February 12, 1998
FEBRUARY 12, 1998
MINUTES
MINUTES
Citizen Advisors Present: Charles Ford, Presiding; Marina Anttila; Les Frank;
Deborah Haring; Stephen Heck; Leora Mahoney; Emily Simon; Jim Taylor; Robert
Ueland; Robert Wells
Citizen Advisors Absent: David Burney, Randy Weisberg
City Staff Present: Capt. Bill Bennington, IAD; Lisa Botsko, PIIAC Staff;
Adrianne Brockman, City Attorney's Office; Sgt. Randy Killinger, IAD;
Media Present: Loren Christensen, The Rap Sheet; Dan Handelman, Flying Focus
Video
Ford called the meeting to order. [Anttila and Mahoney were not yet in attendance.] Approval of the meeting minutes will be postponed until next meeting.
Ford called for annual elections, postponed from January. Frank nominated
Ford for Chair; Heck seconded. With no further nominations forthcoming, Ueland
made a motion to close the nominations; Wells seconded. The nomination passed
[Y-8; Abstain - Ford, Simon].
Simon said she did not wish to be re-elected as Vice-Chair. Taylor nominated
Steve Heck for Vice-Chair. Ueland seconded. With no further nominations
forthcoming, Ueland made a motion that the nominations be closed. Wells
seconded. The nomination passed [Y-8; Abstain - Heck, Simon].
[Anttila arrived.]
PIIAC Appeal #98-01: Botsko summarized. This was a two-part complaint. The
appellant had problems with neighbors stemming back a couple of years. He was
ultimately issued a citation for trespassing into his neighbor's yard. He
believed the officer should not have done that and said the officer had not even
listened to his side of the story, which was that he was trying to retrieve his
dog. The appellant had been found guilty of trespass when the matter went to
court.
The second part of the complaint was that an unwanted person, a stranger,
entered the appellant's home, saying the same officer had told him it would be
all right to do that. The appellant ordered the stranger out; the person later
tried to return but the appellant said no. Sometime after that, the appellant
found a narcotics "hype" kit under his china hutch and turned it over to
IAD.
Botsko had reviewed the IAD file, which contained a log written by the
neighborhood response officer. This log detailed numerous efforts by the
officer, a senior services person, neighborhood offices and the mediation center
to help the neighbors resolve their problems, but to no avail. Ultimately the
neighborhood officers were instructed to cite any further violations. Officer A
was doing exactly what he had been instructed to do by citing the appellant;
furthermore, his report reflected that he had listened to the appellant's story.
Officer A had issued citations to others in the neighborhood, so was not
singling out the appellant.
Regarding the second incident, Officer A said that he had ordered the
unwanted person to leave the area, but the unwanted asked to make a telephone
call from his "friend's" house, indicating the appellant. Officer A granted
permission, but had not actually instructed the person to enter the appellant's
home. The appellant did not have first-hand knowledge to support his claim.
The appellant addressed the committee and produced paperwork he had. He
provided a copy of an ordinance restricting basketball-playing activities in the
street. He said the police would not enforce this ordinance. He also had proof
the neighbors had moved out of their residence two days before they complained
about him trespassing.
[Mahoney arrived.]
The appellant invited the advisors to discuss their concerns. Ueland said he
had none; that PIIAC was not the proper forum for the appellant's difficulties.
He was satisfied that the officer had acted properly.
Simon asked if the complaint was that the officer issued a citation at all?
Botsko said that she thought it was. Heck asked the appellant how things were
going currently? The appellant described additional problems with the neighbors,
such as having gravel thrown at him.
Ueland made a motion to affirm PPB's finding; Simon seconded.
Simon said that PPB conducted a fair and thorough investigation.
The motion carried unanimously [Y-11].
Botsko advised the appellant, who was hard of hearing, of what the vote
meant. The appellant said the committee was worthless and he wanted their names
and addresses. He wanted to pursue the matter to City Council. The appellant
left the room.
Ford asked about the possibility of declining such appeals at the front end.
Botsko said this is a policy question that the advisors need to decide. She
would be willing to act on whatever criteria the advisors wanted to establish.
Simon said this kind of case comes with the job.
Ueland asked about getting a sound system, referring to the appellant's
hearing problems. Ford suggested requesting equipment.
Fourth Quarter 1997 Monitoring Report: Ueland reported. He described the
contents of the report, which included follow-up to two of the Chief's response
letters to previous monitoring reports. He pointed out that PPB's General Orders
pertaining to discipline and complaint investigation have still not been
completed.
Capt. Bennington explained the portion of the monitoring report describing
his proposed "not sustained debriefing." This would be a mechanism by which a
supervisor could discuss a complaint with an officer, even if that complaint
could not be technically sustained. In the past, complaints are either sustained
or not, but performance concerns might not be addressed. This way, they could
be.
