The Portland Police Association plans a march on City Hall tomorrow morning following the announcement of its “no confidence” ballot last Friday—over Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman’s suspension of Officer Christopher Humphreys.
“RALLY TO SUPPORT POLICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY SCHEDULED
PORTLAND, OR — November 23, 2009—The Portland Police Association will hold a march and rally on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 to demonstrate support for police and public safety in the greater Portland area, and to oppose unfair decisions by elected officials motivated by politics, not concern for public safety.
Portland Police Association members, along with officers from neighboring police bureaus, community members and members of other local labor unions will gather at 9:45 AM at Lownsdale Square and will march, ending in front of City Hall for a brief presentation at 10 AM.”
The timing of the rally is designed to be “before Thanksgiving,” says Portland Police Association President Scott Westerman. “And to maintain pressure on the city.”
The no-confidence ballots—for Chief Sizer, and Police Commissioner Saltzman—were distributed over the weekend. The deadline for voting is November 27, and the PPA will publish the results on November 30. The outcome of the result? “It depends on the percentages,” says Westerman. “Let’s say 50 percent say they don’t have confidence, then clearly it’s backfired on us. Let’s say 97 percent come back and say they have no confidence in Dan Saltzman—regardless of how confident Sam Adams is in Dan Saltzman’s decisions, that’s got to speak to Sam Adams—that he’s got to take control of the bureau, either that, or give it to a City Commissioner who is not so impulsive, or makes rash decisions based on one piece of evidence.”
“This is a march for officers to have a voice,” says Westerman, adding that he thinks Adams is “a lot more politically astute” than Saltzman, but declining to name another City Commissioner who he thinks would make a good police commissioner.
“This is the first time we have done this in a long time,” says Westerman. “It is not just about Humphreys, it is about public safety—you have cops who’ve been told they did exactly what was asked of them, but who have been suspended, or disciplined, regardless.”
Humphreys filed a stress disability claim last week, but Westerman says he has confidence in him, regardless.
“He says he doesn’t care if he’s in the hospital with pneumonia,” says Westerman. “He’ll make it to an internal affairs review.”
Meanwhile, a survey on Jack Bogdanski’s blog says 80% of Bogdanski’s readers have lost confidence in the police union.
Someone should have broached the subject (which another astute Blogtownie has brought up)of them being on the job and in uniform when they stage their protest and the legality of such things.
Wait, is this the same police union where the head of said union had previously demanded Mayor Adams’ resignation? Now they want Adams to step in, reassign, or possible take over responsibility for the bureau? Is that correct?
The city should send a bill to the police union, asking to be re-imbursed for the wages for those police who were demonstrating while they were supposed to be on the job. Assuming, of course, that they were actually supposed to be working. After all, they were violating regulations, I believe.
This is fucking ridiculous. The man was suspended, not fired. There’ll be an investigation, maybe hearing. Sounds like the system is working to me. Yet here we have a group, the police, who are accustomed to giving orders and not taking them. They obviously don’t like having their authority or judgment questioned. Their job is to uphold the system, which is functioning just fine thank you, but when one decision goes against them, they are willing to ignore their responsibilities and drop everything to protest the administration. What a bunch of fucking babies. I’m ready for a vote of no confidence in the police who believe they should be exempt from questioning.
The little gangsta twirp was subdued by non-lethal means in the course of attacking a cop. Even a 12 year old should know not to f*** with a guy with a gun that has REAL BULLETS in it! And as for her age, was it tattooed on her forehead or something? A 150-160 lb PERSON (meaning either sex) can do some damage, and I’m betting she was dressing to look grown up. Give the cops a break and let the investigation begin. I’m betting that once all the facts are out, they won’t look so bad.