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Mayor Secretly Opens Negotiations on "Union" Contract;
On May 18, the Oregonian broke news that was equally as encouraging as alarming, and just plain wrong. Mayor Charlie Hales, who did not run for another term and thus will leave office in January, began negotiations with the Portland Police Association (PPA) on their contract that expires in June 2017. Although Hales apparently pushed hard to get the PPA to agree to drop the offensive "48- hour rule," which allows officers two days before being compelled to testify in misconduct investigations, the Oregonian reported this was being done in exchange for promises of more money. A few days later the O's editorial board correctly opined "Eliminate 48-hour rule for public gain, not political." Hales was trying to justify an increase in business taxes (which the Oregonian opposes, but Portland Copwatch [PCW] does not necessarily) by saying it would raise $3 million toward the eventual $6- $9 million needed to meet obligations of the secret PPA negotiations. PCW would add that if the PPA seriously believes science proves an officer needs two days of rest for their memories to be useful for investigators (as they told the Community Oversight Advisory Board last year-- PPR #66), apparently science can be over-ridden by bags of cash. On June 15, the Oregonian further added that the promised new money would lead the PPA to "agree to a body camera policy and withdraw 11 outstanding grievances." The guidelines on police body cameras were put out for public input, meaning the Police Bureau recognized this is a matter of public policy and not a bargainable workers' issue (save, perhaps, officers' needing to conduct private business on work breaks without being recorded). Instead, the Oregonian revealed (on June 21) the Mayor planned to allow officers to review video footage before being interviewed in misconduct investigations (also see article). Incoming Mayor Ted Wheeler should be part of any discussions about the parameters of the PPA's contract. Both he and Mayor Hales should be pulling out other public policy provisions that have no place in a collective bargaining agreement, including restrictions on a civilian oversight body investigating deadly force cases and that body's ability to compel officer testimony. The PPA also had a heavy hand in a proposal scheduled on the City Council's "consent agenda" in June, meaning it was to be voted on with no public discussion. The plan was to authorize the police chief to approve off-duty officer hiring for up to $100,000 in contracts. Supporting documentation stated "the police secondary employment agreement will have the net result of increasing the availability of regular patrol officers by minimizing the need for patrol units to respond to calls generated by private business events." This logic is flawed on many levels-- not only does it presume officers would be called to these events, but it ignores the arguments put forward by the PPA about how "thin" the rank-and-file are spread. If they are too exhausted to perform their regular duties, why approve vast amounts of off-duty work that will impact their ability to do their day jobs? Furthermore, about 10 years ago under Chief Sizer, the PPB put in place rules about such off-duty hiring, requiring the contract to serve some kind of public interest (Directive 210.70)-- in other words, just being hired as extra store security was no longer to be tolerated. After PCW raised these issues, the Mayor pulled the item from the agenda. As always, we prefer to gain victories by achieving the goals we promote rather than defeating bad proposals, but a win is a win. |
September, 2016
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#69 Table of Contents
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