THE CITIZEN BOARD helping reform Portland’s police force got out of a two-month timeout last week to find it had been stood up.
Membership of the COAB (Community Oversight Advisory Board) had already dwindled to roughly half its intended 15-person strength—and just five appeared in person at last Thursday’s meeting. Not a one of the police “advisers” assigned to the group showed up. Nor did the City Attorney’s Office or US Department of Justice (DOJ), which have often made sure to be on hand to offer advice or clarity on the fraught business of police reform.
The Chicago academics being paid to scrutinize Portland’s police reform effort—and who are tasked with chairing the COAB—were also absent, though they sent a representative to run the meeting.
Other than a handful of police accountability diehards in the audience, the COAB was on its own.
“There are no police advisers here,” COAB member and attorney Tom Steenson said to the room at one point. “The city attorneys don’t show up. The DOJ doesn’t show up. I think we’ve been abandoned.”
