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State Discipline Commission Publishes
Narrative Guide and Surveys Public
Legislature Maintains Membership Imbalance

Since we wrote about the Commission on Statewide Law Enforcement Standards of Conduct and Discipline (LESC) in PPR #88, there have been a few new developments. In January, the LESC published a Narrative Guide to help people understand the rules and how to apply them. The State Senate introduced a housekeeping bill (SB 808) to fix some of the LESC's problems. LESC also put out another call for public comment.

The stated purpose of the Narrative Guide is "to assist law enforcement officers, law enforcement agencies, disciplining bodies, and the public in understanding and applying the rules" that they created. As a reminder, the rules finalized in 2022 allow for five of the seven types of serious misconduct to be mitigated down to "written reprimand" (PPR #88).

The guide states that, for cops who are "unionized" the rules won't take effect until their next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is renewed. If the LESC rules don't cover a certain kind of misconduct, then the disciplining body will follow the "law enforcement agency's policies and practices and/or CBA ... consistent with LESC rules." Since Portland police officers are covered by a CBA which expires in 2025 it appears that the next contract negotiations with the Portland Police Association will be affected by the weak standards the LESC has put in place.

The Senate Committee on Judiciary introduced SB 808 to fix issues with quorum, clarify public notification, add an annual report requirement, and update the definitions of law enforcement officer and agency. The bill also moved responsibility for appointing and chairing the LESC from a shared effort by the Attorney General and the Department of Public Safety, Standards and Training to being solely in the AG's office.

Initial text of SB 808 called for a slight rebalancing of power on the LESC, however, by the time the bill made it out of Committee, the portion of the bill that would have replaced two law enforcement interests with members of the public was removed. The only public input received that disapproved of the rebalancing was from the Oregon Sheriffs and Chiefs Associations and the Oregon Coalition of Police and Sheriffs (ORCOPS), so it is clear who the Legislature is listening to. It is not the community-- particularly the families of people who have been harmed by or lost loved ones to police violence who testified verbally and in writing. SB 808 becomes effective January 1, 2024.

Finally, the LESC sent an email in mid-July to some interested parties with a link to a survey and 18 days to fill it out. Responses "will be submitted to the Legislature and will be made available on the Commission's website," which, as we learned from the public input given to the LESC and the Legislature, will be disregarded.

September, 2023
Also in PPR #90

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 #90 Table of Contents
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