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Criminal Investigation into Jail Deputies
Setting Up Inmate Fights Fizzles
Also, PCW Meets with Sheriff Morrisey-O'Donnell For Basic Introductions

As the criminal investigations of several Multnomah County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) corrections officers for their roles in inmates dying in jail (PPR #91), another case has surfaced that dates back to the previous Sheriff's time in office. It appears that corrections officers gave the run of one (or more) floors of the "Justice Center" to the Hoover gang, allowing them to get into fights with other inmates and looking the other way. The District Attorney decided that the incidents were so old and the witnesses so questionably reliable that they could not prosecute the officers, but current Sheriff Nicole Morrisey-O'Donnell announced that an internal investigation is ongoing (Willamette Week, March 6). There's also a report that corrections officers are being investigated for doing favors for another gang, the Gypsy Jokers (Willamette Week, March 15).

Portland Copwatch's interest in observing police actions in the community focuses most of our attention on patrol deputies. Thus, when we scored a meeting with the Sheriff on March 6, we didn't raise either of these scandals, but instead took the time to introduce ourselves as an organization and raise several issues to see where Morrisey-O'Donnell stands. These are some of the things we talked about:

--The Sheriff's Office was only involved in three deadly force incidents (that we know of) between our founding in 1992 and 2018, but from 2018 to the present there have been six, two of which were fatal. The Sheriff said there was no change in policy in 2018, and we didn't press her as to whether it was Reese coming in from the Portland Police Bureau in 2016 who ignited the cowboy behavior.

--We asked about the section of the MCSO policy on Internal Investigations that mentions community members' involvement in reviewing misconduct investigations, and whether there was more information about who those community members are and whether they ever hold public meetings. We also asked whether the Sheriff might create a civilian oversight body. The Sheriff said she would consider doing so if it can improve the MCSO.

--We asked about the Homeless Outreach and Programs Engagement Team (HOPE). The Sheriff told us that uniformed deputies connect mainly with people living along the Sandy River in an area colloquially known as the 1000 Acre Park to help them get connected with services. There was some acknowledgment that law enforcement are not always the best people to do outreach, but that it can help build relationships. The deputies assigned do not rotate through so there is continuity. Because this program takes place in East County, the non-police Portland Street Response team doesn't address that area, and it's not clear whether deputies working within Portland city limits ever call on PSR to help with people who may have mental illness.

--We noted that we are concerned that the MCSO policy on body cameras allows MCSO officers to look at body camera footage prior to writing reports. The Portland Police policy, which requires officers to give a statement in serious cases before looking at the footage, has been adopted by the Police Executive Research Forum as a new national standard. The Sheriff said body cameras are still in a pilot phase, and that changes to the policy will be considered once the pilot is completed.

May, 2024
Also in PPR #92

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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