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CPAC
has until the middle of this month to create a challenge-proof
initiative and until July 7 to collect 21,000 signatures
to qualify for the Nov. 7 general election. CPAC may be
contacted at 644-5134.
In 1999
the Police Bureau's Internal Affairs Division investigated
337 citizen complaints and sustained, or found accurate,
10 complaints--or less than 3 percent.
PIIAC
handles approximately 25 complaints a year.
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The Police Internal Investigations Auditing Committee has
long been criticized as a lame public watchdog. Now a group
of activists say the civilian review board is so toothless
that voters should put it out of its misery.
Last week, about 40 Portlanders met at Bethel African Methodist
Episcopal Church in Northeast Portland to pledge support
for an initiative effort to overhaul PIIAC.
The idea has been floated before, but this time the reformers
extend beyond the anti-cop crowd and include prominent members
of Portland's African-American community and an officer
of PIIAC itself.
Denise Stone, PIIAC's vice-chair, was among those at the
Jan. 25 meeting. She's frustrated by the current system,
which allows the police chief to ignore not only PIIAC's
findings but the sanctions recommended by the City Council.
"It takes all the damn steam out of the work we do," she
says.
"There are no checks and balances," says Alan Graf, spokesman
for the Citizens for Police Accountability Campaign, which
is putting the initiative together.
The prospective initiative has particular appeal within
Portland's African-American community. In recent years African
Americans, who make up 7 percent of the county population,
have filed a quarter of all the complaints against police,
according to the Portland police bureau. At a recent meeting
of the local NAACP chapter, several people gave personal
examples of alleged police misconduct.
Although the fault line between minorities and police is
historically tense, it's become more so in recent years
with the imposition of drug-free zones in North and Northeast
Portland. Neighborhood residents say it's common for young
African-Americans to be stopped by the police for WWB--"Walking
While Black"--and subjected to profanity-filled interrogations.
Under the city's rules, their options for redress, short
of a lawsuit, are one-fold: file a complaint with the bureau's
Internal Affairs Division. Then, they must wait. It takes
IAD an average of 13 months to evaluate a citizen complaint.
Only after IAD completes its investigation may a citizen
file an appeal with PIIAC.
Stone says it's intimidating for possible victims of police
abuse to have to give their names to the very agency that
they believe violated their rights.
Graf says part of what the new PIIAC would do is work as
an independent body that would accept citizen complaints
from the start. It would also have independent investigatory
power and subpoena power, and might be able to impose discipline
on officers.
Such a proposal will likely meet stiff resistance within
the bureau and City Hall. Mayor Vera Katz, who oversees
the Police Bureau, admits that PIIAC needs "tinkering" but
wouldn't provide WW with any specifics.
The city's new police chief, Mark Kroeker, says he's "open
to revision as long as it's not done according to dogma,"
but makes it clear that he considers civilian discipline
of police "a very dangerous move."
Backers of the initiative are trying to line up some big-name
supporters. So far, state Rep. JoAnn Bowman and Margaret
Carter, the Urban League's interim president, say they're
on board. State Sen. Avel Gordly is expected to sign on
soon as well.
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Willamette Week | originally
published February 2,
2000
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