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Mike Reese knows what happens to cops who hold his new job.
In the past decade, the careers of Multnomah County sheriffs have ended badly. Two-term Sheriff Dan Staton resigned under pressure Aug. 16, after questions arose about use of force in the county's jails and his own spending of public dollars on a souped-up car. Staton got his job when Sheriff Bob Skipper resigned. Skipper replaced Bernie Giusto, who also resigned.
That streak of disaster led a county charter review commission to put a question on the November ballot: Should the sheriff, who overseas 1,310 jail beds, 800 employees and an annual budget of $137 million, continue to be elected by voters, or appointed by the county chair?
The latest sheriff, Reese, 59, comes to the county after retiring in 2015 as Portland's police chief (an appointed position). Reese stopped by WW's offices to express his view that the sheriff's job should be kept in the hands of voters.
WW: Three elected sheriffs in a row in this county have resigned under pressure. What makes you think we are going to have the kind of robust competition for this job that will guarantee us better candidates?
Mike Reese: If you look at the history of elections for about the last 20 years, you can see we've had contested sheriff's races almost every single cycle. The only one we didn't was in 2014, when Dan Staton was elected. I'm going to acknowledge we've had some issues with leadership in the sheriff's office and we have to do better. But the way to do better in a democracy isn't to abandon democracy.
You've been on both sides, as sheriff and police chief. What can you do as an elected official that you couldn't do as appointed official?
As an appointed chief, you have an opportunity for one frank conversation with voters. You disagree with your boss, then you're likely not to have that position anymore.
Were you muzzled as Portland police chief?
I'm not going to be able to point to a difference of our divergence of opinion between myself and Mayor Hales on an issue. But I can see it coming up. I was one of the chiefs of police who felt strongly about gun violence, and [spoke] to legislators about that. It's a hot-button issue. It's a topic that can create controversy and polarize people, and they may simply want you to stay out of that debate.
Have you read the county report that shows disparate treatment of black inmates in the Multnomah County jails?
I have. It raised some troubling questions. We need to dig deep into it and find out if our use-of-force policies are guiding our employees appropriately. Are they matching what we practice in the field? And are our systems of accountability where they should be? I think there are some gaps that will be identified, and we will move forward in repairing and fixing it.
There is great friction between the black community and law enforcement. What can you do to solve that?
If I could solve it, I would bottle it and sell it to every city and county across the United States. Acknowledging that there are problems within our criminal justice system, that's an important first step. The criminal justice system comes at the end of a long list of societal failures, particularly around disparate treatment and race. We have to acknowledge, as leaders, we have implicit bias in our system. We have to do everything we can to find ways to treat everyone with dignity and respect and fairness.
What makes you say there is implicit bias in the system?
Look at the numbers. We have the MacArthur [Foundation] report that came out that showed that nearly every step in the criminal justice system there's overrepresentation [of black people] and it gets worse as you go through the system. I think it's a 4-to-1 ratio of blacks being arrested over whites in Multnomah County, and then [during] prosecution it gets worse, and going through the court system it gets worse. You look over and over again at how we provide service to people, and we don't always do our best work.
What's the first change we should expect to see in your office?
I want our employees to treat members of the public like they're members of their own family. We're digging into use of force, the budget, and making sure that we are being good fiscal stewards.
What's happening with the spending on overtime for corrections deputies?
Our overtime budget has stabilized from a high and dropped down to around $7 million or $8 million a year now. We provide a monthly budget report to [Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury's] office and the county budget, and we include our overtime expenditures as part of that discussion. I'm proud to have the endorsement of the corrections union and the deputy sheriff's association.
You haven't run for public office before. Why should we believe you'll be independent of those people who have supported you, including the corrections union?
I trust that you will be watching and reporting. I intend to be very transparent about how we do business. And we're going to provide the budget numbers and the systems of accountability. You'll read our new use-of-force policy, if we put one out. I'll give it to you and to members of the public to review so they know what my expectations are for this organization. You're going to hold me accountable, as are the voters.
Do you know what happened to Sheriff Staton's Dodge Charger?
I believe it is now a detective's car, but I don't know for certain.
What kind of car are you driving?
I am driving a Ford Escape. It's out front if you want to go and look.
Willamette Week