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PPB Posts New and Old Policies for Comment, Copwatch Responds
May: The Directive on "Contact with Members of Immigrant Communities" (810.10) showed changes reflecting collective input from the ACLU, Innovation Law Lab and Causa, but almost nothing PCW suggested. For example, PCW asked that any time the Directive refers to basing suspicion "solely" on immigration status it should instead say "solely or primarily" as it does early on in the policy, but that change wasn't made. PCW also cautioned against vague language which could allow the PPB to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement's rounding up of immigrants by providing traffic control or "law enforcement cover," but that language stayed in. The policy about lawsuits against officers (220.40) clarifies that process somewhat, relieving some of PCW's previous concerns. It does not, however, include a direct reference to Directive 310.20 on Retaliation which prohibits officers from discouraging or retaliating against civilians who file or threaten to file lawsuits. We also cautioned the Bureau to ensure officers will conduct themselves in a compassionate, professional manner with all due care and concern for the dignity and needs of all persons involved in Sexual Assault investigations (640.20). We repeated our suggestion for the survivor to be able to ask for a certain gender of officer to respond to them, and not to engage in repeat questioning of the survivors to avoid re-traumatizing them. New Directives about how the Bureau responds to "Active Violence" (730.00) and burglar alarms (630.35) led us to make comments as well, with the Active Violence policy returning in July for more feedback (see below). June: After the City revealed the PSSS program consists of glorified desk clerks rather than unarmed authorized police officers, the new policy outlining the effort (630.26) seemed mostly designed to restrict what the Specialists will do. PCW acknowledged that City Council affirmed some of these limitations, but urged the Bureau to work toward having officers like London bobbies, who can enforce the law but don't carry guns. PSSSs are not allowed to work undercover or make arrests, and can only use force (up to the use of pepper spray) in restricted circumstances. They are also restricted from interacting with people in mental health crisis, which again was one of the reasons people believed the program was created. One thing of real significance is that the PSSSs are now part of the Portland Police Association (PPA) collective bargaining unit even though they are not sworn personnel.
Making matters worse, the Bureau's abbreviation for Public Safety Support Specialists is "PS3s," the same as a Sony Playstation, implying that these non-cops are just playing games.
July: The Directive on exclusion from City property (835.00) has existed for years, but came under review while houseless people made up about half of the PPB's arrests (PPR #75). PCW expressed concerns about officers' ability to exclude people from parking garages for 180 days, and from parks for periods increasing from 30 to 90 to 180 days. We noted the Bureau needs to better define what can lead to exclusions, including the vague phrase they currently use prohibiting "loud or boisterous physical behavior." In our follow up comments on the "Active Violence" Directive, we found a few inconsequential new sections, but no change to our most urgent concern. The draft policy includes the offensive term "neutralize the threat," which is used regularly as a euphemism for "kill the shooter." August: In August the PPB posted 12 more Directives, many of which we have discussed previously. The only "new" one, 840.00 about arrests with a warrant, was pushed up along with 835.20 about clearing houseless camps in response to IPR's report on police and housless policies (see article). PCW submitted comments urging police to respect people's property and rights. Also, the Directive on Personal Appearance came back for final comments. Read the PPB Directives, including those posted for public review. |
September, 2019
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#78 Table of Contents
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Continuing their practice since 2014
of putting draft Directives (policies) out for public review, the
Portland Police Bureau (PPB) asked for input on about a dozen documents from May to August,
some of which represented new policies. Portland Copwatch (PCW) commented on many of the
Directives, paying particular attention to the ones about interaction with immigrants (once again),
exclusion from City property, the new Public Safety Support Specialists (PSSSs), and the Joint
Terrorism Task Force (