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One Officer Fired for Lying Among Five 2019 Cases In early March, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) once again quietly posted the summary reports of cases heard by the Police Review Board (PRB). Unlike past PRB Reports, this one did not include any deadly force cases or any civilian-initiated complaints which were reviewed for findings and proposed discipline. The new Report includes just seven cases, including one in which an officer was fired for violating the Truthfulness Directive and three involving negligent firearms discharges. Significantly, two of those cases are the first reported "Stipulated Discipline" outcomes of misconduct allegations, meaning officers agreed to take responsibility and whatever discipline was proposed, thereby bypassing the PRB. All of the Boards were composed of just five (rather than seven) members-- three cops, one staff member of the "Independent" Police Review and one civilian from a rotating pool.
The day after PCW published its analysis of the Report, the Oregonian named the officer in question as Andrew Caspar (#35444), adding that the Portland Police Association was in the middle of arbitration trying to overturn his firing (March 20). They also published details of the underlying incident, including quotes by neighbors who were shocked by Caspar's behavior and statements (March 22). Aside from one negligent discharge case, the remaining three PRB hearings were about (1) failure to report Use of Force-- a typical finding where the Bureau is harsher about paperwork than use of violence, (2) giving out information to a reporter outside proper channels, and (3) a Field Training Officer who allegedly made biased remarks about community members to their trainee on several occasions. The bias appeared to be against white people. In that case, both allegations were ultimately found "Not Sustained with a debriefing," suggesting the officer in question should have told their trainee more context about racism before saying things like "all white people are racist." The PRB had initially wanted to "Sustain" a complaint for the training officer swearing and hitting an onboard computer when the trainee could not find a described location; Deputy Chief Chris Davis changed that finding. The punishments in the lax force reporting and information release cases were a Letter of Reprimand and one day off without pay, respectively. The officer who negligently discharged an AR-15 rifle when preparing for their shift lost their certification on the weapon and received a day off without pay. The two officers who negotiated their discipline, each for firing a shotgun while still at the armory in 2020, got the same suspension. While the stipulated cases did not include much by way of detail, the AR-15 case noted that nobody was in immediate danger due to the stray bullet. The Board recommended making sure the walls of the armory were well reinforced. In the conclusion of our analysis, we wrote: "Portland Copwatch appreciates the Bureau's commitment to publishing these Police Review Board Reports, but continues to wonder why their publication is kept quiet, like a family member the City doesn't want to invite to dinner." See PCW's analysis, which includes a link to the Report, at portlandcopwatch.org/PRBanalysis0321.html. |
May, 2021
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#83 Table of Contents
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![[image of Oregonlive March 22nd article]](http://www.pjw.info/copwatch/PPR83/PRB_obama_oregonlive032221.jpg)
The facts
in
the Truthfulness case: Sometime in 2019, two officers were called to a welfare check,
with Officer 1 telling Officer 2 not to respond right away, pulling their patrol car over before
attending to the call. When they ultimately arrived, Officer 1 did nothing while a person described
as a "suspect" walked away at a brisk pace. Officer 1 told witnesses a rule was put in place under
President Obama not to chase after suspects. As the Report gently puts it, that statement is "not
factually based in law or policy." Officer 1 was found out of policy for five allegations
including unsatisfactory performance, conduct, and "Laws, Rules and Orders." The Truthfulness
Directive was violated when he lied or omitted information about the delayed response, the
comments he made, and the Obama comment, which he didn't bring up until pressed by the
investigators.