Chief Concerns

Following Police Chief Mark Kroeker's announcement that he was applying for a job in Los Angeles, Mayor Vera Katz said she would look in-house for Portland's next top cop.

A quick review of the potential candidates, however, shows that there's not much of a choice, prompting one law-enforcement official to quip that Katz, a cop groupie, would name herself to the post (see chart, above).

The shortage of potential candidates is no laughing matter. Some, like Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Noelle and Assistant Chief Greg Clark, don't want the job. Others have blemishes on their record that should give Katz pause. The starkest example is Assistant Chief Andrew Kirkland.

Some cops think "Drew," intelligent and popular, would be a logical choice. But Katz would have a hard time ignoring a couple of incidents in Kirkland's background. One, a 1994 Internal Affairs investigation that found he repeatedly visited his girlfriend on work hours, has been previously reported (see "Internal Affairs," WW, Jan. 15, 1997). The other, an accusation of rape, hasn't.

In 1988, Kathy Marie Bridges, fresh out of jail, called Portland police to report that a city cop had raped her a year earlier. Based on her story, Detective Terry Wagner identified Kirkland, then a first-year officer, as the suspect.

Bridges, who had a record of prostitution, drug use and theft, told the detective that in the summer of 1987 Kirkland frequently ran into her downtown and flirted with her, and at first it seemed "sweet." In July, she gave him the number of the room at the Riverside Motel where she was staying with Sharon Mayac, who has a lengthy arrest record herself.

That night, Kirkland showed up at the motel. After entering her room, Bridges claimed, Kirkland attempted to take off her clothes against her will. Then, she said, he raped her. Kirkland told Wagner there was no force involved. "Basically, we had sex," he said, according to the police report.

Kirkland did, however, confirm that Bridges' roommate, Mayac, witnessed the first 10 minutes of the encounter. Contacted by police, Mayac said that upon entering the room, Kirkland repeatedly tried to kiss Bridges and fondle her breasts, and Bridges seemed "shocked" and "embarrassed."

Mayac said Bridges "pushed the officer away and tried to move away from him but he would not let her move," according to the report. Mayac left, and Bridges claimed this was when Kirkland raped her.

At the time, Bridges was wanted by police in Washington state for not reporting to her probation officer. She said she thought Kirkland "would beat her and take her to jail if she did not comply."

Kirkland, however, presented an affectionate letter Bridges later wrote him when she was back in jail, asking his help in getting her out. His implication: She made the allegation out of spite when he didn't help her.

Deputy District Attorney Jim McIntyre presented the case to a grand jury, which deemed the complaint "not true." McIntyre didn't present Mayac to the grand jury because she couldn't be located. But, he says, a year-old rape charge made by a criminal against a cop is well-nigh unprosecutable. "With the information we had at that time," McIntyre told WW, "there would have been no way we could have prosecuted that criminally."

Whether you believe Kirkland or Bridges, police bureau policy forbids officers from knowingly fraternizing with criminals. In his interview with Detective Wagner, Kirkland initially said he had stopped seeing Bridges as soon as he learned "what she was involved in." Later, however, he said he'd pulled up her record in the police computer before they had sex.

Portland cops are also forbidden to use their position to obtain special privileges. In November 1987, Kirkland visited the room at the Continental Motel where Bridges was staying. Bridges claimed she did not answer the door because she was scared. Kirkland then had a motel manager unlock the door. Bridges said Kirkland told her he would be back in a few hours, but she then fled the motel.

Kirkland confirmed that he had the manager unlock the door when Bridges did not answer and that he returned a few hours later. It is unclear whether Kirkland's visits were personal or professional or whether he used his position to obtain entry to the room.

Contacted by WW, Kirkland declined to comment except to say, "These allegations were fully investigated more than 12 years ago. I have no new information to add."

Now in prison in Washington for burglary, Bridges tells the same story she did more than a decade ago. Mayac, contacted by WW, said she had only vague recollections of the incident, but "it was not pretty."

WWeek 2015