Site Navigation

Chief Lovell Steps Back,
"Interim Chief" Bob Day Takes Over

Without much warning, Chief Chuck Lovell announced that he would stand down from the top cop position in mid-October to become the new Assistant Chief of Community Services. Mayor Wheeler quickly named Bob Day, who had been Deputy Chief under Chief Danielle Outlaw in 2018-19, to take the role until the newfangled City Council and Mayor get elected and seated in 2025. Portland Copwatch has a history with Chief Day, including the time that he offered an unexpected apology to member Dan Handelman at a Training Advisory Council meeting for an offhand remark made at the previous meeting (PPR #71).

Day went through a transformative time in his personal life that led him to, among other things, attend Red Door Project theater presentations in which people (predominantly people of color) explained their perspective on why the community fears being pulled over by the police. In the hearing on the US Department of Justice Settlement Agreement (see article), Day told Judge Michael Simon that he feels it's on him as Chief to make sure that the distrust is recognized as a reality.

That didn't stop him, however, from responding to PCW's inquiry about releasing the name of the officer involved in the December 6 shooting of Isaac Seavey (see article) by claiming that there was an ongoing threat to officers and that the US Department of Justice had signed off on extending the release period from 24 hours to 15 days per an executive order by former Chief Lovell (PPR #88). This was a line he took from Lovell, who conflated the FBI (part of the broader DOJ) with the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, which brought the lawsuit leading to the Agreement. The DOJ said publicly that they would not be able to weigh in on Lovell's change until it went through the process described in the Agreement where there is public input and review of each PPB policy before the DOJ signs off on them. Coincidentally, comments on the Deadly Force policy, which contains that 24 hour timeline, were due nine days after the shooting (see article).

According to online records, Day was not qualified to be the Chief when he was sworn in. He took firearms training certification on October 5, but began other updates related to his 2.5 year absence after the ceremony and until November 1.

On September 20, the Oregonian ran a handy article listing all 18 chiefs Portland has had since 1985, including interim appointees-- a good reminder that PCW has been around during the reigns of 14 of them.

So it remains to be seen whether the axiom described by former Black Panther Michael Zinzun proves to be true once again about getting in a new chief. "When you have a rickety old bus and change the driver, you still have a rickety old bus."

January, 2024
Also in PPR #91

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 #91 Table of Contents
Back to Portland Copwatch home page
Peace and Justice Works home page
Back to top