For those enamored with local citizen's Police Review Boards: The Devil's always in the details

[99th_Monkey]

For those enamored with local citizen's Police Review Boards: The Devil's always in the details

Oregon has had some kind of police review board for over a decade, yet it was still cited and successfully sued by the US Dept. of Justice to force changes and "improvements" over time to curb excessive force against unarmed civilians. Stir up shit with the cops? Expect resistance, non-compliance, lame excuses ... anything and everything BUT mending their corrupt ways.

Still, police review boards are definitely a step in the right direction. My point is they are definitely NOT a panacea.

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Former state Sen. Avel Gordly criticizes Portland leaders for not educating community panel on police settlement
By Maxine Bernstein * 4/9/15 * The Oregonian

Three months after Portland set up a new community board to help monitor federally mandated police reforms, members on Thursday night heard a city attorney offer training on the settlement the city reached with U.S. Department of Justice officials.

Former state Sen. Avel Gordly, a member of the new Community Oversight Advisory Board, politely interjected and then bluntly criticized the city, saying such training should have occurred at the board's first session.

She called it a "huge oversight'' by the city. The settlement stemmed from a 2012 federal investigation that found Portland police used excessive force against people with mental illness.

"It's just mind-boggling, really, to be at this point to hear you offer Settlement Agreement 101,'' Gordly said.

Deputy City Attorney Ellen Osoinach agreed the training should have come much earlier.

"We weren't very thoughtful about the way we prepared you for this role,'' Osoinach said. ""I'm sorry it's taken this long in the process.''

The board's meeting came a day after the stunning announcement by former Oregon Chief Justice Paul J. DeMuniz that he was withdrawing from chairing the board as the city-hired community liaison and a week after the board hosted a contentious public hearing.

The hearing revealed the public's deep distrust of police and dissent among board members about whether the community board could truly act independently. The city and Justice officials are still working to determine how to fill DeMuniz's position.

Whole Story: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/04/former_state_rep_avel_gordly_c.html#incart_river

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. The way things seem to be these days,

I'd be kind of afraid to be a member of a citizen's review board, because what's to stop the cops from targeting and harassing them?

[99th_Monkey]

2. Exactly! Like putting a target on your back.

That's what all the squirming is about: who's willing to publicly challenge our
violence-prone gang of paid thugs with guns?

Portland has been waiting for someone brave enough to publicly stand up to our cops for over a decade now.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Maybe the board could be chosen from people from a nearby town

where the cops had no jurisdiction (although then board members would have to be careful if they did go into that town). I never used to feel this way about the police, and have never had any problems with them myself (I'm an old white woman), but their attitude seems to be that they get to harass anyone who disagrees with them. Which would include members of a citizen's review board, regardless of race.

[libdem4life]

4. There is no way this can happen except at a federal level. Not even state. Each

region has their Us and Them mentality, and routinely punishes those who don't fall in lock step. It is why State's Rights could only be over-ruled by Federal Law. And it's not just the South, and it's not just racial by any means. The poor of all colors, the mentally incapacitated...goes on and on.

I know it may sound like Big Brother, but for any real change, it (a review board) has to come from those who are not on the payroll (money or power) needing the change.

Each suspect incident should have the right of a federal civil rights application. I know little about what there is now, but it doesn't seem to be working.

[99th_Monkey]

5. Yes. Portland could be Exhibit A in the case for requiring Federal Intervention -nt