Yes, We’re Still Counting How Long It Takes to Find the Source of a Police Leak

It is unusual for WW to track the timeline of such investigations, but the circumstances themselves are unusual.

Police officers in riot gear.
Riot cops Riot cops at the edge of Lents Park. (Justin Yau) (Justin Yau)

71 DAYS: That’s the number of days since Officer Brian Hunzeker resigned from his role as president of the Portland Police Association due to what the union described as a “serious, isolated mistake related to the [Portland] Police Bureau’s investigation into the alleged hit-and-run by Commissioner [Jo Ann] Hardesty.”

We still don’t know what he did. The mayor’s office says it doesn’t know what he did. Hunzeker is still working patrol in the North Precinct.

82 DAYS: That’s how long it’s been since the Police Bureau opened an internal affairs investigation into the leaking of information that wrongly implicated Commissioner Hardesty in a March 3 hit-and-run crash. It has released no results of its inquiry.

70 DAYS: That’s how long it’s been since the city signed a contract to hire an outside investigative firm to probe the leak.

Editor’s note: It is unusual for WW to track the timeline of such investigations, but the circumstances themselves are unusual: A veteran police officer and union president abruptly resigned from his union leadership role in connection with information leaked about an elected official. Meanwhile, he has continued to work the patrol unit in the North Precinct. We believe Portlanders have a right to know what Hunzeker did that led to his resignation, and we believe it is critical to put pressure on public officials and law enforcement leadership who might prefer that the public forget about it. We will continue to publish this column until we know what Hunzeker did.

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