UPDATE 11:31 AM: Chief Mike Reese has issued a statement confirming he ordered the three officers named below to take down their “I am Darren Wilson” Facebook profile pictures. He’s also asked Professional Standards to review the matter—using their badges, he says, trumped the officers’ right to free speech in their time off the job.
“I was alerted to these images this morning and immediately ordered their removal through the officers’ chain of command. The image displayed does not represent this organization and was very inflammatory in nature,” said Chief Mike Reese. “Officers certainly have a right to have and express their opinions but not using an official badge of the Portland Police Bureau. The badge represents all members of the organization, past and present, and is an important symbol in our community that must not be tarnished. I’ve asked the Professional Standards Division to review this matter for possible policy violations.”
UPDATE 11:38 AM: Mayor Charlie Hales’ office also has sent out a statement cheering the chief’s decision, saying “the actions taken by these three officers here in Portland” run afoul of conversations on lowering the temperature in the community ahead of the grand jury announcement and ongoing attempts at police reform.
We learned this morning that three officers altered images of the official Portland Police Bureau badge. Chief Reese did the right thing by immediately ordering the officers to remove these symbols, and by ordering Professional Standards Division to review this matter for possible policy violations.
We have been actively participating in collaborative dialog with community leaders and other Portlanders on issues of police and community relations. Recently, police participated in specific dialog related to possible reactions to the upcoming release of a verdict from the grand jury in Ferguson, Mo.
The actions taken by these three officers here in Portland do not help get us to that goal.
The officers made a political statement by altering the city’s official badges. They were wrong to do so. Their actions do a disservice to the hundreds of Portland Police Officers who are building relationships and partnerships with the community every day.
I urge officers to follow the guidelines issued by my office, and by the Portland Police Bureau command staff, to work with our community in the days to come, cooperatively, and to address the very real issues of police and community relations.
Original post starts here:
On the eve of news from the grand jury considering criminal charges in the summertime police shooting of unarmed Ferguson teen Michael Brown, at least three Portland police officers over the weekend declared their sympathies for the officer at the center of that investigation.
Officers Rich Storm, Rob Blanck, and Kris Barber each changed their profile pictures on Facebook to an image of a Portland police badge wrapped in a rubber bracelet that says “I am Darren Wilson.”
One of those officers—Storm—was a principal agent in case materials supplied when the federal Department of Justice in 2012 found Portland police officers had not only engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force against people with mental illness—but also at times needlessly escalated encounters requiring force and that they’d also been notably struggling to build trust with the city’s African American community.
In 2011, Storm punched an unarmed Spanish-speaking man several times in the face—after the man had tried kicking Storm, but also after Storm had thrown the man to the ground. The DOJ questioned why this had to happen.
Police accountability activists, including some planning to rally whenever the Ferguson decision is announced, began sharing the photos on social media late Saturday, contacting reporters at local papers, including me. Some have since compiled their own scathing writeup, and the images have been making their way around Twitter this morning, asking the police bureau whether its leadership thinks “black lives” “matter” or not. Many of the racial justice issues underlying the rage and rallying in Ferguson also are present, to varying degrees, in Portland.
One of the officers, in comments under their public profile pictures, said a few have been buying the rubber bracelets for five dollars apiece. So far, I’ve only found—just like the activists—three officers. That’s notable in a bureau with nearly 1,000 officers. Incoming police chief Larry O’Dea told reporters last month, during the press conference when his hiring was announced, that he saw improving the bureau’s relationship with minority communities as a top priority.
O’Dea—who’s regularly sat with the city’s Community and Police Relations Committee, a forum for sensitive topics like racial profiling—has made improving relations with the city’s minority communities a major focus. He’s also said he wants the bureau, and its largely white male command staff, to look more like the community it serves.
Tellingly, he invoked Ferguson, Missouri, in making his point. He said the bad blood there is about “way more than what happened that night,” when police shot an unarmed black teenager. It’s about a fraught relationship between cops and community members that he says he wants to keep mending here, too.
Sergeant Pete Simpson, spokesperson for the bureau, tells me he’s looking into the issue. I’ll update with a comment.
UPDATE 10:52 AM: Storm has changed his profile picture to a trippy portrait of “The Dude” from The Big Lebowski (h/t to Jefferson Smith and Katy Lesowski Smith’s pug puggle, George Bailey). In the comments under Storm’s new avatar, Blanck notes the recent change—and Storm tells him “a direct order is a direct order.”
UPDATE 3:12 PM: The Reverend Chuck Currie, who often comments on police accountability issues, especially issues concerning racial justice, has asked Hales and Reese not to let Storm, Barber, or Blanck, and others who liked their posts have duty during any Ferguson protests tonight or tomorrow.
As a Portland citizen, I appreciate your quick response in ordering three Portland Police officers to remove inflammatory badges from their Facebook profiles that read “I am Darren Wilson.” It is concerning that reportedly many other officers “liked” the badges. Clearly, as I have stated over the years, racism is a problem in the ranks of the PPB.
I call on you both to remove these three officers and any others who liked their profile pictures from duty during any protests related to the pending Michael Brown decision. The officers cannot be trusted. They have outed themselves as people unfit for service. As you both know, Portland is a better city.
UPDATE WEDNESDAY, 11/26: Currie and the mayor’s office have confirmed that neither of the three officers were put on protest duty last night.
Portland PD the most corrupt, uncaring state nazis I’ve ever dealt with or read about.
