KBOO reporters Sam Bouman and Jasmin Moneymaker speak with a panel of guests with many years and varieties of experience advocating for greater accountability, reform and positive change in Portland's sytem of law enforcement. The discussion is rooted in the City of Portland's settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice over the excessive use of force by the Police Bureau against people exeriencing mental health crises, but a wide range of topics and perspectives are touched on, including the history of relations between PPB and Portland's African-American communities; impunity in other Oregon law enforcement bodies; the role of district attorneys and the legal system in exonerating officers; Portland's police union; and much more.
Our guests are:
Kalei and Ted Luyben, community educators and activists, and authors of "Shooting the Sick," a report written in the wake of the in-custody death of James Chasse and the shooting of Aaron Campbell (the officers most associated with these deaths are today, respectively, Sheriff of Wheeler County and a reinstated PPB officer)
Teressa Raiford, current candidate for mayor, former candidate for city hall and Multnomah County Sheriff, and leader of Don't Shoot Portland, an activist coalition brought together in the aftermath of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO in 2014
Maria Hammer, a member of Pacific Northwest Family Circle, whose brother was fatally shot by a Salem Police Department officer in 2012 while in the midst of a mental health crisis
Dan Handelman, of Portland Copwatch, who has been covering police behavior and reform efforts in Portland, in great detail, for decades
(This forum originally aired during KBOO's 2017 Holiday Membership Drive--pitch breaks have been edited out, but you can become a member today by scrolling to the top and clicking the DONATE button)
- KBOO