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PPB Training Advisory Council Invites Community In... At Least Those Selected as Members Although you wouldn't know it by scouring the Police Bureau's news releases, the much- ballyhooed Training Advisory Council (TAC) began meeting in February. Created in theory to give the community insight and input into Bureau training priorities and guidelines, Portland Copwatch (PCW) declined applying for this body when it was clear participants had to undergo criminal background checks and sign confidentiality statements. Last fall, the Chief announced that most of the TAC's meetings would be open to the public shortly after the deadline to apply passed. By coincidence, PCW learned of the first meeting when Citizen Review Committee member Jeff Bissonnette, who is one of the thirty members of the TAC, announced it one day earlier at CRC's meeting. The Chief's office apologized, with Training Captain Brian Parman personally taking responsibility for the lack of promotion for the first meeting. Yet the second meeting also was not announced publicly (unless you count their posting "agenda for training advisory council March 7 meeting" on the Bureau's website with no time or location). The first meeting mostly consisted of Parman breaking the TAC into four groups covering the Facility, Trends, Outcomes, and Community Outreach. Two reporters observed that meeting, along with PCW. At the second meeting, the only non-TAC members present were from PCW and the League of Women Voters. Lead tactical instructor Officer Paul Taylor laid out the policies and laws that influence an officer's choice to use force against a civilian. Taylor confirmed that the Bureau no longer teaches a "continuum of force," saying that they "don't like it" because it implies that you have to climb up each level to get to deadly force. Taylor instead described a "wheel model" where the various levels of force are spokes on a wheel that can be revisited and used based on the totality of circumstances (the legal standard). But if the officers don't know the maximum force allowed, how can they know when they're using the least force necessary to accomplish their task? Taylor also made off-hand remarks that there is no special training if a person in a force scenario has a mental illness, and that there is no training about police interacting with people of color. In fact, both concepts are actually subjects of some training which doesn't go far enough, so while Taylor's candid comments are effectively true in how police act on the streets, he did the Bureau no favors in his presentation. To their credit, each work group emphasized two-way communication with the PPB; however, it is not clear whether and how the TAC will take input from people in the community who didn't happen to apply for the Council or get approved as members. The various work groups are going to meet, probably in private, circling back to full TAC meetings on May 2, August 1 and November 7. |
May, 2013
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#59 Table of Contents
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