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Hooper Detox and Police Conduct: A Copwatch Update

In June, members of POPSG met with administrators of the Hooper Memorial Detoxification Center. To the pleasant surprise of all involved, they had a good discussion and found much common ground.

POPSG members initiated the meeting after a number of callers to the Copwatch line complained that police officers had taken them to the Hooper Center even though they were not drunk. One man was awakened early in the morning at his home by police officers knocking at his door. When he answered, wearing only a towel, the officers took him to the Hooper Center, where staffers told him he wasn't drunk and released him. POPSG wanted to know how often this sort of thing happened, why it happened, and how it could be prevented.

At the meeting, Hooper staffers initially seemed somewhat reluctant to discuss these issues. POPSG members then stressed that they were not interested in attacking Hooper. In fact, callers to Copwatch did not complain at all about their treatment at the center, only about the police taking them there. Once this was clear, the administrators were very helpful.

They said that around 80% of all Hooper admissions come from the police (the other 20% are from the Chiers van and self-admissions). While most people brought by the police do, in fact, belong at Hooper, the center has, over the years, had a significant problem with police bringing people to them who are not drunk. When the center was started as an alternative to the city drunk tank, Hooper's relations with the police were not good, and they were not able to do much about the problem. Recently, however, the adminstration has been meeting with Portland Police Chief Charles Moose and others in the bureau, and have worked out several strategies to reduce these "seen but not admitted" cases.

One of these is to improve the "Person Reports" filled out by officers who take people to the center. In the past, the officers wrote only the words "Drunk to Detox" on the report, but now they are required to describe the behavior that caused them to make the arrest. (If you have ever been taken to Hooper, the center will give you your Person Report for $2 or so, an example POPSG wishes the Portland Police would follow! The Bureau charges $10 and up for such reports.)

The meeting concluded with a tour of the center, which has both an immediate-care area for incapacitated people and a detoxification area for transition to treatment programs. POPSG was glad to meet with Hooper staffers and will be able to use the information to help future Copwatch callers. This is exactly the goal of the Copwatch hotline: finding out what sort of complaints are being made about police and taking action to resolve the underlying problems.

Third Quarter, 1994
Also in PPR #3

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

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