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Quick Flashes PPR #87

Retired Sgt. Liani Reyna, the whistleblower cop whose complaint about an unfair Internal Affairs investigation was scuttled by the police oversight board last year (PPR #85), won a public records lawsuit against the City in May. The City had tried to prevent her from getting access to certain Internal Affairs records, claiming that using that information and other publicly available information, a person could discover the identities and/or histories of specific officers. Though the District Attorney agreed, the judge in the matter noted that the law does not prevent people from, well, putting two and two together.

However, in his ruling, the Judge advised the City to stop posting specific case numbers to the internet if they wanted to avoid this kind of research being done in the future. Even though public information requests are backed up by months and the PPB complains about being short-staffed, within two weeks they had begun redacting Police Review Board Reports to remove PPB's case numbers. Instead of, for example, 2020-C-0269, the case number about the officer who brutalized a protestor with a "register to vote" sign is now labeled "Case #2." While we congratulate Sgt. Reyna for cracking open the blue wall of silence in her case, the unfortunate side effect is a further restriction on access to information.
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Portland Ex-Cop Who Rammed Suspected Shoplifter Pleads Guilty on Two Charges

Former Portland Officer Scott Groshong, who was charged criminally for ramming his police vehicle into a suspected shoplifter in a June, 2020 incident (PPR #82), pleaded guilty to assault and official misconduct (Portland Mercury blog, July 25). He is having his certification to be a police officer revoked, will be on probation for three years and has to engage in 80 hours of community service. Apparently, the Multnomah County District Attorney turned the case over to Marion County for prosecution, since the local DA works on a daily basis convicting community members with the help of the Portland Police. Though the incident was caught on video, Groshong failed to write about it in his police report (or to notify the DMV).
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Forest Grove Drunk Cop Convicted for Vandalizing Black Lives Matter Signs

Forest Grove Officer Steven Teets, who tore down a community member's Black Lives Matter signs during a drunken rage in October 2020, was convicted of second degree criminal mischief and sentenced to 80 hours of community service and a $100 fine (Oregonlive, July 22).

Unfortunately, Teets does not seem to be facing charges for Tasering a man to death that same year (PPR #84). Officer Brad Schuetz, who essentially covered up Teets' drunken crime, was found not guilty of official misconduct a few days earlier (Portland Tribuneonline, July 15).
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PPB Traffic Stop Data Show Fewer Stops, More People of Color Targeted

In July, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) finally released the 2021 annual traffic stop data report. The Oregonian ran a fairly comprehensive article on July 24 noting that (a) overall, traffic stops were down from nearly 25,000 to just over 14,000, (b) the percentage of white people stopped was its lowest ever, at 64%, and (c) the percentage of Black drivers asked to consent to a search is higher than most other races/ethnicities.

The report shows that 2.2% of Black drivers were asked to consent to a search (for Native Hawaiians, that was 3.9% but the pool was much smaller). Only 12.5% of the Black drivers refused a search while 20% of white drivers did.

The O also called out the BS from the PPB which Portland Copwatch (PCW) has noted for years: their insistence that crime victimization rates should be used as a benchmark rather than census data. Andomachi Tesloni, a professor on criminology, is quoted saying using data this way is "misleading on many counts... stop and search police activity is aimed at potential offenders [and] suspects, [not] potential victims."

At the presentation of the PPB's Annual Report virtually presented for East Precinct, Chief Lovell again asserted that census data are not accurate because of all the people who drive in from Vancouver, Gresham and other outlying areas each day. When PCW member Dan Handelman asked a follow up question about whether the Chief would collect information on the addresses of people stopped by police to prove this point, the moderator (Public Information Officer Kevin Allen) left off the part of the question tying the collection of data to proving the PPB's race theory.
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Bunch of Cops on "Brady List"

Actually, our headline here is just for fun-- in its August 10 issue, the Willamette Week revealed that the so-called "Brady List," names that the District Attorney is required to keep to reveal officers whose testimony may be questionable, only has three Portland Police officers on it. They are Andrew Caspar, who lied about telling people he wasn't chasing a suspect because of policies set by President Obama (PPR #84); Brian Hubbard, who was convicted of DUII in 2009; and John Shadron, who also was guilty of driving while impaired (PPR #54).

The "Brady List" is normally just about officers accused of untruthfulness. The DA's list is called the "Potential Impeachment Disclosure index." Not on the list is Sgt. Erin Smith, who lied to a community member, claiming it was illegal to record police and was found out of policy by the Citizen Review Committee (PPR #80). The Chief changed Smith's allegation to a performance issue, and Smith retired in 2020.
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Portland Copwatch Helps Thwart Potential Scams by Cops Who Transfer to PPB

In late May, the Portland Police attempted to push an item through at City Council that would grant $25,000 bonuses to officers transferring in from other agencies as an incentive to join the Bureau. The catch? There was nothing preventing the officers from signing up, joining the PPB, and walking away with the money once they pocketed it. Portland Copwatch (PCW) members' testimony helped prompt City Council to ask questions, which in turn led Mayor Ted Wheeler to delay the item while more work was done on it. When it came back to Council on June 29, a new provision required these officers to return all the money if they left within a year, $20,000 if they left within two years, and so on. While a minor victory, these are the kinds of things PCW constantly monitors to at least mitigate the worst possible outcomes.
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Keaton Otis Remembered 12 Years Later; Permanent Memorial Planned

The annual memorial for Keaton Otis, who was shot by Portland Police in May 2010 (PPR #51), was held as an online/in person hybrid event on May 12. This year featured more personal recollections about Keaton's life. The video is available at tinyurl.com/KO12years. In July, work began on a permanent memorial at NE 6th and Halsey, where Keaton was killed.

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September, 2022
Also in PPR #87

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.

People's Police Report #87 Table of Contents
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Peace and Justice Works home page
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