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City Council Votes to Get Portland Police Out of the Terrorism Task Force

For the second time, Portland City Council has voted to pull its officers out of the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). Council's 2005 decision (PPR #36) was reversed after an FBI-led sting operation targeted teen Mohammed Mohamud in 2010, first with a partial re-joining in 2011 (PPR #54) and a full one in 2015 (PPR #65) on a 3-2 vote. With the balance of City Council changed, Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, an elected community activist, led the new effort to another 3-2 vote on February 13. This followed roughly two years of work by Portland Copwatch and community allies to push for a new withdrawal in light of San Francisco's pull-out in early 2017 and the Trump administration's horrible human rights record around immigration.

As noted by Oregon Public Broadcasting (February 15), Mayor Ted Wheeler suffered a blow not just because as the Police Commissioner, he championed remaining in the JTTF, but because of roughly 40 people who testified at the Council hearing, only two agreed with his position. Furthermore, those two people were not affiliated with any organization. Conversely, people spoke from organizations representing labor, faith, social justice, immigrant rights, environmental, African American, Asian American, Muslim, Jewish, Christian and other communities among the 49 groups who signed a letter asking Council to leave the JTTF. Leading off the testimony were the ACLU of Oregon; Michael German, a former FBI agent now working at the Brennan Center for Justice; and Zahra Billoo, Executive Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations- San Francisco Bay Area.

There was some concern that only Commissioners Hardesty and Amanda Fritz had gone on record opposing PPB's participation in the Task Force prior to the vote. In her summary comments, Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said she wasn't sure about her vote until after she had heard the testimony. Commissioner Nick Fish was the only Council member to vote "no" with Wheeler.

The day before the vote, Council held a Work Session, where only invited experts could talk and no vote could take place. The Mayor lined up the local FBI, Oregon's US Attorney Billy Williams, a conference call with the two part-time officers participating in the JTTF, the City Attorney, the Executive Director of the Citizens Crime Commission (an offshoot of the Portland Business Alliance which was the only group testifying in favor of re-joining in 2015) and videos from Chief Outlaw and the Jewish Federation.

The general tenor of those who wanted to continue working with the FBI was set when Commissioner Hardesty pursued a line of questioning based on the local FBI admitting they will use a person's immigration status to deport them if they can't find a way to prosecute them for supposed terrorism crimes (PPR #76). She asked Williams whether he believed in Oregon's "Sanctuary" statute prohibiting use of law enforcement resources to enforce federal immigration law. Williams replied, "I believe it exists."

Wheeler cautioned JTTF officers "Mike" and "Brian" that Bureau policies require them to tell the truth, and asked if they ever were required to violate Oregon law-- the Sanctuary law or ORS 181A.250 prohibiting police spying with no reasonable suspicion. The cops quickly answered they never had done so, but since the Truthfulness policy allows cops to lie in furtherance of law enforcement activities, it was a silly exchange.

German, Billoo, Kayse Jama of Unite Oregon and local attorney Brandon Mayfield, who was the subject of improper FBI surveillance and arrest in 2004 (PPR #33), all presented for the pro- withdrawal side, facing snarky questions trying to get them to prove the secretive task force had violated any Oregon laws or city policies.

The "let's stay in" side predictably included the Oregonian, which ran its own editorial telling Council how to vote, also hosting in rapid succession op-eds from Fish, Williams and FBI Special Agent in Charge Renn Cannon. They also provided an echo chamber for the importance of the JTTF by emphasizing the Task Force's role in tracking down a man who posted a quasi-threat on Instagram to burn down Wheeler's house with a Molotov cocktail. It turned out the man is seriously disabled, has mental health problems, and was only staying in Portland temporarily when he posted the "threat." This sham investigation highlights what the community has been saying: the JTTF does not target the right people. Furthermore their actions did not prevent the attacks on the synagogue in Pittsburgh, the Boston Marathon, or for that matter 9/11. JTTFs were first created in 1996 following the 1993 World Trade Center attack, and New York had one in 2001.

The Resolution called for Council to take a second vote within two months to direct the PPB how to interact with the FBI in case of a real threat to public safety. On April 17, 21 of the original letter's signators wrote to Council noting the deadline had passed on April 9, urging them to act before the first Resolution's final deadline of May 14 when officers must stop working with the JTTF. Apparently there are no consequences for City Council missing its own deadline. At press time, the second Resolution had not yet been scheduled for a hearing.

For more information on the JTTF campaign see portlandcopwatch.org/pjttf.html.

May, 2019
Also in PPR #77

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

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