RAPPING BACK #19

Analysis of the Portland Police 'Union' Newsletter,
the Rap Sheet

Some Pretty Silly
Published Statements
from Public Safety People

Cops Push for Accountability (but not much)

Numerous Portland Police, current and retired, weighed in on police accountability in recent issues of their "union" newsletter, the Rap Sheet.

One of the strongest pieces, in the September issue, features Officer Rob Blank's opinion on police integrity. Blank begins by taking issue with a new "Courtesy" General Order issued in July, saying that those kinds of things can't be regulated by rules, only taught by example. Without naming names, he points to former Chief Moose's temper tantrums; then-Lieutenant C.W. Jensen's release from police custody of a former girlfriend before she could be put in jail; and the fact that in his view Assistant Chief Roberta Webber wrongfully fired an officer who was reinstated and is still on the force, though Webber retired and is long gone.

Not wanting to point the finger only at top brass, Blank applauds "the officers who blew the whistle in the overtime scandal...These officers stood firm for integrity in our ranks despite ridicule and gossip." It was publicly reported that the Portland Police Association leadership brought the scandal forward, thinking that by admitting the problem themselves they could avoid a media frenzy. So while on the one hand it is commendable that they came forward, their motives were not necessarily as altruistic as Blank would like to think.

Finally, Officer Blank states that "integrity is either already a part of officers' characters or it's not. If it's not, they deserve the discipline they get."

In the October issue, Officer Michael Villanti writes about the delays in Internal Affairs investigations--18 to 24 months in some cases. Villanti admits he has been put on the "Early Warning System" for having three use-of-force complaints lodged against him. Apparently, his supervisor refused to sit him down for review because Villanti wasn't informed of the charges before he got the Early Warning notification. (Since then, IAD has been sending letters to the suspect cops at the same time they initially reply to the civilians' complaints.)

While publicly admitting he's a suspected beater cop, Villanti takes a bold stance by saying that the public and the officers both suffer when complaints aren't investigated faster. He points out that being interviewed two years after an incident and trying to remember what happened "sucks." However, his "solution" might only make matters worse. He calls for fielding out minor complaints to precinct sergeants, "not for taped interviews but for a heads-up talk between the officer and the sergeant...like the old days." Looks like effective accountability will have to wait for folks like him.

Weighing in after being under investigation for matters unknown, shooter cop Scott Westerman thinks cops who lie "should be fired, period" (August 1999 Rap Sheet). While his stand is commendable, he makes a final statement noting that he resented Chief Moose shaking Daniel Binns' hand after the police broke up Binns' protest by shooting beanbags at unarmed protesters (see PPR #16), and criticizing Mayor Katz for then hugging Binns.

And our favorite cranky retired regular columnist, Duke Smith, expressed frustration because in his opinion the bi-monthly Portland Police Bureau Bulletin should not have "conveyed embarrassment and shame" for the NYPD attack on Haitian immigrant Abner Louima with a plunger handle. While Duke's August column acknowledges "the Louima case was a wrongful and hideous act," he thinks that there are "too many daily heroic deeds that police officers do that never get public mention for me to feel guilt over the five-minute act of evil by some fool 3000 miles away." The fact that the officers in that case felt their actions could be justified and covered up by other officers doesn't seem to ring a bell with Smith about the "blue wall of silence." Perhaps he can sit down with Officer Blank and listen to his ideas about police standing firm for integrity by whistle blowing, and about police without integrity getting the discipline they deserve.

Confiscated and Retired Cop Guns: Big Bucks or Danger to Society?

Some surprising truths come out in an unattributed article in the October Rap Sheet which tackles the issue of retired police guns ending up in the hands of civilians who then commit crimes. Gary Eisenhower, the Chief of Cosmopolis, Washington's police force, responded to the fact that the gunman in Los Angeles who shot up a Jewish Community Center on August 10 used a gun once registered to his department. Eisenhower revealed the police and gun manufacturers' bottom line of why the guns keep coming. "We cannot afford to destroy old service weapons that can bring the department hundreds of dollars each." Bottom line: Making money is more important than public safety.

The article, being in the Rap Sheet, of course doesn't explore this angle, but does bring out another specific example of money over ethics. New Orleans police traded 10,000 confiscated and retired weapons to Glock to reduce the price of new weapons. The $772,000 price tag fell to $400,000. The only condition: that the guns not be resold in Louisiana.

Though Cosmopolis and New Orleans have not, the California Police Chiefs Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Seattle PD have adopted a policy to destroy all "unnecessary" weapons. If applied appropriately, this policy will take guns out of the hands of most of the police in the nation.

More Sensitive Community Policing Ideas from the Police Association

Portland Police Association Secretary-Treasurer Tom Mack weighed in on the 4-plus hour standoff with a suicidal suspect following that suspect's shooting Officer Sze Lai in June (see PPR #18). In his August column Mack says he understands the principle of waiting it out with a hostage taker, but when a lone suicidal man, as in this case, has already shot at police, he wonders about taking so much time. "It seems strange that we listen and talk to a suspect who is loading weapons and barricading his apartment." He advocates we just send the SERT team in to "terminate the threat." It's so good to see someone with such sensitivity is one of the two highest elected officials in the rank-and-file of one of the nation's most touted "Community Police" bureaus.

Portland's Questionably Fine Get Awards & Promotions;
Commended Dickie Dow Incident Cops Named

The usual eyebrows were raised here when we read some names among the awards listed given out on July 22 at a Police Bureau Awards Ceremony in the September Rap Sheet.

First, we found the names of the four officers commended after taking part in the incident which led to the death of Dickie Dow, a mentally disabled man beaten by police (see PPR #18 and story). The cops then prevented a civilian witness from performing CPR on Dickie, who died the next day. The officers named are: Sgt. Chris Uehara, Officer James Darby, Officer Kathleen Pahlke and Officer John Rebman.

This year, the peculiar "Meritorious Service Medal for Valor" was given to three shooter cops: Richard Braskett (who shot two suspects in 1998--see PPR #17) and Randy Tieg (who shot one of the suspects with Braskett), as well as William Balzer, who not only shot Peter Gilbaugh point blank in the head, but was also one of the people who fired beanbag shotguns at the crowd of African American protesters in August 1998 (see PPRs #16 & 17).

The August issue of the Rap Sheet notes that Marijuana Task Force member Kim Keist was promoted to sergeant. In addition to being one of the cops shot while performing a questionably legal drug raid on Stephen Dons' house in January 1998, Keist was also present at a "knock and talk" at which a Vancouver officer illegally poked a hole in a garden shed to collect evidence (see PPR #14).

Another person promoted was Jess Smith, who was involved in the shooting death of a domestic violence suspect in September 1996 and was the acting sergeant earlier that year in the case when Nena Williams was dragged down a driveway (see story).

We guess we know what it takes to get promoted and recognized in the Portland Police Bureau.