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There's a New Sheriff in Town: It's Bye, Bye Bernie! As Skipper Takes the Wheel. On July 17, Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto stepped down, and former Sheriff Bob Skipper was sworn in as sheriff. Thus ended the stormy saga of Giusto's reign which began when he was elected to the position in 2002. He was re-elected in 2006 with just 60% of the vote. We previously reported on the issues concerning Giusto, his public and professional life, the activities of some of his deputies and jail personnel, as well as problems with the jail system (PPRs #39-44). Giusto had been resisting attempts to force his resignation and he fought to keep his police badge. He and his lawyer met with Assistant Portland Police Chief Brian Martinek, Skipper, and a member of the Police Policy Committee, who questioned why Giusto was dragging out the issue which was not in anyone's interest. After that meeting, Giusto voluntarily signed an order giving up his police certification (Oregonian, July 9). Skipper, who was with the Sheriff's office for 34 years and sheriff from 1989-1994, plans to be on the ballot this November for the final two years of Giusto's term. A committee of the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training had voted to strip Giusto of his badge and the full board was expected to adopt that recommendation. This issue involved Giusto's lying to his State Police supervisor about having an affair with the wife of Governor Neil Goldschmidt while assigned to the Governor's security detail and as his driver (Oregonian May 14). In addition, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission recommended a finding against Giusto for using a county owned SUV on a weekend in September 2006 to take his girlfriend and her daughter to Seattle (Oregonian, June 13). In a stunning response, Giusto told members of the Commission that because of his position, he can ignore a policy that is not to his liking: "The policy is either in effect because I say it is or not in effect because I say it's not, because I am the sheriff." He acknowledged he had violated the policy restricting the use of personal travel in county vehicles, but stated that no one was following it anyway. Not surprisingly, the Commission did not agree with Giusto's premise and voted that he had violated the law (Oregonian, June 21). In June, Multnomah County paid a woman $40,000 who had sought damages for an incident while she was an inmate at the Justice Center, when another inmate snuck into her cell and had sex with her (PPR #39). The woman had been in a special unit because of a mental illness and while she initially indicated the sex was consensual, state law provides that consent is not possible if an individual is mentally incapacitated (Oregonian, June 20). In a separate incident, Portland Copwatch wrote to District Attorney Michael Schrunk, requesting that he seek an indictment against Correctional Officer David Thompson, but the DA refused to do so. Thompson had bragged on line about how he beat an inmate and broke his eye socket (PPR #43). DA Schrunk responded that he would not seek an indictment because Thompson exaggerated-- the inmate's eye socket wasn't broken, but his "eyeball was only bruised and swollen." A well reasoned legal opinion indeed! |
September, 2008
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#45 Table of Contents
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