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Second Resolution on Joint Terrorism Task Force Creates Possibility of More Cooperation, Not Less
As reported in PPR #77, the Portland City Council voted in February to
remove two part-
time officers from their assignment to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), directing
Eight people involved in the campaign against PPB involvement in the JTTF testified, led off by local attorney Brandon Mayfield who was wrongfully accused of terrorism by the FBI in 2004. Group representatives from Unite Oregon, Portland Copwatch and others raised concerns about racial profiling, talked about how the JTTF has not prevented acts of mass violence in the US, and how many people each group represents to counter assertions by the Mayor's staff that the organizations' input was not representative of the community at large. At the urging of the groups, Council voted to accept an amendment requiring individualized suspicion of criminal activity, based on the state statute. The Resolution requires the Police Chief to sign off on any case where the FBI asks for help. It creates an annual report, which has to be presented in January of every year, talking about the number of cases and demographic information about the suspects. Commissioner Hardesty acknowledged the community's concerns and stated the report will tell her if we need to tweak the agreement further. Commissioner Fish, who had originally voted against withdrawal, agreed the reports are important. Commissioner Fritz stated on the record that the Mayor pulled the two part- time officers out of daily work at the JTTF shortly after the vote in February, showing integrity in respecting the Council's vote. The Mayor continued his absurd argument that the PPB being in the JTTF helped modify the FBI's behavior to meet Portland standards. Even to the extent that Portland is any better than the FBI, thinking an agency under the direction of the current Attorney General and President will bend to our local concerns is a bit short-sighted to say the least.
Meanwhile, in the Bureau's draft 2018 Annual Report, they go into detail on the Criminal Intelligence Unit's single case working with the JTTF last year. It involved a man who appears to have mental and physical health issues, meaning the "threatening communications with intent to extort" (an Instagram post to Mayor Ted Wheeler) were in fact not a credible threat at all. Exaggerating community threats while minimizing harm done by officers does not build trust. In short, Portland has won an apparent victory, but will have to see how things play out with the potential end-run of adding in "threats to life and/or hate crimes" when the first report is released next January.
On August 7, the Guardian revealed that a "South West Oregon Joint Task Force" had spied on activists organizing against a proposed gas pipeline, that they received training from the Portland JTTF, and that Portland Officer Andrew Hearst had been looped in on emails. Hearst killed Quanice Hayes in 2017 (PPR #71) and Merle Hatch in 2013 (PPR #59). |
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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Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty to develop guidelines on
how the Police
Bureau will interact with the JTTF in the future. The draft of the second Resolution containing
those guidelines was not completed by the deadline of 55 days after the February hearing, but was
eventually put forward for adoption by Council on May 8. The Resolution mostly acts to limit
PPB's involvement with the secretive federal task force, reiterating a commitment to follow state law
which restricts collection of information about people without suspicion of criminal conduct.
However, one clause in the Resolution raised serious concerns with civil liberties advocates: it
allows the Bureau to work on cases of terrorism "and/or threats to life including hate
crimes," which could open them up to working on hundreds of cases per year instead of a
handful. Perhaps this compromise was necessary for unanimity: while the original Resolution to
get out passed on a split 3-2 vote, the second Resolution passed 4-0 (with Commissioner Eudaly
out of town, but likely in support).
One provision of the
Resolution requires the Bureau to create a Directive (policy) guiding the
PPB's involvement in the JTTF. That Directive was posted for public input in mid-July with a
deadline to comment of mid-August. The draft mostly lifts all of its language from the Resolution.