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Bureau Uses Directives Review to Push Through Major Change in Force Policy

When the Police Bureau posts policies ("Directives") for public review, there is usually some reason the community may have expected the changes to come forward, for example the Crowd Control policy discussed in PPR #92. Quite out of the blue, on July 1-- not coincidentally the first day the new Court Monitor began work to ensure the PPB is following the US Department of Justice Settlement Agreement-- the Bureau posted its force reporting policy (910.00) where the lowest level of force is now being removed as mandatory to include on Force Data Collection Reports (FDCRs). PCW learned a little more about this change at the Training Advisory Council meeting in July (see TAC article). But it seems this should have been discussed among the parties to the Agreement since all force has been reported in a certain way since 2017 (DOJ article). Portland Copwatch (PCW) submitted a scathing pushback on the concept of "De Minimis" force in late July, and incorporated the same concerns into the Force, Crowd (again) and Less Lethal Weapons policies up for review in early August. Here are some other policies that PCW has commented on in the last few months:

May: In commenting on the Directive about Temporary Detention (870.25), PCW noted the Bureau made a few improvements by cutting two previously problematic sections about juvenile detainees. The Procedural Justice policy (25.00), in the opinion of PCW, should require officers to inform people of their rights even when there is no arrest made to prompt the "Miranda warning." PCW also expressed continued concern that the "Line of Duty Death" reporting requirements (240.10) show much more sensitivity to police families than the Deadly Force policy (1010.10) does to community members. We repeated our comments when the second review came up in June. PCW also expressed concerns about lack of clarity in the Field Training Directive (1501.00).

June: The Secondary Employment (210.70) and Extra Employment (210.80) policies came back up for review, giving PCW another chance to point out how Officer Brian Hunzeker flagrantly violated the first one, and to ask why officers are allowed to work 20 hours a week at extra jobs and even take vacation time and work up to 60 hours when they're supposedly stretched so thin. The Extra Employment policy cut out many specific kinds of work that officers were not supposed to engage in, in favor of broad language. PCW again raised the question of what happens if officers sell "Blue Lives Matter" or other controversial, veiled racist merchandise in their off time.

The Bureau also asked for, and received comments about Traffic Crash Investigations (540.50), which was back from March and not much improved, Performance Evaluations (215.00), which still doesn't seem to match what the DOJ Agreement requires and limits how reviews can be used, and Cadets, which forbids youth from handling police weapons but allows them to train with them.

July/August: The simplest way to argue against the PPB's new Force Reporting policy is that currently, when they use force, they fill out a use of force report. By removing hobbling (aka "hog- tying,"), resisted handcuffing and force against resistance, it's not only going to cause more confusion among cops but may lead to a lack of data tracking. Importantly, putting these new low level force events into general reports instead of force reports may preclude gathering demographic data, a real problem when about 30% of PPB's uses of force are against Black people. To be fair, the Bureau is now considering pointing a firearm more serious than "de minimis" force (just ask the person who died on Alec Baldwin's movie set) as well as when they box in a person's car.

Similarly, PCW called out the Force policy for continuing to classify warnings as "de- escalation," among other things. The crowd policy still does not emphasize de-escalation and has added a definition that an "unlawful assembly" is one that includes property damage. Does that include chalk drawings on the sidewalk, which people have been cited for in the past? The less lethal weapons policy now includes an exception so officers can use Tasers on people who are soaked in flammable liquid and might catch on fire if deadly force is authorized. Nice!

Sheriff's Policies Raise Questions

In August, PCW made comments on three policies posted by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. Their policy on purchasing surplus military equipment acknowledges that they have to get such items approved by the County Commission, but not that the public should have a say in what gets bought. As part of a peace group, PCW is appreciative of the state law that limits what kinds of military equipment the police can buy. The policy on booking photos does not, but should, summarize the current Oregon law which limits when such photos can be published. And the vehicle use policy implies that some police cars are not equipped with safety belts. Really, PCW asked in its comments, what would Ralph Nader say?

September, 2024
Also in PPR #93

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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