Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman defied a majority of his
council colleagues on Tuesday, September 22, sending a memo outlining
his decision to keep the city’s secret list of downtown
offenders a secret. City Commissioners Nick Fish, Randy
Leonard, and Amanda Fritz all called for the list to be made
public at a council session on August 26, but that wasn’t enough to
convince Saltzman. “I’m just looking at the issue, I think, in a fair
and open manner,” he says. “And not reacting to the politics of the
list.”
Saltzman had not discussed the decision with his council colleagues
on Tuesday, but appears to be gambling against their collective
political courage. Sadly I suspect they’ll back down, and he’ll
win. Leonard, Fritz, and Fish declined comment by press time.
The list targets the most frequent arrestees in Old Town for felony
prosecution on crimes that would otherwise be prosecuted as
misdemeanors, as well as offering them drug treatment. The
Mercury first exposed its existence in April 2008. Saltzman
cited “privacy concerns” for the individuals on the list as
justification to keep it secret this week, adding that they had a
“constitutional right to privacy.” I thought the Constitution also
protected individuals from being targeted for special treatment by
the government.
Saltzman says he will also direct the Portland Police Bureau to
issue a policy insuring that an individual can ascertain if they are on
the list, and has directed the Mercury to work with his director
of public safety, Shannon Callahan, to get hold of statistics showing
how successful the program is.
Bizarrely, Saltzman says that if the Mercury chose to put in
a public information request for the list, “We might deny you at
the city level, but you would probably prevail at the district attorney
level.”
So then why not release the list, regardless? “Because I am
concerned about protecting the privacy of the people on the list,” he
says. D’oh! There go the Mercury‘s plans to print the list on
our cover next week. Seriously: We want the list because we’re
concerned that last time we saw it, it was disproportionately
targeting black people. And we have questions about the program’s
cost effectiveness compared to simply paying caseworkers. Also I don’t
see how giving an individual a felony instead of a misdemeanor helps their chances in life more than naming them as a frequent
arrestee. Me and my silly questions!
Please keep up the good work on this matter–Matt. Your story as well as other countless stories about the Portland Police read like horror stories. I can’t even believe this is happening in America. And the powers that be don’t even see how illegal and unethical their behavior is (eg secret lists, punishing people with felonies for misdemeanors, police lack of accountability regarding excessive force.)
My heart breaks for the family/familes of James Chasse and countless others whose lives have been trampled on by the Portland Police.
These” liveability” committees and programs make me think of Nazi Germany. Liveability for who?
I moved to Portland 10 yrs ago, have a professional position and live only a few blocks from where James Chasses was murdered.
I have been sickened by the agenda of these elitist ethnic cleansing committees that have the gall to call themselves “liveability” committees.
I am generally in favor of the list tactic. It specifically targets the worst offenders in a high crime area. It allows a response that is more appropriate for the specific character of their offenses. It seems to work really well based on what I have read.
To be honest, I can’t quite understand why it needs to be kept secret. I think it should withstand any legal challenge. Maybe they just don’t want to deal with the politics of being accused of racism in the papers. I would hope that isn’t the reason, because a disproportionate number of minorities is certainly not, in an of itself, discriminatory in any illegal way.