MAYOR SAM ADAMS delivered on a first-in-Portland promise on Thursday, April 12: Defying the will of a state arbitrator, the mayor officially refused to rehire Ron Frashour—the former cop who shot and killed an unarmed Aaron Campbell in January 2010.
Adams pointed to a little-tested state statute that says arbitrators’ decisions can be overturned if they fail to meet “public policy” standards—and he said he wanted the state Employment Relations Board (ERB) to weigh in on a ruling that Adams says mistakenly labeled Campbell’s shooting “justified.”
But Adams may not like how the rest of the script plays out.
On Friday, April 13, the Portland Police Association (PPA) filed a formal complaint with the ERB, accusing the city of breaking state labor laws. And legal experts and other observers, even those critical of the power of police unions, tell the Mercury that the PPA is likely to prevail.
“If I were a betting man,” says Henry Drummonds, a prominent legal advisor, who helped then-Governor John Kitzhaber negotiate the law Adams cites, ORS 243.706(1), “I’d bet the union gets the [arbitrator’s] award enforced.”
Worse, observers say the city is avoiding a bigger issue: What it needs to change—either in its police training regimen or labor contract with the PPA—to make sure this fight doesn’t spring up the next time a Portland cop is fired for the inappropriate use of deadly force.
Here’s a quick look at some of the issues in play:
Why is the city’s challenge on shaky ground? The city will have to convince the ERB that arbitrator Jane Wilkinson’s March 30 ruling in favor of Frashour failed to “comply with public policy requirements” because what Frashour did was “unjustified.”
Frashour shot Campbell in the back at the end of a long standoff—a decision he made after Officer Ryan Lewton fired a beanbag at Campbell’s back, sending him running and reaching in pain toward his waistband.
But Drummonds, also a labor law professor at Lewis and Clark, argues that’s generally a “very narrow” point to prove. And Wilkinson’s ruling—clearing Frashour, in part, by saying he did precisely as he was trained—doesn’t make that any easier.
“The arbitrator has determined that the police officer followed his training instructions,” says Drummonds. “The violation has to be clearly defined.”
Another hurdle? Whether the ERB will be influenced by other agencies that reviewed the Campbell shooting and cleared Frashour.
Wilkinson didn’t consider favorable rulings by two state agencies, the Oregon Employment Department and the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. But ERB might.
“If the record expands,” says one observer closely following the case, “it favors the union here.”
Can the city change its police training?Drummonds, like others, says there’s “a bigger problem” in play than legal wrangling.
“Portland police commanders need to get their training policies in order,” he said, “so there’s a clearer standard for officers to follow.”
In Frashour’s arbitration hearing, top police training instructors all testified that he followed his training: Frashour didn’t have to confirm whether Campbell had a gun before firing—because, according to Frashour’s testimony, he was afraid Campbell was reaching for a gun and was heading toward a car that would have provided him cover to shoot.
The bureau, like most around the country, takes as gospel a principle called “action/reaction” that says cops, if they wait to see a gun, will always be slower to react than whoever decides to fire at them.
But a 2011 report focusing on the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department turns up an alarming statistic: In a recent six-year span, deputies who shot someone without waiting to see a gun wound up shooting an unarmed person 61 percent of the time. In training scenarios that emphasized restraint, deputies managed to hold their fire and keep that number to zero.
“We should be teaching officers how to be certain someone is armed,” says Portland attorney Elden Rosenthal. “They are training police to be trigger-happy.”
Can the city strip binding arbitration from its police contract? The city could try that when the PPA’s contract is up for renegotiation next year—essentially drawing the distinction that police officers, because they are allowed to use deadly force, are not like other union workers.
But it’s rare and politically difficult. Observers say it would certainly drive the PPA to bow out of contract talks. And that would mean, ironically, that an arbitrator would step in and settle the dispute.
And if the city could manage it, what then? Would the police commissioner’s decision be final? Or could a civilian review board be drafted—along the lines of the city’s Citizen Review Committee, which already weighs in on discipline appeals before they hit arbitration?
Disputes would probably end up in court—much like where the Frashour case seems headed.
“It isn’t required,” Drummonds says of arbitration. “It’s just an almost universal standard.”
The guy lied to get elected and now wants to act like he’s a leader? Whatever. Sam Adams is a joke. The only people that don’t know it are gutless sheep.
Well Adams IS a rather useless, ineffective mayor – that he is.
But what did he LIE about???
He lied about his relationship with Beau Breedlove. Where have you been? He even wrote a resignation letter but never resigned because he is an arrogant and certainly greedy degenerate.
“And Wilkinson’s ruling—clearing Frashour, in part, by saying he did precisely as he was trained”
That’s odd…a quick search for police training videos shows these cowboys time and time again doing pretty much exactly what I suspect Mr. Campbell did when shot by a beanbag round. Essentially reaching for where they are hit and running away. I guess consideration for this natural response to pain isn’t the focus of their training.
http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/4521580
@thebadsteed: How did he “lie to GET elected”? Are you saying that people voted for him because of this Beau Breedlove thing? Personally, I didn’t agree with him abusing his position to have a relationship with Beau, but it was deemed legal. It’s not illegal to be creepy and he broke NO laws. So, where you like it or not, whether the feebleminded can even comprehend such a thing, he DID NOT break any laws. So, how exactly did he “lie to GET elected”? Typical Right-Wing nut-bag, no facts, no reasoning, just the same old tired soundbites. If I’m wrong, prove to me, WITH FACTS, how he lied to get elected. Prove it with FACTS, you Right-Wing SHEEP who swallows the slop the talking heads spew out. “uh, it’s just ‘cuz, that’s why. He lied, man” “How did he lie?” “‘cuz he did, just listen to Lars” “Forget that fat millionaire, how did he lie, do you have proof?” “he lied, man” “you keep saying that, but I’m asking you how he lied. You just keep repeating yourself” “Sam Adams is a liar, man” “Damn, you’re stupid. Do you know how stupid you are?” “wha?”
