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Rapping Back
POPSG's Analysis of Information in the Police Union
Monthly Newsletter, The Rap Sheet

Reviewing the Views of Our Community Police

Full Frontal Attack

The October issue of The Rap Sheet features POPSG in the lead story. Then-Portland Police Association (PPA) President Roger Morse proudly reports the protection of the PPA's logo winch be spotted reproduced in People's Police Report (PPR) #3. Morse writes of the "swift action" taken by PPA Attorney Will Aitchison in writing a "strong letter" demanding POPSG never again use the PPA logo (see "Rapping Back", PPR #4). POPSG continues to use a modified version of the logo under fair use provisions of the copyright law, for criticism purposes. We want to emphasize, to avoid confusion, that the PPA has not endorsed this newsletter in any manner.

In his piece Morse describes "Rapping Back" as "devoted to a rebuttal of whatever it is that Rap Sheet Editor Jeff Barker wrote in the last edition." Regular followers of the PPR know that in this column we reprint, word for word, sections of the Rap Sheet.

So how are we to interpret Morse stating that the People's Police Report has "a general level of accuracy that makes supermarket tabloids look like pearls in a journalism oyster"? Does that mean scrutinizing mainstream media, reprinting portions of police and PIIAC documents, and reporting on our own group's activities are akin to seeing space aliens shake hands with George Bush? Read the rest of this newsletter and judge for yourself (write to us for copies of back issues).

Deadly force proceedings

According to the November Rap Sheet, the new deadly force policy negotiated with the PPA means the union will always call a private attorney when officers wound or kill a suspect, and, if the officers are cleared of wrongdoing, the PORTLAND POLICE BUREAU PAYS THE ATTORNEY'S FEES. Since no officer has been found guilty of criminal conduct, YOU, THE TAXPAYER, are footing the bill.

Another interesting tidbit is that when there is a use of deadly force case, the Bureau has an agreement to contact the union president almost immediately! (POPSG knows of at least one case in which family members of a Portland Police shooting victim weren't even notified by police).

Also, the reason the city attorney can't represent police is because of potential conflict with the city's best interests of defending a potentially criminal employee. If there is a problem on the force (like the officer who was fired for shooting at Gerald Gratton in North Portland 23 times), isn't it against the union's interest to keep protecting that officer? At what point do police stand up and say "Ok, I did something wrong"? Isn't that what they want criminals to do? How can the public be encouraged to take personal responsibility, and why do politicians keep calling for an end to death row appeals, when police fight accusations of misconduct with every last breath? Due process should be applied equally, but if they hope to help put an end to crime, those entrusted with keeping the public safety should set an example.

Speaking of protecting officers' rights...

Jeff Barker, now the President of the PPA, wrote a guest article in January on the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) and their efforts to protect cops from "an entire cottage industry... of trial attorneys who solicit the public to sue law enforcement officers, motivated by the prospect of large damage awards and hefty attorneys [sic] fees."

He makes a compelling argument that officers are human beings bound to make mistakes, but then takes a bizarre turn when he complains that police seem to have to obey all the rules while criminals can get away with anything. Obviously, he forgets that the police (whose word is taken as the absolute truth in most court proceedings, and, even in wrongful death cases, are very rarely found guilty of criminal conduct) are employed by the public to do a job. Besides, police rights to disobey traffic signals, to conduct pat-down searches, and to use force against citizens are special rights.

PIIAC, Go Away

The Rap Sheet's new Editor is Loren Christensen, who was assigned to Portland's Gang Enforcement Team (GET) in the early 1990s. In January, he wrote that the PIIAC (the citizen appeals board for police misconduct) meeting "wasn't a bad as I anticipated. In fact, there were some suggestions by the panel that made sense." However, he ended by asking whether any of the members

"sitting in judgment of police officers have ever cruised alone on the dark streets, risking their lives as they looked for the very thing that non-police people run from. I wondered if any of them has ever tasted the acidic flavor of fear, been spat on, been stared at with pure hatred, grappled with a mentally-deranged- HIV positive doper, faced an armed gang member, made a split second life and death decision, or pulled a mangled, teen-age body from the wreckage of a car. If they haven't done these things, how can they..." [End of article]

For the record, PIIAC's current powers are still limited to agreeing or disagreeing with Internal Investigations' handling of citizen complaints. But let us suppose that they were, in some way, sitting in judgment of the officers. The argument that they can't do so without being a cop is like saying a jury trial is an anti-civilian forum, where no citizen should judge a criminal unless they've walked a mule in their shoes. (Actually, that sounds like a good idea. but it all should be one way or the other).

The name game, the blame game

Christensen's first "From the editor" column promised that the Rap Sheet would not print profanity, sexist or racist material. However, that did not stop him from using the word "mentals" to describe citizens "who come from a place where the sky is a different color".

This degradation of the mentally challenged goes hand in hand with two letters to the Rap Sheet regarding Janet Marilyn Smith, a mentally disturbed woman who was shot by Gresham police in August in a Fred Meyer store. In October, retired detective Ken Armstrong asks "if (Smith's) family is so concerned, where were they when she needed them? He goes on to state that "Some of the sympathy should be given to the police officers, who in the performance of their duty, had to take a life" (for an analysis of this argument, see "Cops Who 'Have to' Kill", PPR #3).

In November, Officer Ron Willis wrote a letter of thanks for support from the PPB and other law enforcement agencies, describing the fact that he has "experienced every emotion in the book" since he was involved in shooting Smith. His letter does not mention Smith's family.

It's tough to walk in dignity with throw up on your shoes

In January, Christensen relates an odd story about becoming tongue-tied while assisting former President Ronald Reagan in Portland a few years ago. Seems Reagan was meeting the Junior Rose Court and "one of the girls, overcome with excitement and the heat, puked on the floor near "The Man's shoes." Reagan asked Christensen "how's that girl?" two times before a secret service agent riding in the elevator with them assured the former President she was ok.

A Wild Read

Also, the Oregonian and In Uniform (a gay/lesbian publication), picked up on a story reprinted in the November Rap Sheet about a Washington County officer whose sexual harassment charges were dropped when a judge ruled his penis was straight, unlike his accuser's description of it. It seems like these publications are only interested in the exploitative aspects of the Rap Sheet, while only the People's Police Report reprints the meaningful pieces of information to be found in the PPA's newspaper. But now you can get the Rap Sheet at several local community policing contact offices. and take the wild ride for yourself.

First Trimester, 1995
Also in PPR #5

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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