Capt. Bennington also described the study being conducted by Sam Houston
University, which uses Portland as a test city to examine complaints and why
they are made. Citizen satisfaction with the complaint process is one item that
would be evaluated. The study is divided into several phases, and will not be
completed for some time. He will keep the advisors posted.
One of the trends discussed in the monitoring report is off-duty officer
conduct. What parameters can or should the Bureau establish regarding this, as
it has been the topic of citizen complaints from time to time? Simon asked if
the revised general orders address this? Capt. Bennington said no. Simon asked
to clarify if the issue is courtesy. Botsko replied that the Bureau does have a
"conduct" general order that applies to more serious conduct that "tends to
discredit or bring reproach to the Bureau." There is also a general order that
obligates officers to obey the law. However, the Bureau does not clarify what
courtesy standards they expect of off-duty officers who identify themselves as
officers while interacting with citizens. Heck commented that citizens do not
distinguish between on or off-duty officers.
Botsko asked advisors what kind of recommendation they wanted to make: should
the Bureau be asked to monitor the trend and look for ways to prevent such
complaints? Or should there be an actual general order establishing guidelines?
Simon was in favor of a general order revision.
Capt. Bennington addressed another issue that was raised in the monitoring
report: timeliness, especially post-Review Level. He said that IAD is auditing
open cases on a quarterly basis, and sending out notices to commanders or others
holding cases past the due date. The development of a case management system
should also help with this. Simon asked where the overdue cases were?
Capt. Bennington said human error is a factor. He hopes this has been
corrected with the open case audits and will not be an ongoing problem.
Personnel has seen three captains in six months. Botsko mentioned that a PIIAC
appeal that was heard in May 1996 was still open this past quarter.
Wells said that the Bureau should have timeliness goals in place for all
phases of the process. Capt. Bennington said that this suggestion has merit.
Simon said the monitoring subcommittee did a good job with the report. She made a motion to accept the report with the amendments; Anttila seconded. The motion carried [Y-11].
Announcements/New Business:
Ford said that a Council Informal on PIIAC systems review had met the
previous week. This was educational for council members. One topic mentioned was
a closed IAD investigation being held by the City Attorney. Once the lawsuit is
filed, the information will be considered public record.
Simon said that the complainant's appeal was another issue dismissed. There
is no public mechanism for complainants to learn of a disposition when the Chief
does not accept a PIIAC recommendation. She also said that she had misunderstood
and thought the advisory committee endorsement that the Chief present his
conclusions in a public forum was unanimous, but it was not. The suggestion made
at the Informal was that the Mayor would read the Chief's response into the
record.
Botsko said that no final decisions were made at the Informal. The Mayor
wants to put together a small group to look at possible code changes. This group
may, of course, have other ideas. Botsko did have some concerns about the
proposed solution on contested cases.
Anttila mentioned that a national conference on neighborhood involvement
would be held in Portland in May, and will include a presentation on PIIAC.
Ueland mentioned the National Community Policing Conference to be held in
September. He would like the advisory committee to participate, unlike last time
when they were not included. Wells highly recommended that advisors attend this
conference.
Public Input: Handelman addressed the panel. He said that anonymity is a
concern; when appellants go to Council, their name should be kept anonymous. He
would like this reflected in PIIAC code changes.
He supports not filtering out complaints and was glad the advisors listened
to the appellant this evening.
He asked a question about the appellant in the recent case involving an EEO
matter. He said that person had been the subject, not complainant, in an
investigation. Botsko clarified that PIIAC code language specifically grants
subjects of a complaint a right to a PIIAC appeal.
Handleman added that he would like the committee to look at findings
categories utilized by the Los Angeles Police Dept.
Referring to the Sam Houston study, he said that he would like to see a
complete audit of the complaint investigation and PIIAC process conducted.
The issue of officers identifying themselves when off-duty is important. Once
that occurs, the balance of power shifts.
He said that the idea of the Mayor reading the Chief's response is a far cry
from the Council's having the final vote. The Mayor is not likely to ask the
Chief to sustain a complaint. In the Council Informal, the Chief mentioned that
he would be uncomfortable telling Council things like the officer cried when
discussing the complaint. If the Chief lets someone off for crying, it makes a
mockery of the process.
Ford asked advisors to schedule a Work Session. They agreed to meet Tuesday,
February 24, 5 p.m. in the Mayor's Office.
Botsko also introduced Gene Bales, who was sitting in the audience. He has
been selected to replace David Burney, as East Portland Neighborhood Office's
appointment to the PIIAC advisory committee. His appointment would be confirmed
the following week.
Simon thanked Sgt. Killinger for having previously assisted the appellant in
case #98-01.
The meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Botsko
PIIAC Staff