Update, November 26, 12:51pm:
Some understandable attempts to influence the poll by the union chief, from the “Support Chris Humphreys” Facebook page.
Update, 1:50
WILL YOU “STAND WITH” THE POLICE UNION AFTER TODAY’S MARCH ON CITY HALL?
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Original Post:
“Will you stand with us?”
That was the question posed by 650 police officers and their family and friends to Portlanders, outside city hall this morning. More after the jump.
- PORTLAND POLICE ASSOCIATION BOSS SCOTT WESTERMAN: LED MARCH ON CITY HALL THIS MORNING
- WE ARE CHRIS HUMPHREYS: COPS WAITING FOR THE MARCH TO START
Does the union lose face by continuing to defend an officer who makes them look bad?
“The fact that he looks bad is because our leadership is putting him in that position,” said Westerman, this morning, as he waited for the march to kick off, in Lownsdale Square. “It’s all about perception.”
Officers stood round in the cold, wearing t-shirts and waiving signs paid for by police union. “I am Chris Humphreys,” they said. And: “Safety, not politics.” Another sign had the word “Confidence” crossed through with red ink, underneath the word “Leadership.”
The union requested a permit for this morning’s march last week, after the city’s Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman overruled Police Chief Rosie Sizer, and suspended Officer Christopher Humphreys for shooting a twelve year old girl in the leg with a “less-lethal” shotgun.
Since then, a majority of City Council has supported Saltzman’s decision—which nevertheless is understood to have come as a surprise to all of them, last week. City Commissioner Randy Leonard and Mayor Sam Adams are both on vacation this week, but their chiefs of staff confirmed their position yesterday. “I fully support Commissioner Saltzman and Police Chief Rosie Sizer,” said City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, this morning, while Nick Fish has declined comment.
Update, 2:48pm Fish released the following email statement this afternoon:
STATEMENT FROM COMMISSIONER NICK FISHREGARDING PORTLAND POLICE
I have full confidence in the leadership of Commissioner Dan Saltzman and Chief Rosie Sizer.
I have the highest regard for the men and women who maintain public safety in our community and have seen firsthand the compassion and commitment they bring to their work including during last year’s winter emergency.
I will continue to work to maintain respectful dialogue among all parties.
- RALLY CROWD: NOT JUST BURLY WHITE MALE COPS
Back to original post: Meanwhile, the Police Union has sent ballots to all its members for a no-confidence vote in Chief Sizer and Commissioner Saltzman. That move appears to have piqued a moderate down-climb from Sizer, who emailed all her officers last night apologizing for saying she was “troubled” by the video of Humphreys shooting the 12-year old. “I want all of you to know that I value the men and women of this organization and believe in the job you do every day,” Sizer wrote. Saltzman, too, emailed a statement this morning saying he has “the utmost respect for the men and women of the Portland Police Bureau,” and that he “resolve[s] to maintain good relations, or at least frank discussions with the Portland Police Association on a myriad of issues.”
Evidently, those mumbled apologies weren’t good enough for the cops and their friends and families marching on city hall this morning. The crowd snaked East toward the river, marching past central precinct before heading back up Madison Street toward city hall. Westerman spent ten minutes marshaling the crowd—”fill in, fill in,” he said, and “be sure to leave a pathway so that people conducting official business at city hall can get through.”
- ‘I AM CHRIS HUMPHREYS’: MOST POPULAR SIGN THIS MORNING
Then he got started. “I’m Scott Westerman, president of the Portland Police Association,” he said. Huge applause.
“BULLSHIT,” shouted an African American man who declined to give his name—”I’m a black man, they all want to shoot me already,” he told the Mercury.
“Is that really necessary?” asked Westerman.
“I’m just a union man,” the heckler retorted. “I’ve come down here to hear what you’ve got to say.”
“You’re here today to show your support for officers that act in good faith,” said Westerman. “This is not about one officer or one politician or one police chief. Today is about support. Have you come here to stand with me?”
“Do you have your water cannons?” asked the heckler, over a huge cheer.
- HECKLER: RELENTLESS
“We support Chief Sizer and Commissioner Saltzman, not rogue cops!” screamed Alice Lynn and Jessica Bannister—two disability rights advocates, from the back of the crowd. “It was a girl, a child, end of story!” “Not in my town!” they screamed. “This is not Portland!”
“BULLSHIT,” screamed the heckler, repeatedly, over Westerman’s remarks—in easy earshot of the TV cameras and radio microphones. He waved a sign saying “KKK”—”Doctor King would be ashamed of you carrying that sign today,” yelled an elderly protester, to his right.
Westerman pushed on.
“We stand here together because we often feel like nobody’s willing to stand with us,” said Westerman.
“Who’s willing to stand with us?”
Another huge cheer.
Westerman then listed all the good things cops do—the Police Activities League, the Sunshine Division, emergency calls for service, the school police division…
“That’s they job!” screamed the KKK-sign-waiving heckler.
…domestic violence reduction…
“How many more you want to shoot?” the heckler yelled.
…preventing the sex trade, lowering crime to its lowest rate in decades…
“Will you stand with us?” Westerman asked again, of Mayor Sam Adams, Commissioner Leonard, Fritz, “small business owners?”
If not, Westerman said, “then you will have placed political expediency before public safety.”
He evoked the death of North Portland Officer Mark Zylawy, too.
“To each and every member of our community, we ask today that you should stand with us,” he concluded.
Two patrol cars drove past with their sirens blaring, then a fire truck drove past, honking its horn. There were 50 continuous seconds of loud cheering and applause.
Afterward, Westerman took questions: He declined to say what he wants Mayor Adams to do—whether he wants a different commissioner in charge of the Police Bureau, or what. “This is a medium for our voice to be heard,” he said.
“We all know that when this discipline goes to arbitration, we’re going to get it back,” said Westerman, asked whether the show of force was designed to provide leverage for the union’s upcoming contract negotiations with the city. “And this is not about the upcoming contract negotiations. This is about what is right. If anything this is going to make the contract negotiations more difficult.”