement dating back to the mid nineties.

Update, 2:07 The mayor just posted a statement on the meeting on his website.

Matt Davis was news editor of the Mercury from 2009 to May 2010.

10 replies on “Adams: Meeting “Very Difficult,” Decision On Officer Frashour Suspension Expected Tomorrow”

  2. Meeting, talking, and listening is exactly the right first step. Good for Sam Adams to have stepped out of protocol and into this basic human interaction, however sad or distressing. The crucial next step is to decide that what he heard matters and will carry weight in policy decisions. The experience of the Campbell family matters as much or more than the all-too dominant concerns of the Portland Police Association and other police fraternal organizations. This is the moment when Sam Adams must lead by insisting that the city change its priorities, change who it and it’s police answer to. The police must answer to the people who live here, or try to live, but who suffer fear and tragedies like that of the Campbell family. Any failure to recognize and insist on this change now, would truly be a failure of leadership.

  4. “Mostly, my job is to listen.”

    Interesting take on the job of Mayor.

    What is the most politically expedient thing for him to do? Because that is what he’ll do.

  5. Mayor Adams did a very positive thing in listening and being human today and I hope that these sentiments are reflected in policy decisions as well.

  6. While i agree that listening is a first step towards making some positive changes, I believe the mayor’s job is “mostly” supposed to be providing leadership. Does the guy have have a spine in there? Could he maybe just come up with some reassurance that the police, the Chief and the commissioner will be held accountable for errors and crap policy decsions? What else has to happen before he will actually commit to making sure that meaningful changes take place in the PPB?

  7. It seems that the root of the problem may just be that there are no penalties in place for police misconduct in Portland. I assume that there are, but I can only assume that they are without any real teeth or consequence. How do other cities keep their police forces in line? Portland seems to be the exception. I feel like we’re begging our employees not to kill us, the employers.

  8. “It seems that the root of the problem may just be that there are no penalties in place for police misconduct in Portland.”
    Kinda seems that way don’t it?
    It’s a cliche but “Who is going to Police THE police?”
    To investigate and then be expected to punish themselves is clearly ludicrous.

  9. The truth, would you please take your toilet of a mind elsewhere?

    The tone here is so deflating in places.

    Like it was so good of him to listen and be human, now he just needs to take over the police dept, and leeeeeeead us across the waaaaaaater…

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