A November ballot measure to create a new Portland police oversight system providing greater powers to community members appears to be the only one of seven city- and regional-government backed proposals before Multnomah County voters without formal opposition, records show.
No statements arguing against Measure 26-217 were filed by the Sept. 8 deadline to make it into the county’s voter guide. And, as of Monday, no political action committee or other campaign have come out against it.
Though there is no opposition campaign, the Portland Police Association and City Auditor Mary Hull Caballero have criticized the reform plan. Officials with the union, which represents the majority of city officers and emergency dispatchers, have said it’s too vague and have questioned its legality, while the city auditor has said barriers caused by state law, Portland’s police union contract and city code will hamper any new system from being as effective as proponents hope.
Yes for Real Community Oversight of Police, a political action committee formed to advocate for the measure, has received more than $40,000 in contributions as of Monday. This includes $15,000 from the Portland Association of Teachers, state records show. The group recently paid for a poll that found about 70% of likely Portland voters said they would support the new police oversight system in the Nov. 3 election.
Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty is the lead architect of the ballot measure. She and others submitted written statements supporting the measure in the voters' pamphlet for the proposal. Others listed in the voters' pamphlet include Mayor Ted Wheeler and his mayoral challenger Sarah Iannarone, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, coalitions of Black and faith leaders, civil rights groups and worker unions. Portland Commissioner Dan Ryan, Commissioner-Elect Carmen Rubio and the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners also signed statements of support.
“This measure is the best chance we have to make the structural changes to put the community truly in charge of our police force and ensure officers are held to the standards the community demands,” leaders of the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform wrote in their letter of support.
Other measures on the fall ballot include the county’s new income tax proposal for tuition-free preschool, Portland’s tax to fund the parks system and Metro’s tax to fund a new MAX line and other transportation upgrades.
The Portland City Council voted unanimously in July to let voters decide whether to revamp the city’s police oversight system. Proponents have called the ballot measure a “framework” for the new system. Voter approval would lead the City Council to form a commission that would be given 18 months to iron out details, such as how board members who oversee the system will be selected.
Supporters want to separate the new system from the city, give more power to civilian investigators to probe police misconduct complaints, grant subpoena authority to compel officers to testify and allow the board to impose discipline, including firing officers. Current or former police officers as well as their immediate relatives would be disqualified from serving on the board.
The board would report yearly outcomes to the City Council. The oversight board budget would equate to at least 5% of the Police Bureau budget, which would be around $11.5 million today.
The Independent Police Review, which is overseen by the city auditor, is the city’s current panel charged with handling citizen complaints. The office has been criticized for its lack of disciplinary and subpoena powers, and for lengthy investigations that regularly end with investigative findings kept confidential.
The city also has the Citizen Review Committee, a volunteer board that also reviews community concerns about policing, hears appeals and helps guide police policy.
A 22-member campaign steering committee for the ballot measure was announced last week that includes Hardesty and longtime city civil rights leader Rev. Dr. LeRoy Haynes as co-chairs and as members: Citizen Review Committee Chair Candace Avalos, Portland Commissioner-elect Rubio, NAACP Portland chapter President E.D. Mondainé, Portland school board member Michelle DePass and Albina Vision Trust Managing Director Winta Yohannes. Rubio is on the committee through her capacity as the executive director of community nonprofit Latino Network.
Hull Caballero said she felt the proposal hasn’t had enough time to be vetted by the public and that the roadblocks the current police accountability system faces will carry over to any new system. The current police contract with the city, for example, has a provision that says if the city has a reason to discipline or reprimand an officer that it be done “in a manner that is least likely to embarrass the officer.”
Hull Caballero said the Independent Police Review has 16 staff positions, including one vacant spot for an investigator. She said the ballot measure has caused her to hesitate to fill the job.
“The ballot measure has thrown everything into a state of such uncertainty that we can’t go out and recruit someone to fill that position,” Hull Caballero said. “'Come here and in 18 months you’ll likely lose your job,' is not the best recruiting pitch.”
Hardesty has said Independent Police Review members could apply for staff jobs within the new oversight system, but they wouldn’t be guaranteed jobs.
“I think it’d be challenging to retrain people who have been trained in a system where the police are the ones making the decisions and then move them into a community-based system,” Hardesty said during a news conference last week. “But they will have to make the case to the community board about why they should be hired to those positions.”
She also said she felt the ballot measure could withstand any legal challenge, that the city will resume negotiations over the Portland Police Association contract in 2021 and that state lawmakers will continue to push for law enforcement reforms that promote transparency and accountability.
-- Everton Bailey Jr.
ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey
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