@CaptainAmerigo: I’m not right-wing you fucking nutsack. That’s the first of your many errors. Second, if you don’t know about this matter you have no business commenting about it. What qualifies you as a commenter? Because you enjoy buttfucking as much as your inept candidate? Or are you simply an idiot liberal sheep? There’s nothing good about you. You’re defending a lying creep. Is that really how you wanted to grow up? That’s why you liberal fuckers are considered so fucking mentally ill and Portland would do much better without you. As for me? I own my home here so I’m here to stay. I’ll be that fucking thorn of reason sticking in your side every time you open your stupid mouth about things you haven’t even educated yourself about. So close your douche-hole and slowly step away.
OK, here it is- He lied about it because he knew damn well the ensuing shitstorm would affect his prospects at election time. Keep in mind that the accusations surfaced months before the election and his response was to bash the guy that accused him (a former boyfriend) with the whole “can’t a gay guy catch a break and not be dragged through the mud over lies about having sex with a teenager?” routine before finally coming somewhat clean about it AFTER he was elected. This guy is no different than any other lying scumbag egomaniac politician.
Looks like someone didn’t like my facts so the coward had my post deleted. Capt Amerigo, you’re a coward. Here’s the link you imbecile:
http://theportlander.com/2009/06/23/sam-ad…
What was that? I was right and you were wrong? I know.
“I’m not right-wing you fucking nutsack”
“That’s why you liberal fuckers are considered so fucking mentally ill and Portland would do much better without you.”
thebadsteed:
You’ve obviously illustrated that you’re the type the likes to beat-off while looking at yourself in the mirror. However, I’m still confused as to what your comments are saying about Mr. Campbell’s case and the PPA?
@zipitup: Think a little more deeply there, tiger. It’s not a black and white world. Or in my case, a red or blue world. As for your masturbation comment, I get laid just fine. Quit projecting your social failures onto others. It makes you look like a complete pussy.
Liberals are losers. Plain and simple. They are a bunch of lying douchebags. It hasn’t always been this way. It’s just the way it is now. I feel sorry for fools that blindly follow this failed ideology. It is every bit as dumb as watching Fred Phelps heap his bullshit on society.
thebadsteed:
So, I guess you don’t have anything relevant to the subject at hand. Way to repeat yourself by the way. And you hate liberals, blah blah blah, that’s hardly the topic. It seems your motivation is simply to annoy and distract. I know…I know…”thorn in the side”, so spare me that rerun.
“I get laid just fine.”
I’ll bet…because you come across as such a charming mother-fucker. Yes-sir, it takes a “real man” to sit behind a keyboard and call others pussies and cowards. What nonsensical topic shall we discuss next? Maybe your conception while your mother was working the boarder town donkey shows? That would explain why you’re more a jackass than a steed.
Spoken like a typical boring liberal pussy. Thanks for proving my point, zipper.
Boarder town? At least know how to spell if you’re going to attempt to insult someone, Zippy. hahahahahahahahaha….boarder town…..hahahahahahahaha
“He lied about his relationship with Beau Breedlove. Where have you been? He even wrote a resignation letter but never resigned because he is an arrogant and certainly greedy degenerate.”
Dude, are you STILL obsessing over that? Adams had sex with another grown-ass man, so what? What business is it of yours?
Sammy boy has to protect his far left progressive legacy. The shooting happened on his watch and he bares some responsibility to it, at least symbolically. He doesn’t want the Reverends to have to come out here again, stirring up more hoopla, and embarrassing him. I think the main lesson to be learned from all this is not go all loco during a SERT standoff.
TheBadSteed: I LOVE how your first response did NOT answer the question. You just went off on a typical RIGHT-WING rant of name-calling and distraction. I also LOVE how you finally ended up researching your claim, found a link to some article that I didn’t read, and the proceeded to pat yourself on the back for what you deem a successful debate won by you. You must be very proud of yourself. SO, you originally stated, and I quote: “The guy lied to get elected and now wants to act like he’s a leader?” and I will ask you again, how did he LIE TO GET ELECTED? You said it, not me, so it should be easy to answer my question: How did he lie to GET elected? I know it’s hard for you to wrap your feeble brain around such a question, because someone like you simply likes to yell and scream, like a child. I know it’s difficult for you to remain calm, look at the nature of the question and simply answer it. Again, you said it, not me: “The guy lied to GET elected”. So… show me how this “lie” of his got him elected. Not how the “lie” caused controversy, not how the “lie” exposed him in a negative way, but how this “lie” GOT HIM ELECTED. You can’t, because it didn’t. If anything, his behavior almost LOST him the election. You misspoke, and that’s fine, but people like you cannot admit even the smallest of mistakes. No, it’s the liberal’s fault for your mistake, right? You’re so very predictable, it’s not even fun arguing with people like you anymore. It’s really kinda of sad how the internet has given a voice to idiots such as yourself.. so very sad.
Now go ahead and start your sad and predictable yelling and screaming…