Chief Outlaw Sides With Civilian Oversight Board, Agrees a Sergeant Should Be Disciplined For Wrongly Threatening to Arrest an Activist
portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2018/01/16/19609...
portlandmercury.comPosted Jan 17, 2018, 1:35 AM UTC
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portlandmercury.comA promising sign.
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Indeed, but it's also worth noting that the majority of complaints get shot down somewhere in the multi-step process. I'm thankful for activist like Kerensa who are patient and process-orientated enough to stick with it.
Unfortunately, I'd be surprised if the officer's discipline is anything more than a sit down with his superior.
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Serious issue and glad to hear that there is reform afoot.... but the phrase "Chief Outlaw" is hard to get used to.
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All we need is a Mayor Mejor and a Fire Marshall Burns
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That would be the trifecta.
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Outlaws in 2018 USA...just wait until they start taking down the MAGAts.
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[deleted]
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Only in undercover operations and other limited cases. They cannot however ever lie when it comes to rights.
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Good to know, I suspect the "support and defend the constitution" part of oaths taken by most public officials. Thanks
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Bad move by Chief Outlaw. The Portland Police Association (the cop union) will have a press release about this by the end of the week denouncing Outlaw. This is the start of a very tumultuous relationship with the PPA for our new Chief.
This article's headline is sensationalized, what happened is:
In a December meeting that we wrote about, the CRC voted unanimously to challenge the bureau's finding that that the Sergeant Erin Smith didn't violate PPB policy when he said that activist Ben Kerensa "could be arrested" for filming him. Filming police in public, which Kerensa had been doing, is a right under federal and state law. Smith later told investigators he purposely lied to Kerensa "about whether he was going to be arrested or not" to try to get him to stop filming but Traffic Division Captain Mike Crebs, the sergeant's boss, cleared his underling, telling the board that it wasn't really a threat and that police lying to people is acceptable in many situations. Police, earlier in the protest, had given Kerensa a ticket, alleging he entered a crosswalk too late (that was dismissed in court).
Keep in mind who the 'victim' is here: a self-described (using his own twitter profile description) "Activist, SJW" who was at a Dakota Access Pipeline protest, in November 2016 when the city will still embroiled in anti-Trump riots.
No matter how we feel about Kerensa or his motives, you have to understand the dynamics of protests like this that verge on the edge of a riot. Cops are not there to take your shit, cops are not the embodiment of the problems you have with your dad, and cops are not the people you're there to protest. Yet, cops are often the focus of these protests and protesters who will get in their face and scream profanities. No surprise, cops strongly dislike protesters. Bad interactions happen between protesters and cops caused by both sides.
I'm not here to defend the cops, protesters, or Kerensa.
Look at this situation: now you've got a professional Portland protester that was already cleared by other cops, that the Chief of Police is now backing. Over what is a very small complaint.
It's going to royally piss off the rank and file.
Otherwise, I can't even say this was a good move for civil rights, since this sort of behavior is definitely going to continue at protests.
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Cop lied and will be disciplined for it, end of story.
Who gives a rats ass if it pisses off the rank and file, maybe they should find a new line of work if they can't protect and serve without lying to the faces of the public that employs them.
I hardly see how it matters who it was said to, the fact of the matter is that it was said at all.
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Cop lied and will be disciplined for it, end of story.
Well, not exactly. As quoted: Traffic Division Captain Mike Crebs, the sergeant's boss, cleared his underling, telling the board that it wasn't really a threat and that police lying to people is acceptable in many situations.
But, I do agree, we shouldn't have cops lying to people whenever possible. I don't fully understand the circumstances of why the cop lied. Nor do you.
Who gives a rats ass if it pisses off the rank and file, maybe they should find a new line of work if they can't protect and serve without lying to the faces of the public that employs them.
Maybe we have a huge problem with police recruiting, and undiplomatically pissing off the rank and file in the newspapers isn't a way to solve that problem?
What do you see as the future of policing in our city? How can we solve these problems within the rank and file if they feel that their leadership is betraying them?
A diplomatic way to approach this would be for the Chief to go Captain Crebs and explain that we don't want the rank and file lying to the public under any circumstances, and this action shouldn't be defended. Putting this in the paper drives a division in leadership and the rank and file, making police reform even more challenging.
