RAPPING BACK 26

Portland Copwatch analyzes info in the Police "Union" Newsletter,
the Rap Sheet

Surreal "Suessian" skewed sentiments show signs of security sentinels' sensibilities

Copwatch Honorable Mention #1: CW Sniffs Glue? Loren Christensen, former Rap Sheet editor, writing about various household and other alternative intoxicants such as Sudafed, embalming fluid and "whip cream,", asks about users of these "drugs": So what happens when these people grow up, you ask? Well, we know for sure that some of them become court-appointed attorneys, members of the ACLU, and those CopWatch dweebs."-- Rap Sheet, April 2002.

substance-
abusing copwatcher, alcu attorney, dead citizen

"No Such Thing as Racial Profiling"

Captain Jim Harvey, retired, proclaims "There's no such thing as racial profiling" in the April 2002 Rap Sheet. Harvey says that if someone is stopped solely because of race, that should be chalked up to prejudice, not profiling. He excuses police behavior in LA's "war zones" because "gangs of young Hispanic or black men" are responsible for most of the crime there. "Race may be an element" of a profile, he says, but it's always part of a larger picture.

He then writes that the current targeting of people with "Arabian or Muslim names" in the "war on terrorism" is "unfortunate, but necessary."

We're sure those who have been targets of profiling--including those still being detained in secret-- thank the retired Captain for his words of wisdom.

Copwatch Honorable Mention #2: Take a walk on the wild side. "These same politicians and citizens groups, like Cop Watch, forget one thing: until you've walked in our shoes, don't judge us because we not only talk the talk, we walk the walk!... Politicians and groups like Cop Watch don't want to bear the burden of what we do, yet they are quick to not only judge us but also to restrict us by policy. Do they want to be responsible for a cop being killed because of their policies? That's a question they can't deal with."--PPA Vice President At Large Daryl Turner, April Rap Sheet.

"Someone To Review Police Shootings: E.T. Phone Home?

Daryl Turner used his April column to defend officers' use of deadly force, noting that the subject is "again the priority of those who have never had to use it."

He complains that critics who take plenty of time to choose what to wear and to eat "have the audacity" to judge split-second decisions of cops. "Most of us have shot at, wounded, killed or almost shot someone during our careers." That's an alarming thought. If true, it means at least 500 officers have used their guns during their careers. Since there are only about 10 reported shooting incidents per year, this raises questions about what is not being reported or whether Turner is just exaggerating.

"Politicians are sending us a clear message. Not only do they not trust our use of deadly force but they also don't trust us to investigate it." (Hey, maybe we should let rapists do rape investigations too--if you've never walked the walk, you shouldn't be judging someone who has!)

"I guess next we'll be bringing in aliens from Mars to work as Internal Affairs investigators."

Copwatch honorable mention #3: Where rights come from "It is the radical anti-police movement and a soft-on-crime City Council that embarrass Portland, not the police. Police will continue to excel despite the efforts of Cop Watch and the radical PAC 202 [sic] supporters to portray police as 'club-swinging, trigger-happy cops.' Many of these protestors accuse police of violating their rights. If it were not for police, they would have no rights."-- Jack Mull, in a letter to the April Rap Sheet.

Police Are Held to Higher Standards...OK?

Assistant Chief Mark Paresi wrote some parting words to the Portland Police Association (PPA)'s newspaper, the Rap Sheet, as he moved to be Chief in North Las Vegas (June, 2002). He consoles officers that it is entirely acceptable that citizens want to participate in review of misconduct complaints. "You should demand that community expectations and standards are not lowered."

On the down side, he supports his statement by ominously boasting: "We have created a laboratory from which we have exported the 'Portland Model' to the rest of the United States and Europe."

In the same issue, Daryl Turner talks about how there is a higher standard for police: "Even Clinton, who had inappropriate relations with women outside his marriage and in the oval office did not get sixty days off without pay....but most of us never thought we'd have two young cops looking at jail time with one facing measure 11-type indictments. What one officer admits to doing and what the other is alleged to have done is unthinkable" (see "Beatings" article, p. 1).

On the other hand, Turner refers to the individuals involved in the alleged beating of off-duty police last year at the Greek Cusina Restaurant (see PPR #24 and p. 8) as a "cowardly mob." He complains that while some of the suspects are "still walking the streets after getting probation, we as cops will not get that kind of break."

Conservative Christian Officer Rob Blanck, also in the June Rap Sheet, describes the values the Portland Police Bureau claims to promote: "Service, compassion, integrity, excellence and respect." He feels they haven't been discussed enough, that the Chief admits they are open to interpretation, and that the higher-ups are not setting good examples. He says command staff have been promoted "not because they conducted themselves above and beyond these standards, but because they were politically correct." We're not sure if he means their behavior or their race/gender/sexuality.

He says the upper ranks "slide clear of trouble" and "make a mockery of those values."

He then criticizes those outside the Bureau: "The city is led by people who would choke, spit and ridicule the posting of the ten commandments...yet they want us to buy that they are sincere."

"We continue to operate an Internal Affairs Division where officers are presumed guilty unless proven otherwise," writes Blanck, implying most complaints are just "false and slanderous allegations."

Oddly, after all this, Blanck calls for "real non-partial citizen review [to] take the place of internal politics and allow for audited complaints up and down the chain of command." Welcome to the dog house, Rob (see below).

Copwatch honorable mention #4: CW doggies chase their tails Officer Peter Simpson writes, "I'm rarely amazed by the ranting and raving of the Portland Copwatch group that just loves to point the finger at the Portland Police Bureau for some perceived wrongdoing. They scream and yell about injustices and civil rights violations that often times are so exaggerated, Dr. Seuss might have a hard time believing them."

He gives an example, in quotes, which is nothing we have ever printed or reported: "'I was stopped by the Portland Police for no reason except that they saw...a lapel pin that says Free Mumia and then six cops dragged me out of my car beat me until I was nearly dead...'"

"Copwatch pushes the council to form a task force to examine a committee's findings...The latest craze is to hire an outside consultant to study officer-involved shootings...this isn't enough for the little doggies at Copwatch who barked and chased their tails because they want 'civilian oversight.'"--Simpson's monthly column, titled "The critics are playing the same old out- of-tune song," Rap Sheet, April 2002. christensen
cartoon

We bid a BITTERSWEET GOODYE TO LOREN CHRISTENSEN, who handed editorship of the Rap Sheet over to Peter Simpson n June after seven looonng years.

Here are two examples of Christensen's final days in the editor's chair:
1) A note that all the officers killed in the line of duty apparently share similar characteristics-- "Friendly, laid back, well-liked, more public relations than law enforcement..." (April 2002). Maybe his point is that "wimps" die and "stormtroopers" don't. Of course it's likely that people would say those things about any officer who died. What are they going to say, "Yeah, he was a jerk, he deserved it"???
2) An April book review of "Classical Chokes" which points out the advantages of putting pressure on a person's windpipe to debilitate them. He says the cook is "of interest to martial artists, not cops searching for realistic, street effective techniques." Unfortunately for his readers--and thus for the rest of us--he doesn't point out that police choke holds were banned in Portland about 15 years ago.