The manager and owner of a private security firm in SE
Portland is still running his business with the blessing of the state,
despite having been warned repeatedly by police for over a year for
allegedly taking “pseudo police action”— including making
“arrests” and bargaining with “suspects” over “drug charges,” according
to new documents obtained by the Mercury.
“Captain” Knute Soleim runs Portland Security Services, Inc. (PSSI),
which according to the company’s website, portlandsecurity.net, provides
security “when observe and report is not enough.” Soleim is registered
with the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) in
Salem—the state agency charged with regulating private security
guards.
PSSI guards dress in blue uniforms with bright, shiny badges,
according to a spokesman for the firm. They also patrol their clients’
properties in retired black-and white police cars with badges on the
sides and red light bars on top.
Now, further evidence has emerged to suggest they may be leaping
over the line separating private security from police.
“Upon arrival, I found Soleim standing in front of the building next
to his ‘patrol car,’ which is a ‘retired’ black-and-white police car,
complete with light bar,” wrote Portland Police Officer Andy Edgecomb
in a “special report” he submitted to the DPSST on August 1, 2006.
Edgecomb arrived on the scene—an apartment complex on SE
Powell—to find Soleim had “arrested” someone.
“[The suspect] was handcuffed and sitting in the back seat,”
Edgecomb’s report continues. “Soleim said that he and another security
guard contacted [the suspect] and found he was in possession of a small
marijuana pipe which had a very small amount of residue. Soleim said he
took [the suspect] into custody for drug possession, handcuffed him,
and escorted him out to his car.”
Soleim, according to Edgecomb’s report, had earlier called Hooper
Detox and asked for them to send a van to take the “suspect” and his
friend, who was allegedly drunk, to detox. The Mercury‘s efforts
to contact the two men were unsuccessful.
“Soleim said that he told [the suspect] the ‘drug charges’ would be
dropped if he agreed to go to detox,” says the cop’s special
report.
Edgecomb’s report says other cops had warned Soleim before about
this kind of behavior.
“I know that Officers Jensen, Bruce, Mirau, and Castlio have
previously advised Soleim and other [PSSI] guards about taking
pseudo-police action,” Edgecomb wrote. “There were so many legal issues
with this situation I did not even attempt to discuss it with
Soleim.”
Portland Police spokesman Brian Schmautz says it’s possible Officer
Edgecomb did not arrest Soleim for impersonating a police officer under
ORS 162.367 because it’s unclear whether Soleim was violating the
statute, which requires the person to be acting “with the intent to
obtain a benefit.”
“Arguably what the guy is doing is irresponsible or not within the
confines of what a security guard should be doing,” says Schmautz. “But
there is a civil system in place to address that.”
Schmautz argues that a benefit to Soleim’s business from
impersonating an officer is not the same as a personal benefit, such as
taking a “fine,” but the law, as it is written, does not appear to make
such a distinction. District Attorney Mike Schrunk did not return a
call for clarification.
“He is immediately contacting law enforcement so he is not trying to
pretend he is the police,” Schmautz contends.
Officer Edgecomb declined comment, but wrote another special report
on Soleim in September 2007, according to Schmautz. The police bureau
was unable to furnish the Mercury with this report by press
time.
According to DPSST records—the “civil system” Schmautz refers
to—the agency took no action against Soleim or his company,
following Edgecomb’s report. However, DPSST investigator Karen Evans
told the Mercury that the complaints against Soleim and his
company are “unusual.”
The Mercury requested all complaints against PSSI from the
DPSST, under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.
Other complaints against PSSI include one from September 2006, by a
former employee who wished to keep his name secret, alleging that “the
company will often hire transients and put them on post without being
certified.”
The complainant also said that there are individuals working armed
without the proper permit, and as supervisors without that
certification, supplying pay stubs to support his allegations. The
anonymous complainant told the DPSST he had been told by Soleim and
“Lieutenant” Anthony Tait that PSSI “had the DPSST girls in their back
pockets.”
According to its records, the DPSST took no action over this
complaint, either.
“The case is in the queue,” says DPSST spokeswoman Jeanine Hohn, who
says the agency is currently dealing with 150 complaints against
private security companies in Oregon. She adds that Soleim “wasn’t
arrested for any crime.”
DPSST Executive Director John Minnis refused comment, and Soleim did
not return a call for comment.