City Commissioner Randy Leonard came to the rare defense of Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman during the council session this morning, with one of his classic rhetorical blow-ups. Why keep an ongoing conflict at a slow burn when you can ramp it up to boiling point with a few choice remarks?
“The bureau should be looking just as seriously into gender discrimination as well as racial profiling,” said Dan Handleman of Portland Copwatch this morning, commenting on the city’s vote to pay out $27,500 to an “emotionally challenged” woman who had sex with an on-duty police officer in June 2007.
Handelman said Saltzman has told him he thinks it’s best to weed out pervo-cops in the recruitment phase, but that’s evidently not good enough, pointing out that Officer Jason Faulk is the fifth police officer in three years to leave the bureau over alleged sexual misconduct. He also criticized the small size of the settlement, saying the case seemed to be about “the apparent rape of a mentally challenged woman by a police officer.”
“Since there’s 850 or so men on the police force, we hope that this council will consider directing some kind of gender bias training,” said Handelman.
Fair enough, right? Well, not for Leonard, who hit back: “One of the things Chief Sizer criticized me for was that I took you seriously,” he said. “I thought you came off as balanced and reasonable and rational, but today it strikes me that you have characterized the police bureau in a way that they can never win with you.”
“I’m very disappointed that you sought to cast a wider net, to cast a wider pall over the bureau, and by reference Commissioner Saltzman, it disappoints me, and this didn’t help our relationship,” Leonard continued. “The result in this case was that the man was fired.”
Handleman responded: “In the same way that we live in a culture that is steeped in racism, we live in a culture that is steeped in misogyny, and I hope that you agree with that, and that there should be some kind of training on that,” he said.
Leonard didn’t respond on the training issue, but did say: “Well, you should have said that.”
To put Leonard’s remarks in context, they may have less to do with Handelman, than the ongoing political pressure on Saltzman as police commissioner, and repairing some of the apparent undermining Leonard has been doing of Saltzman in that role over recent weeks. Saltzman recently went against the wishes of Leonard, Amanda Fritz, and Nick Fish—a majority of council—on another police oversight matter. And the police commissioner has also come under fire for his handling of the inquiry into the death in custody of James Chasse, a man suffering with schizophrenia. Oregonian columnist Anna Griffin even suggested Mayor Sam Adams should take the bureau back from Saltzman last week, over the issue. So Leonard, it seems, decided this morning to back Saltzman up for a change, rather than risk the perception that he might be siding with Griffin and risk a further fissure on council, over the handling of the police bureau.
“The facts in this case are chilling,” said City Commissioner Nick Fish, about the settlement. “A comment was made about the size of the settlement, and what gives me some cause here is that the plaintiff is represented by the Steenson firm, who I believe are representing the Chasse family. So the plaintiff has had excellent counsel. No amount of money can erase the damage done by things like this. But there is no place on the police bureau for an officer who engages in behavior like this.”
They’re both right. Saltzman’s right to say the “best” time to choose whether someone should be employed as a cop is before they are hired. That’s pretty obvious. Handelman’s point is the Chief needs a way to remove people when she has a sufficient reason to do so. The line which connects many of these cases is the police union contract which protects officers from unwarranted firings.
The temporal question is what is just cause, and the ongoing question is, does the City fight to lose in arbitration?
See – http://www.portlandonline.com/omf/index.cf…
Does Westerman support Faulk and claim that the training is adequate?
You know PDX97217, you are absolutely correct. The Portland Police Association does protect officers from “unwarranted firings.” That’s their job! But, to get back to the context of what you probably meant, name one example of the Portland Police Association getting a fired officer their job back where the termination was warranted.
Hmmmm. Didn’t think so. In fact, they have only had 2 cases in the last 20 years where they got officers their jobs back. Both of them were politically sacrificed officers which would fall into the “unwarranted firings”.
The Portland Police Association has gone a long way to make sure that discipline is fair, and just. There have been DOZENS of officers fired or forced to resign under threat of termination where they have not intervened because the firing was warranted.
A list of those officers would be appreciated. Or should we just take your word for it?
I will start the list of people that the union advocated for that SHOULD have been fired:
1) Lt. Jeff Kaer [ see: http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2007/05/09/may… and http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2008/07/30/arb… ]
More examples where the Portland Police have supported people who should be fired? Anyone?
[Also, for fun, check out Westerman’s organized thuggery here: http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blogto… ]
Matt, do a public records request from the Independent Police Review group, I believe they have the names of the officers fired or resigned under threat of termination.
The ones I can think of recently are Rod Murdoch, Joey Wild, Jason Faulk, and the other sex related cases. I don’t ever remember seeing or hearing how the unions involved did anything to protect those members from “warranted” termination.
Number Six, as it relates to Jeff Kaer, that wasn’t the Portland Police Association, that was the commanding officers association, but that is a good example. That was a case where the Chief didn’t recommend termination, a politician did. The union did its job by protecting someone who was fired for political purposes. If you don’t think that’s the case, that’s fine, you have the right to your opinion. But the arbitrator in this case didn’t believe termination was appropriate, only suspension.
