The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has reverberated across the nation. The actions and tactics displayed on the video do not represent our profession's values and are contrary to our fundamental duty to protect and serve.
Despite the distance, these images have deep emotional impacts on our local community as well. PPB and the community have worked together to build relationships and trust over time and the actions of others can impact the progress we have made. This incident strengthens our resolve to work even harder to earn the trust of our community, especially with persons of color.
We are reaching out to community partners and collaborating with our Equity Team to identify opportunities for us to engage in conversation and share how these events affect our relationships and ongoing efforts for continued trust building.
We wanted to share the information below to answer questions and concerns our community members may have about our policies, trainings and community engagement.
Policies and Use of Force
The Portland Police Bureau has done extensive work on its policies (directives) over the last few years. PPB's Use of Force directive can be found at: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/article/751998 .
Within the Use of Force directive, under section 5.4, "Members have a duty to reasonably intercede to prevent the use of unlawful force by another member."
PPB officers also have a directive on Bias-Based Policing/Profiling Prohibited: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/article/759106
During an administrative review for any force used (section 12 of the Use of Force policy), it is important to note a supervisor must respond to the scene and conduct interviews with the involved subjects and witnesses. They also must gather applicable evidence, such as security footage of the incident, if that is available.
The Portland Police Bureau releases monthly and quarterly reports on the Use of Force by Portland Police Officers. They can be found here: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/62613
PPB also releases investigative files on all officer-involved shootings and deaths in custody. They can be found here: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/76940
Training and De-escalation
PPB engages in rigorous and in-depth training on use of force and its policies are beyond the Oregon State standards in order to provide its members with the most up-to-date information and practices. PPB officers also receive training about implicit bias and procedural justice.
All Portland Police Bureau patrol members receive at least 40 hours of crisis intervention training and are Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) certified. In addition, these members receive annual refresher training on these important topics. Additionally, there are 161 members who are vetted to receive advanced training and are certified as Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team (ECIT) officers.
Equity
PPB has had an Equity and Inclusion Office for over five years. The Equity team is tasked with furthering equity within the Bureau. PPB has also committed to a five year Racial Equity Plan (REP) that will continue to operate alongside the strategic plan. An intensive plan outlining PPB's objectives for 2017-2022, the REP is made of eight primary focus areas covering priorities, recruitment and hiring, leadership development, staff development, communications and access, community engagement, data management and budget and contracting. The plan is available here: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/oehr/70048
The Equity and Inclusion Office (EIO) seeks to engage both with internal members and with the community around critical tasks and priorities. EIO hosts annual equity retreats with both internal and external stakeholders. EIO also oversees the bureaus own internal Police Equity Council (PEC) and has recently created an an external Police Equity Advisory Council.
Community engagement
The Portland Police Bureau is committed to enhancing its existing community engagement efforts by reinforcing our external trust and legitimacy with communities we serve. The creation of the Office of Community Engagement (OCE) in March of 2017, demonstrated the Bureau's commitment to institutionalizing community engagement and community policing practices. The OCE strategic mission states: "To build and strengthen meaningful relationships between community members and the Police Bureau by providing opportunities to address and jointly resolve issues of livability and public safety affecting their neighborhoods."
The priorities of the OCE are to identify new pathways and opportunities to developing sustainable, efficient and meaningful partnerships in concert with tailored input and guidance from both community stakeholders and the bureau members. The OCE has been working with local social justice and civic society organizations in addressing a host of justice-related issues with the goal of enhancing collective livability, resiliency and justice advocacy.
PPB continues to prioritize community engagement. PPB's community engagement plan can be found here: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/article/744534
PPB continues to develop its advisory councils. Current advisory groups include African-American Advisory Council, Slavic Advisory Council, Alliance for Safer Communities (LGBTQ), Muslim Advisory Council, Behavioral Health Advisory Council and the Training Advisory Council. PPB is in the process of forming the Latino Advisory Council. These councils help the Police Bureau make decisions with the benefit of a diverse set of inputs. Information about our advisory groups can be found here: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/30476
PPB understands that building trust in our community is paramount. We continue to actively engage and build relationships. We have regularly interacted with various groups in our community and throughout the country. This includes OneCop; https://www.movementforward.org/onecop/ and the Red Door Project: https://reddoorproject.org/ We welcome all forms of community engagement to help us learn from our community to better serve the needs in Portland.
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