Resources on the IPR Assessment Report 2008

Watch the 8-minute video about the report
(2/10/08)

Read a two page talking points version
or
the full length 7-page version of Portland Copwatch's Analysis
(2/12/08)
or
our initial brief reaction to the report
(1/25/08--updated with current Council info)

Listen to a radio interview about the IPR report
(2/19/08)

Look at responses from City Auditor Gary Blackmer and former IPR Director Leslie Stevens (LS)
(2/28/08)
Read Portland Copwatch's 6-page analysis of the Blackmer/Stevens memos
(3/11/08)

The long-awaited assessment report on the "Independent" Police Review Division (Portland's Police Complaint System) by consultant Eileen Luna-Firebaugh was released on Thursday, January 24, 2008.

It has some very good recommendations that should all be taken seriously, most significantly that:
--the IPR should be doing independent investigations on its own, and when directed to do so by its Citizen Review Committee (CRC);
--the City should assign a staff person directly to the CRC; and
--the CRC should hold more appeal hearings, issue more policy recommendations, and do more outreach.

But the report doesn't go far enough. The mistrust that the community has for the system is based on the IPR's dependence on the Police Bureau (this and other reasons for lack of trust are noted repeatedly in the report).
Yet the report's recommendation is for some investigations to be done by civilian investigators, not all.
The report highlights the "easy" relationship between the IPR Director and the Bureau's Internal Affairs Division. While there is much to be said for this, it ignores the institutional problem of this cozy relationship.
There is no mention at all of the conflict of interest inherent in the City Attorney advising both the Police Bureau when they get sued for misconduct and the IPR/CRC when they investigate misconduct.

There are lots of golden nuggets, including the same recommendations we've made for years for additional "findings" of Policy Failure, Supervisory Failure, and Training Failure, as well as presenting reports to Council annually, and more.

We will try to put out a slightly more comprehensive summary in the coming days and weeks.
The City Council presentation of this report will be held on Wednesday, March 19 at 10:45 AM. One day earlier, on Tuesday, March 18 from 12-2, there will be a "Council Work Session" to discuss the report with no public input.

You can download and read the full 186-page report or the executive summary by going to the mayor's website at
http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor/
(removed January 2009 by Mayor Adams...) Direct links are
http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor/index.cfm?c=42575&a=182328
for the executive summary (removed January 2009 by Mayor Adams...)
and
http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=44653&a=245276
for the full report (posted by IPR 5/15/09).

After Luna-Firebaugh released her 20-page interim report in late October, Auditor Gary Blackmer blasted her initial research in a 10-page response.

We urge the community to become involved in the discussion between now and the day it is presented to City Council, at the hearing, and afterward, as there may not be an opportunity to discuss the future of the IPR again for another 6 years.

Posted January 25, 2008, last updated March 15, 2009