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Last week Moose decided not to discipline Officer Donald Speranza, who reportedly was involved in an ongoing dispute with his Northeast Portland neighbor. One night last year he called police because the neighbor's adolescent sons were making too much noise. When a Portland cop showed up, he told the kids to settle down--which they reportedly did. But Speranza wasn't satisfied. He wrote a police report detailing the noise complaint and referred to past incidents of alleged child neglect, none of which he substantiated with specific facts. As a result, the neighbor's name was forwarded to the state office of Services for Children and Families, which is charged with investigation reports of child neglect. Nothing came of the child neglect accusation, but the neighbor, whose name has yet not been released, filed a complaint with the bureau, which initially decided not to investigate. The neighbor then appealed to the citizen advisory board for the Police Internal Investigations Auditing Committee. PIIAC advisors appealed the bureau's decision to the City Council, and in July, four out of five city commissioners voted to sustain the complaint (only Mayor Vera Katz, the police commissioner, voted no). The four commissioners ruled that Speranza violated the spirit of the General Order that officers not make arrests in personal quarrels. Under city rules, however, Moose has the final say. Last week, he decided Speranza did not violate bureau rules and should not be disciplined. Speranza, Moose wrote in a letter to the council, "acted out of what he considered to be a legitimate issue with the welfare of the children.... Also, we have encouraged our police officers to live within the city limits and to become involved in their neighborhoods. I think it is very important that we do not send a mixed message to our officers." In our view Moose has done just that. He's said that officers should be held accountable, yet he has disregarded efforts to do so. |