As for Westerman’s thuggery, you are truly amazing. What I read in that article, just before the bold section, was that he was advocating for the member to be “treated fairly and equitably”. Wow, such thuggery! God forbid someone actually make sure people are treated fairly and equitably!
Talk to any cop, they’ll tell you the names of other cops that have tarnished the badge and deserved to be fired. In the cases of Kyle Nice, Chris Humphreys, Jeff Kaer, etc, these guys were political pawns that the unions did, or hopefully will, do whatever is necessary to protect them from political whims.
I don’t understand. Surely, Westerman would argue that Faulk’s training was adequate. Surely he would want a “fair and equitable” evaluation of Faulk’s situation. But the union abandoned him.
It frightens me to think that the unions would do “whatever is necessary” to protect Nice, Humphreys and Kaer from proper civilian and yes, political supervision. Hell, it frightens me that you would even suggest that.
Police Supporter:
My guess is you don’t think the firing and subsequent reinstatement of PPB Officers Montee and Wickersham over the “Don’t Choke ‘Em, Smoke ‘Em” incident doesn’t count.
xoxo
THREE YEARS AFTER THE FACT and both Saltzmann and Leonard are still deflecting the fact that two police officers were not fired, were not prosecuted for all of this?
Am I hearing right? “He said, he said”.
And none of that makes anything that happened by two police thugs and one emt thug in this city – any different.
Hey – Leonard YOU FLAT OUT KNOW BETTER THAN TO DO SO. You shoulda been demanding all of them – the EMT included – be out on the streets unemployed by now – instead of PERS pension protected – for life.
Nothing less.
You should have demanded DA Shrunk do more than secret away a “jury” to hear selected tibbits and partial truths and come back with no true bill as to any illegality here – when too many of us know how that “system” has always worked to ENSURE no police officer in this city has ever been prosecuted by DA Shrunk for excessive use of force or for flat out murder of a totally innocent Portland resident – ever.
You missed your appropriate opportunity to question any of this.
And Dan Saltzmann – stepping in after being a City Commissioner for 7 years to suppposedly “supervise” Chief Sizer? You gotta be kidding. You SHOULD HAVE FIRED HER for refusing to be supervised by any of you.
She IS incompetent. She has not reformed a danged thing in this city. Only drug us down in the police murdering mud with the lowest of her ranks – that she protects ands serves. Her boys. Her thugs. Telling you she is going to train them again and retrain them once again – and in the case of Officer Humphrey who has a file full of previous complaints against him for excessive use of force – to sit him down and kum ba yah REtrain him perhaps for the 12 time over – or whatever.
Come on. She serves her blue line – as low as they go. Not the public. She reforms nothing – except the notion that public servants sworn to protect us all can surely KILL US ALL – for sport – or for no reason at all – as there continues to be no proof that killing James Chasse occured because he did anything to warrant any of it.
Dan Saltzmann – you should have fired her because she WHITE WASHED THIS POLICE KILLING.
But instead Leonard and Saltzmann joined in the whitewashing of a innocent man’s death to this day – three years out – instead of own it. Instead of honestly discourse about it all. Instead of still today demand Sizer and Humphrey and Nice be out on the street.
Killing. Torture. And no police was fired. No EMT is out of a job. No one is in jail for doing this – to a completely innocent, no criminal history, severely physically limited, rights protected, mentally ill man who had every RIGHT to be on that street when he was – and had every right to be able to return to his home as he desired.
But who ended up – hogtied, pummeled, tortured and secured in the back of a tax payer provided City of Portland patrol car – until such time as the police officers “serving” him could ensure he was stone cold dead.
And for all of that Leonard and Saltzmann tussle over choices of words? And Sizer throws herself around cleaning it all up – when it never will be cleaned up – as long as she remains our chief. As long as Humphrey and Nice are police officers for this city. As long as NONE of them are in jail. For very really killing a completely innocent man?
This issue just gets more and more polluted as these boys try more and more to deflect it away. Shame on ALL OF THEM. SHAME!
I suspect that “Police Supporter” is a representative of the public relations company that Westerman and his crew hired. Look out, she might try to sell you a stadium, too.
How immature are these kids? Leonard should know better. Dan Handleman, while he is the go to guy, is the face of Portland Copwatch which is an ORGANIZATION of people. It is gross to me that they think they can talk to him like that. Dan and I don’t always agree but we talk to each other civilly. As a member of Copwatch I am offended by Leonard’s remarks which seemed unprofessional, thoughtless, immature and manipulative. And I just called Leonard’s office to express that. Leonard should issue an apology to at least Dan, if not the whole group.
Most people accept the crumbs when we should be demanding a seat at the table and a glass of wine. In even these hard times, Dan has the courage to keep these guys on track and raise the bar. Dan thoughtfully asks for educated, accountable officers and thus safe communities. WHOA! Then Leonard goes off and cries “Oh Rosie told me not to trust you!” What the hell? They never cease to amaze me.