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John Branam: Strong Values, Bold Leadership

[photo: American flag on wall]

Public Safety

Although it is doubtful as a new council member that I would oversee the police bureau, I would like to make some improvements in public safety, and plan to introduce several initiatives towards that goal.

By and large, the police bureau does a wonderful job day-to-day. These are, of course, important achievements because they directly improve and protect the livability of our city. But, I believe, the police bureau has two primary challenges: One, a need for more and more effective use of resources; and, two, a need for strengthen its relationships with communities and neighbors.

[photo: Portland Police Bureau building]

I believe that to better police a neighborhood, individual officers need to have strong connections to those communities. One way to accomplish this is to set in place work plan whereby each officer is expected to spend at least one day each month working with a community organization. This is a great way for community members to know their officers better, and for officers to better understand the specific issues plaguing a neighborhood. Moreover, I will set an example for this initiative by encouraging my staff members to each to spend one day a month working with a community organization.

A second measure to better integrate the police bureau with the neighborhoods that they serve is to emphasize recruitment efforts on young men and women from Portland. Over the past several years, there have highly publicized recruitment efforts from places as far away as Hawaii. If an officer is serving his or her neighborhood, not only will he or she have a stronger emotional connection but will also better understand the ins and outs of the community.

Improving community policing efforts, I believe, will help curb the on-going problem of racial profiling. But, I also believe, that City Council needs to go further and speak out with a strong, unified and unwavering voice. There have been several reports offering substantive suggestions and recommendations about how the police bureau can reduce racial profiling. Portland’s City Council must push for full adoption of these recommendations. By not speaking out strongly against alleged racism, city council implicitly validates such behavior. For too long racial profiling has been tolerated, or at least not addressed directly.

I also will push to beef up the number and training for response team officers working with neighborhoods. I will introduce an ordinance that requires city council to review assignments for any officer who has been a named defendant for more than two brutality lawsuits. According to Portland Copwatch, each year police misconduct costs the City an average $350,000 to settle excessive use of force and wrongful death cases. There is no reason for these abuses. And, I will encourage adapting rules that permit full subpoena powers for the citizen’s police review committee.

Over the past few years, under Chief Rosie Sizer, I believe that the police bureau has addressed several concerns regarding use of force. As a councilmember, I hope to push these improvements further and will push to substantively strengthen community policing so that the police bureau can address public safety at its roots causes.

Read more of John's thoughts on these and other issues.

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