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Maybe we have a huge problem with police recruiting, and undiplomatically pissing off the rank and file in the newspapers isn't a way to solve that problem?
Maybe making the Portland Police an organization that doesn’t lie to the people it ostensibly serves will make decent people want to join.
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A diplomatic way to approach this would be for the Chief to go Captain Crebs and explain that we don't want the rank and file lying to the public under any circumstances, and this action shouldn't be defended.
Too late for that. Outlaw was forced to respond when the citizens advisory committee became involved. It may piss off the rank and file, but maybe it will also embolden other rank and file that have seen these little transgressions perpetuate for too long. And of course when you let the small stuff go, where do you draw the line? I mean we’re talking about a leadership position (Captain) allowing a subordinate to threaten arrest to a citizen improperly. Yeah, the filming guy is a moron, but we have to expect better from the police.
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Cop lied and will be disciplined for it, end of story.
Well, not exactly. As quoted: Traffic Division Captain Mike Crebs, the sergeant's boss, cleared his underling, telling the board that it wasn't really a threat and that police lying to people is acceptable in many situations.
How is this "not exactly"? Captain Crebs essentially admitted Officer Smith lied. And since Outlaw sided with the CRC, he will now be disciplined.
But, I do agree, we shouldn't have cops lying to people whenever possible. I don't fully understand the circumstances of why the cop lied. Nor do you.
It seems pretty clear - Kerensa told him he may go to jail if he kept filming as a threat to make him stop filming. How is that not obvious?
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This is the start of a very tumultuous relationship with the PPA for our new Chief.
Good. Anyone who got the job and wasn’t a corrupt shitbag or a useless enabler was guaranteed to cause friction.
Keep in mind who the 'victim' is here: a self-described (using his own twitter profile description) "Activist, SJW" who was at a Dakota Access Pipeline protest, in November 2016 when the city will still embroiled in anti-Trump riots.
If you had some point here, you have utterly failed to make it.
cops are not the people you're there to protest.
Then maybe they should fuck off instead of getting in the way.
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This was a small protest in a remote area of Portland (NW Industrial nearly outside of City Limits. They brought in LRAD and other weaponry and issued over two dozen bogus made up citations all dropped in court.
The protest was entirely on public sidewalks and violated no laws and nobody would have noticed it if the cops didn't show and make a huge scene of it. Also it is not a very small complaint as untruthfulness is a category F misconduct and the only discipline option from their matrix for it is termination. Also this officer has had a number of complaints for excessive use of force in the past. The ACLU of Oregon and National Lawyers Guild both backed me on this it was an important case. The ACLU of Oregon had already recently sued and settled with the City for previously doing stuff like this as it violates state and federal law.
In fact the City the same day as the CRC meeting settled this out of court they knew they would lose in court. Also what the article does not mention is most of the cops were off-duty and being paid to work as contractors for 76 (the oil company). It was very clear they were hired to intimidate and agitate.
Video of the encounter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ27sLygVG8 Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bkerensa/albums/72157677180660636
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This is the start of a very tumultuous relationship with the PPA for our new Chief.
She rose up through the ranks in Oakland. Starting as a patrol cop. I'm pretty sure she's got the strength of personality and character to tell the PPA to fuck off when they start getting too big for their britches.
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Hi all,
What the article does not mention is the police cited more than a dozen people for all kinds of bogus traffic citations. They pulled over every vehicle with activists as they arrived and issued tickets for running a red light which they didn't but was reported by an off-duty officer working for 76 that day. They also issued citations to nearly every protestor there for walking against the traffic signal and almost everyone of those were thrown out. Photo and video evidence showed they made up the tickets the court agreed.
The City also settled this out of court and another issue was many of the officers were off-duty and hired by 76 to work that day so they had financial incentive to basically stifle the protest. Nobody broke laws that day we were on public sidewalks in a low traffic remote area of NW Industrial. The cops also then followed many of us as we left the protest in vehicle for miles.
Video of the encounter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ27sLygVG8 Photos from the Protest: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bkerensa/albums/72157677180660636
Wow that’s super creepy on the authorities part. What is 76?
76 is the oil company we were protesting
Holy fuck that’s super creepy.