NEW NUMBERS released by the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) on July 1 show no change in the apparent disparity between African American drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists stopped by police over the past year compared to whites.
In 2007, African Americans still made up 24 percent of pedestrians and bicyclists stopped by police, and 14 percent of traffic stops—the same exact percentages released by the PPB for 2006—while African Americans make up 6.6 percent of Portland’s population.
Meanwhile, for more than a year the mayor’s racial profiling committee has been meeting with the goal of “eliminating racial profiling” by police—but they haven’t made a dent in the problem.
The racial profiling committee was sparsely attended at its most recent meeting on Thursday, July 17, following a supposedly energizing retreat at the Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel last month—leaving its members to ponder the committee’s long-term viability.
While the committee was originally convened in January 2007 to eradicate racial profiling, it has now agreed on three more modest goals for the next six months: to review the bureau’s “hit rate” for racial profiling statistics, to create small-group opportunities for positive interactions between police and community, and to build a “customer service culture in PPB.”
“I was quite disappointed with the end result [of the retreat], quite frankly,” said the committee’s co-chair, Jo Ann Bowman of Oregon Action, at last week’s meeting. “If we only do these two or three things over the next six months, it’s going to take us 100 years to fix the racial profiling problem in Portland. If that’s where we’re going to put all our focus for the next six months, it’s not going to change a thing on the street.”
Bowman’s frustration appeared to in turn frustrate the committee’s facilitator, Kristin Lensen, and the pair of them stepped out into the Emmanuel Temple Church’s parking lot for a 10-minute break, which—judging from their body language, viewed by this reporter through the church’s glass doors—appeared to involve a fairly frank exchange of views.
Such lowly ambitions appear to have stuck a pin in the committee’s enthusiasm: About half of the committee members showed up for the meeting last week, and frustrations ran high. Notable absences included Police Chief Rosie Sizer and Portland Police Association boss Robert King.
“I agree with Jo Ann, there’s other stuff that needs to be accomplished,” said committee member and Copwatch activist Dan Handelman. “The Chief [Sizer] gave us [an initial] plan last year, and I want to see that plan on the table, saying, ‘This is what we’ve done so far, and this is what we still need to do.’ I think that’ll help us in terms of what we’ve accomplished.”
Carl Goodman, assistant director of the county’s Department of Community Justice, and one of the few committee members to attend last week’s meeting, asked if the new goals were “going to get at this racial profiling issue. Or is this just whitewashing to get things moving?”
Meanwhile Maria Rubio, the mayor’s director of public safety policy, said she thought the retreat had achieved its goal of “narrowing the committee’s focus.”
Committee member Officer Deanna Wesson agreed, saying she thought the retreat narrowed the committee’s focus to things it “can actually achieve.”
Bowman, who raised the possibility of a class-action lawsuit after last month’s retreat, said mandates for the police bureau would be more likely to change officers’ behavior on the street. She said she wanted officers to be forced to give out their business cards after interacting with people, for example, something she’s been requesting for two years.
“So these are the things that are frustrating me,” she said. “When I look at what’s happening on the streets and what we’re doing here, there’s a disconnect. And I don’t see that what we’ve taken on will get us there.
“I went into the retreat being pretty optimistic that we’d come out with a plan that would impact officers’ behavior,” Bowman later told the Mercury. “And now I see we have this touchy-feely approach to the problem. And if that is where we are going to focus for the next year, then that doesn’t feel like a good use of my time.”
Transparency breeds debate, honesty, and a satisfied community that trusts its local government. It is also like walking into a very clean sliding glass door. Who wants that?
Racism exists in America, I’m not going to take issue with that!
Racism exists across the entire world!
At least this article seems a little less sensationalist and a little more factual.
It’s a societal problem more than a policing problem.
How do we fix it?
Wait about 10,000 more years, it should fix itself.
“For more than a year the mayor’s racial profiling committee has been meeting with the goal of ‘eliminating racial profiling’ by police—but they haven’t made a dent in the problem.”
If officers stop people based upon behavior (such as a traffic violation) and not race, there is no racial profiling. Maybe Ms. Bowman should take another look at the statistics and put her energy into solving the societal problems that seem to cause some minorities to commit a disproportionate number of crimes and/or traffic violations.
