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Police Review Board Reports: Two of the 16 disciplinary outcomes appear to involve Detective Norvell Hollins III driving Bureau vehicles for personal use. The PRB recommended terminating Hollins' employment for the two vehicle misuse cases, including lying in the second case. The first case involved Hollins putting 15,635 miles on his take home car in five months, with a total of 100,000 miles in three years. The Detective did not dispute violating the Vehicle Use Directive, saying he took trips to Seaside (80 miles from Portland). In the second case, Hollins put 145 miles on a cop car while supposedly on a stakeout. The Board found Hollins guilty of twice violating the Satisfactory Performance Directive, and of lying by not telling investigators he picked up a family member at school. Chief Outlaw changed the finding on the truthfulness allegation to "Not Sustained" (not enough evidence), then demoted Hollins rather than fire him. The Oregonian's September 17 says Hollins had retired from the Bureau and was rehired for a two year stint ending in September anyway. In another case including an allegation of lying (which was not Sustained), the officer was found in violation of the Conduct policy for drawing another cop's face and name on a target before firing at it in the practice range while laughing. Four Board members recommended two days off without pay, but Outlaw lowered that to one day off.
As with deadly force cases, the Bureau labeled as "Bureau-only" (not involving a civilian complainant) both a car chase in which the suspect and the officer drove over an uninvolved person's property, and the texting scandal involving Lt. Jeff Niiya and protestors (PPR #77). With the car chase, the Board found Officer #1 did not weigh the risk benefits or adequately update a sergeant about what was going on when they could have ended the chase, violating the Vehicle Pursuits Directive. Three members of the Board suggested a Letter of Reprimand, which the Chief accepted. The Niiya case went to the Board only because an Assistant Chief controverted the original "Not Sustained" findings and said they were "Exonerated." The allegations were that Niiya had communicated unprofessionally (overly friendly) with alt-right activist Joey Gibson, and violated the "dissemination of information" directive by warning Gibson ally "Tiny" Toese about a warrant for his arrest. The Board claims the public backlash to the published texts was due to a lack of information, but added Niiya should have been clear about his intent. Similar to Sgt. Gregg Lewis, who was fired for racist remarks but reinstated and retired (also PPR #77), a supervisor who made remarks about a subordinate of color not receiving harsh enough punishment because of their race was only given two weeks off without pay. That supervisor retired before being disciplined. There were three other cases involving officers making inappropriate comments (one was sexually explicit) or taking inappropriate action against their fellow officers. The March report shows two officers who stopped a man on a light rail platform and patted him down, thinking he was an armed suspect, were "Exonerated" of biased behavior. One Board member pointed out that the only attribute the complainant and the suspect shared was that they were both African American. While that clearly is a violation of the Bias Based Policing Directive, four members upheld the exonerated finding and the lone dissenter only felt it should be "Not Sustained," meaning there wasn't enough evidence to prove the cops' bias. The newer report also showed Chief Outlaw changed a "Sustained" finding where an officer was rude to a male domestic violence survivor and failed to make a mandatory arrest of the subject of that man's restraining order. She changed the finding on the failure to arrest to "Not Sustained," meaning there wasn't enough evidence, even though the officer clearly did not arrest the perpetrator. Per the Board's recommendation, the officer received a Letter of Reprimand. In a separate case, another officer failed to arrest a DV suspect who had a gun, although that violated the restraining order. The officer felt confiscating the gun solved the problem, though the violation should have led to a mandatory arrest. The cop got two days off without pay. Also, a person who was arrested and a witness complained an officer used excessive force taking the arrestee into custody. The Board reviewed a video and admitted watching the officer repeatedly punch the complainant looked bad, but people needed to know a broader context. Perhaps because at least four of the original allegations did not make it to the PRB, the officer using a Taser to no effect wasn't highlighted in the review. Though one Board member wanted to Sustain the complaint, five of the seven "Exonerated" the cop. Deputy Chief Chris Davis added a debriefing at the suggestion of three of those members. Officers also used force on a man one of them chased from a traffic stop, but the PRB didn't review that force. However, they found the foot pursuit violated Bureau policy for posing a risk to the passenger left in the car with another suspect. It makes no sense to separate the force from the totality of the circumstances, since force was only used because of the improper pursuit. Chief Outlaw agreed the pursuing officer needed Command Counseling. Of 97 allegations, 61 were found "Exonerated" or "In Policy" and eight "Not Sustained." Overall, the Board made 21 policy recommendations, at least four of which were progressive, including suggesting suspects' criminal histories should not be part of the PRB presentation unless the officers knew it at the time of the incident. It is not clear what happened with the recommendations. In 2019, consultants hired by the City suggested the Board should ask tougher questions in deadly force cases. PCW reminded the Bureau their commitment to building community trust requires more open PRB reporting and process.
Portland Copwatch (PCW) released summaries a week after the December and March Reports were released, scooping the mainstream media.
*- The suspect escaped.
The Reports are posted at <portlandoregon.gov/police/55365>. PCW's analyses are at < portlandcopwatch.org/shootings.html#background>. |
May, 2020
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#80 Table of Contents
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One case in the March Report involved a mid-level supervisor who disobeyed their supervisor's
order by releasing confidential personnel information to another officer. Four Board members
recommended a demotion, and one suggested two weeks off. The cover memo says Chief Outlaw
"agreed," yet only imposed one week off without pay.