In the revived war against Portland's houseless population, Mayor Charlie Hales had swarms of Portland Police officers sweep through the Springwater Corridor in early September, as he'd threatened this summer (PPR #69), pushing out even those who were self-organizing to meet community concerns. Even PPB spokesperson Sgt. Pete Simpson acknowledged there was nowhere for people to go once the sweep was underway. Around the same time, Portland Copwatch walked a "beat" in inner Northeast/Southeast Portland, talking to many people camping on sidewalks and other open public spaces. Many had no real problems with the police (save for one or two officers they called out by name), but were concerned about neighbors who'd been kicking at their tents to wake them up and try to get them to move. It appears the PPB, using its claim of having too few officers (see every Rapping Back column for the last few years), asked residents to do their own legwork, which some took to the next level and began acting more or less as vigilantes. Many of the areas we visited had been posted with 24-hour notices of imminent sweeps, and, sure enough, within days most people were also pushed out of that area. We did directly witness one officer being kind to someone living in their truck, saying they could stay (despite technically being in violation of City Code) until the sweep. We returned to the same area in December and police had posted more notices, including one that was stapled to a tree.

On election day, the voters of Multnomah County sent two messages: 7% of voters wrote in someone other than former Portland Police Chief Mike Reese, and 74% of voters felt the position of Sheriff should continue to be elected. It's possible that many of the write-in votes were for Don't Shoot Portland founder Teressa Raiford, who mounted a last minute campaign after ballots went out. It's probable that the issue of whether to elect the Sheriff didn't involve broader discussions about the ultra-conservative movement which sees sheriffs as the highest elected officials in the land, or whether it would be easier to create a police accountability system in the County if the Commissioners directed their law enforcement branch rather than just setting its budget. Also, as noted in PPR #69, the last three Multnomah Sheriffs all resigned in disgrace, meaning the voters didn't get a chance to use the ballot box to replace them. The County's investigation into whether previous Sheriff Dan Staton violated administrative policies came to a halt when he resigned (Oregonian, August 17).

At the November meeting of the Training Advisory Council (TAC), Assistant Chief Mike Leloff appeared on behalf of Chief Marshman to answer questions about the Bureau's response to TAC's recommendations for the Training Division (PPR #69). But rather than look at their recommendations to end "us-versus-them" attitudes, improve force reporting, and change delivery methods, the Assistant Chief talked to them about recruitment efforts. Only TAC co-chair Sushanah Boston asked a question related to the proposals, which had to do with organizational change management-- and Training Captain Bob Day answered her instead of Leloff. Considering that both the Community Oversight Advisory Board (p. 1) and Citizen Review Committee (CRC) are still waiting for feedback on recommendations they've made, TAC should have made better use of the command staff's time.

On December 5, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the motion filed by attorneys for Mohammed Osman Mohamud asking to overturn his 2013 conviction for (being coerced by FBI agents into) allegedly attempting to bomb Pioneer Courthouse Square due to illegal government spying (PPR #69). The three judge panel found that there were erroneous rulings made by the judge--for instance, letting FBI agents testify about another suspect-- and found the prosecution "quite aggressive at times," but upheld the conviction based on Mohamud's alleged "zeal" to set off the FBI's fake bomb (Oregonlive, December 5).