Ms. Bowman assumes this disproportion is somehow the fault of the police (the ones who enforce the rules) rather than underlying societal problems. Why is Ms. Bowman not outraged that a disproportionate number of Blacks report being the victim of crime? Should we blame PPB for taking a disproportionate number of crime reports that list Blacks as victims?
I can hear the phone calls now:
PoPo: “Ma’am/Sir, what is your ethnicity?”
Citizen: “Well, I’m Black, but what does that have to do with anything?”
PoPo: “Well, I’m sorry to inform you that members of the Black community already compose 6.6% of our crime victims this month. Therefore, we will be unable to accept your crime report. Please try again next month so we can keep our crime reports proportionate to Portland’s racial populations.”
I agree with r james.
This is a tuff problem with no easy answers.
Blacks get a bad deal, in general.
Blacks seem to commit more crime due to the lack of economic opportunities and the glorification of the “gangsta” culture.
This is not the cops fault, this is much bigger than the cops.
big shocker, blacks commit the majority of the crimes
take a look at the fbi crime statistics
Racial profiling can viewed the other way, as in “white privilege”. A good example is Chief Sizer’s recent attack on Adam’s bicyclists… all warnings to whites so as to keep the profiling stats steady. Tickets would have documented white traffic crime as well as the Oregonian’s front page.
Racial profiling can viewed the other way, as in “white privilege”. A good example is Chief Sizer’s recent attack on Adam’s bicyclists… all warnings to whites so as to keep the profiling stats steady. Tickets would have documented white traffic crime as well as the Oregonian’s front page.
What a picture!!! What a BIG waste of time and money!!! Chief Sizer put a plan on the table, but instead of doing the work needed to get it done, the confrontational posturing faciltator, Kristin Lensen, cashes in with her touchy-feely do nothing retreat.
Chief Sizer has been successfully working her plan for several months. The request made at the meeting was for a second update on the progress. It was also requested that the update be in writing, for the more visual learners in the group. (The most recent update was a verbal review of the previously distributed written plan.) This new update will be forthcoming. The matter was actually settled, quite amicably.
I personally believe there has been forward movement in the committee process. There are discussions that can occur now that couldn’t occur 10 months ago. This is HUGE. We all know that it is VERY difficult to have a productive inter-racial conversation regarding the issues of race in this nation. I appreciate the recognition from another post that Racism is woven into the fabric of our nation. To ONLY address the policing actions will not address the root issues and will not solve underlying problems.
Regarding the article’s reporting of the two people who were unhappy about the Retreat’s outcome… the author failed to point out the conclusion of that discussion. The two things they stated concern about would actually be addressed in the 6-month goal of creating more “Customer service oriented” policing. Business cards and training (the two specific issues brought up) are exactly the types of issues to be addressed under this 6-month goal. The desire for more mandates for top-down change can also be addressed as part of this 6-month goal.
My thinking is that maybe they were unable to be in the room at the retreat when all of this was being discussed at length.
It is also important to note that that only two people who attended the retreat were unhappy with the very earnest work acheived. (A survey was taken.) Regarding attendance, it is July, a summer month when many people take vacations and others get very busy at work.
Lastly, Mr. Goodman was unable to attend the retreat due to a previous commitment. His question (that was used as a title for this article) was asked because he wanted to know what happened at the retreat. Not because he thought the new more focused goals were mere whitewashing. He wanted to make sure he understood what the goals hoped to achieve.
Last year everyone complained because they felt we hadn’t actually done anything. Now that we have concrete goals, people are complaining that we are not doing enough. Geez!
There will be no overnight change in a society that took more than 400 years to get where we are today. It will take time, education, letting down of defenses and open conversation for real change to occur. And it will take more than this committee to address the MAJOR issues within our communities of color. But, I for one, believe that the RPC can contribute to make our city a better place to live and create a healthier relationship between the police citizens and the citizens as a whole.
I say all this as a committed lifelong citizen of this wonderful city, a Jefferson High graduate (Class of ’92), person of color and a police officer. I know progress can be made if ALL people keep an open mind and an eye on the goal of improving relationships.
Thanks for your comments, Officer Wesson. I appreciate your willingness to engage.