Oh goodness. The irony they seem to be missing is that when you’ve been found guilty of a pattern of excessive force by the DOJ, claiming that you are Darren Wilson, does not help Wilson’s case at all.
Portland cops support a murderer? Not a big surprise.
I hope someone forwards this to Judge Simon
Just looked at these officer’s Facebook pages. They’ve removed the “I am Darren Wilson” profile pics. Apparently it was a direct order they received. One officer changed his pic to Al Sharpton (a common joke among white supremacists).
And now it’s been changed to remove Al Sharpton.
https://www.facebook.com/poyntblanck?fref=ufi
https://www.facebook.com/rich.storm.7?fref=ts
racist cops? what is our city leadership gonna do about it?
probably award them back pay and write a letter of commendation.
isn’t that what we did for the Nazi fetisher?
Well, 3 bad apples out of ~1,000 really isn’t too bad, actually. I wait patiently for the “what?! but, what about free speech!” crowd to chime in.
Those officers should be grateful they’re not in Ferguson. If they were, they would have been teargassed and arrested for exercising free speech.
So they were ordered by their commander to be less “publically” racist? I am guessing the order was probably something along the lines of “Keep that at the Klan meeting boys.”
like that time dahmer wore an “i am bundy” bracelet.
Of the 31 “likes” Officer Rich Storm’s “I am Darren Wilson” profile picture generated, at least 18 appear to be from PPB:
Meredith Hopper – PPB officer
Darin Ladick –Oregon State police trooper
Stephen Gandy – PPB officer
Tyson Estes – PPB desk clerk
Rob Brown – PPB officer
Betsy Hornstein – PPB officer
Erin Anderson – PPB officer
Scott Foster – PPB officer
Lisa Clayton – PPB officer
Chris Barker – PPB officer
Scherise Hobbs – PPB officer
Jack Hornstein PPB officer
Thomas Brennan PPB officer
Will Strawn – PPB officer
Michael Currier – PPB officer
Bret Barnum – sergeant bomb squad commander w/PPB
Jen Hertzler PPB
Lacey Sparling PPB
Police should never punch with a closed fist. They have clubs, tasers, cuffs and other means to subdue. Fists are for the ring, not the streets. You work for US – save your fists and use a club, idiot. Punch=fired.
oh word? cops are racist? damn
At this point I’m wondering what should cause more outrage: that they are obviously racist, or that they are stupid enough to have this so publicly available. I want the police officers protecting my community to be smart, dammit, not idiots who don’t understand this newfangled Facebook machine and all the youtubes and twitters.
Everyone has the right to their own opinion, regardless if its wrong or right. The law only allows for it to be wrong or criminal if it infringes on someone else’s rights. I myself have my own opinion on what these officers did but it is just that my own opinion. If you are rallying for certain constitutional rights to be upheld you can not set aside the constitutional right of free speech when it suits your own agenda or moral compass. Our rights as Americans should be inalienable and absolute for everyone.
Sarah: You’re correct. It’s not against the law for anyone, even sworn officers, to express political views away from work. The police union even has a PAC that raises money from members to give to political candidates and causes.
That said, free speech doesn’t insulate you from criticism. Nor does it protect from policies, like the police bureau’s, that prohibit the use of things like badges when expressing those views. That seems to have crossed the line, in Reese’s and Hales’ minds, from speaking for oneself to attempting to speak for a larger organization without authorization.
This is no surprise to me. I used to have a friend who was an officer in the Portland PB. He quit saying he worked with too many racist and assholes. If you’re wondering, no he wasn’t white.
I am not sure if its more bothersome that some of these veery same officers have been guilty of excessive force or the fact they dont seem smart enough to know that EVERYONE will see thier support.
What are the “challenge coins”?
I think challenge coins are won by doing speed runs of Super Mario Bros.
“I wait patiently for the “what?! but, what about free speech!” crowd to chime in.”
They’re already infesting all the articles about this story on Oregonlive/Katu, etc.. I mean, predictably, of course. Uneducated, moronic, teabagging dickwipes.
As stated in the article: “Officers certainly have a right to have and express their opinions but not using an official badge of the Portland Police Bureau. The badge represents all members of the organization, past and present, and is an important symbol in our community that must not be tarnished.”
So no, not a free speech issue when utilizing the PPB badge in your support of a child killer.
Oh good, next civil rights lawsuit just cost a million dollars extra thanks to these fine 3 officers and the 18 officers who liked the images on FB.
People have a right to free speech –but they don’t have a right to be a Portland Police Officer.
Being a police officer is a special kind of public trust, and this community is entitled to place that trust only in people it can be confident will apply the law fairly and without prejudice.
Let them freely express themselves, so we all can see them for how they really are.
yep these pigs are darren wilson allright, CAUSE THEY ARE OLD BLODDED LICENSED KILLERS.
This is a pretty weak local police scandal. is it the best the Merc can come up with now? I’m extremely disappointed…or should we be happy there’s isn’t worse going on?
As far as what can be found on the internet, outside of Ferguson PD back in September, Portland Police are the only police force inflammatory enough to sport these bracelets. That is a big deal, especially considering their history of Nazism and Oregon’s KKK legacy.
The real scandal is that even if the police investigation found that these cops were grand wizards in the klan they would get a slap on the wrist and then later it would be removed from their record just like uber nazi Mark Kruger. Police oversight is a joke in this city.