AFTER LAST WEEKEND'S rally for police justice and accountability down at Pioneer Courthouse Square, there were some questions, inside and outside the movement, over the size of the crowd that showed up for speeches and a march through downtown streets.

On a fine and hot day, maybe just more than 100 people were on hand. Some of them were regular citizens clutching pla-cards and soaking it all in, but many more were organizers or prominent members of the police reform movement.

The event was sponsored by the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform, spiritual leaders of a reform movement sparked by a series of excessive-force cases, including the fatal shootings of four men struggling with mental illness.

And as one commenter, Mel, put it after I blogged the event: "It was pretty astonishing to me, though, that more people weren't physically present at the rally... Can we do better next time?"

I think Mel has a point. The rally deserved a bigger crowd. Mel also (rightly) criticized the media for not doing more to let folks know about it. Okay. Lesson learned.

But is it time for the movement to wring its hands? Hardly.

Friday, September 24, the Portland Police Association announced that all its future contract negotiations with the city would be open to public observers. That was almost unthinkable six months ago when the union walked out over questions of access. It only came back to the table in September after a deal that left just half the meetings public.

"Trust me when I tell you they didn't do this because they just had an epiphany one day," Jo Ann Bowman, a former state legislator, said at the rally. "No. It took people showing up."

Also, in a few weeks, Mayor Sam Adams and Police Chief Mike Reese seem poised to make official what everyone already knows: Ron Frashour, the officer who shot and killed a suicidal, unarmed man, Aaron Campbell, in January, will be fired, following sustained outrage by community members.

And, perhaps most importantly, next year State Representative Lew Frederick will push a series of bills in Salem that deal with when police should use force and what happens when they use it improperly.

Obviously, there's more work to do—no matter the progress that's been made. But what tells a better story when it comes to measuring a movement's impact: Counting protesters? Or results?