July 2005 issue - Portland Police Association

The
“Maintaining
the Vigil”
RAP SHEET
VOLUME 36 • NUMBER 7 • JULY 2005 • PORTLAND POLICE ASSOCIATION • PORTLAND, OREGON
Diary of the Citizens Academy: Part II
November 11, 2004
Thank you for one major
stimulating Thomas A Swift Electric Rifle night. Liz Fanning and I
IN THIS ISSUE
5 Compton “Cowboys”—Race
PAID
I should never carry a gun
and tonight we all found out why.
Actually, I don’t even carry a knife
on me for the same reason. Officers
Livingston and Engstrom took the
class though action-reaction scenarios and lethal force decision-making that occur on shifts everyday.
I came in 15 minutes late to
class at Camp Withycombe tonight
having just made record time from
my clinic downtown. I did for once
remember to turn off my headlights
and not blind the guard at the gate
on the way in.
Right after coming inside and
feeling stressed out from the day
and being late I sat down and reflexively raised my hand to volunteer
for the first scenario without having
any idea of what was happening. As
I walked up to the front of the class,
my heart was still racing from the
drive. I thought why the hell did I
put my hand up, I never volunteer
for stuff like this, I don’t even know
what I’m doing right now.
Officer Livingston had me
stand in the doorway with my back
to the classroom and handed me a
9mm loaded with blanks. He really
built up the moment; he said I was a
Portland Police Officer responding
to a warehouse alarm for the fourth
night in a row. The first three nights
were false alarms and I had cleared
signed up a few weeks earlier to
be Tasered tonight. I thought it
would be good to know exactly
what it would feel like. I have been
curious about its clarifying abilities
since Captain Crebs mentioned it in
the first class. Officer Tom Forsyth
showed a video of a guy on a 48plus-hour meth-binge in a holding
cell going crazy. Within seconds the
man went from agitated and fightready to on the floor apologizing
and saying thank you after being
Tasered and handcuffed safely.
I was starting to get had a
good idea what Liz and I were
in for tonight as Officer Forsyth
gave us a little more details on the
Taser; pulsed charge as .004 amps,
50 volts and 26 watts. I have had
the normal shocks from spark plugs
and wall sockets, but the numbers
made sense from physics and physiotherapy training in school. This
was going to be therapeutic electric
stimulation gone way bad.
During the break I eliminated
everything possible, a few officers
told me some outcomes so to speak
while being Tasered, I thought I’d
be proactive just in case.
Liz and I laid on the floor in a
two-person “daisy-chain” hooked
up on my right hip and her left hip
and our arms interlocked. I felt like
I was getting ready for take off in a
plane or hitting something in a car
wreck. Ready? Sure,
(continued on page 4...)
Portland,
Oregon
Permit 5314
November 4, 2004
Immediately Officer Livingston yelled out “Whoa, okay, stop”
and then asked “Why did you do
that?” I quickly replied, “I lost sight
of his gun, he speaks good English
we were talking, I felt he was going
to shoot me and he wasn’t following
my instructions.” It made me nervous when neither officer offered
any judgment for my actions.
I looked at the class and many
of them had a shocked look on
their face. In my defense told them
I was not going to be running for
Governor of California. But maybe
it was wrong to shoot three rounds
into a man’s back without hesitation? Then Officer Engstrom said,
“We’ve used this scenario for five
years and no one has ever shot me
before.”
It was amazingly gratifying to
know that my instincts were correct but my feelings were mixed.
I felt the most compassion I ever
had for officers involved in justified
shootings. I felt like I was in their
head; a busy day, rushing to get
somewhere, put in a situation with
minimal information and having to
respond with a trained, protective
instinct. Mine was just a scenario.
I got lucky. As I said, no real guns
for me.
PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE
Sign me up for a protest march!
Not that I’ve ever been to a protest
march but after listening to Sergeant Vince Elmore present valuable information for the protesters
and non-protesters alike in our class
tonight about the duties of the RRT
I wanted to go to one just to experience the trained care I knew would
be present. His take-charge attitude
was infectious. “You do the right
thing because it’s the right thing to
do” and “We move as a team, no
one takes action alone,” were his
inspiring mantras to fellow police
officers on his team. I couldn’t
imagine not following his orders
in a confrontation if I was a protester. I had never seen anyone so
dedicated to help a protest march
go well, which was enlightening
for me because I always assumed
the police hated marches and protesters.
We looked at some slides of
“hijackers” within the marching
crowds; few students were able to
identify them until Sergeant Elmore
pointed them out directly on the
screen. He told us about common
actions these types take to generate
violence and volatility during protests but some of my fellow students
were still in disbelief.
O ne cont i nua l ly cr it ica l
classmate, who was even a protest
organizer herself, nodded her head
in agreement. I was amazed to hear
her say “These people don’t help
the purpose of the march and the
actual protesters appreciate police
stepping in to keep the peace.”
I haven’t got much of a poker
face and probably anyone could see
by my expression the shock I felt to
hear this adversary be supportive
for once. That’s the effect the dynamic Officer Elmore had on us.
At the beginning of class we
also met Lt. George Babnick from
IAD and Mr. Richard Rosenthal
from IPR. When I introduced myself to Lt. Babnick and told him that
an officer that I had treated earlier
in the day said I would really enjoy his presentation tonight without
the warehouse with the building
security guard after he showed up,
which took a while. I was told I had
only 20 minutes left on my shift and
in the morning I would be going on
a 2 week motorcycle trip.
So my scenario was that I went
into the building without waiting
for the security guard to just get
in, get it done and go home. He
said “You go inside and see this.”
“This” turned out to be a guy (Officer Engstrom) with his back to me
sneaking into the building with a
pistol in his outreached right hand. I
pointed my gun at him and said:
“Portland Police put the gun
down.” He quickly replied in cheerful voice: “Oh glad you’re here I’m
the owner.”
I said, “Beautiful, put the gun
down and let’s find out why the
alarm is going off.”
He said, “Yeah, okay, I’m the
owner, it’s my building.”
I said, “Great. Put the gun
down now.”
His last living words were
“Okay, Okay I’ll put it down” spoken in an upbeat cooperative manner. He leaned forward and started
to place the gun on the floor in
front of him but he moved it out of
my sight in front of his right calf.
The moment I lost sight of his gun,
without saying a word I fired three
shots into his back aiming for his
heart from 7 feet without seeing the
gun again.
politics instead of cops
6 Cadets assist at plane crash site
7 Good Cop-Bad Cop: What real
life cops think of Hollywood
portrayals
PLUS
Lessons Learned....................................................................... 3
Retirees .................................................................................... 5
Let’s Talk................................................................................ 10
Secretary-Trearurer’s Report.................................................. 11
Movers and Shakers ............................................................... 12
Published by Rap Sheet, Inc.
1313 NW 19th Ave.
Portland, OR 97209
October 28, 2004
missing a beat in a serious tone he
said “Oh, yeah she mentioned you’d
be here, I talked to her this afternoon, she called from the hospital,
her legs are paralyzed from your
adjustments, but she was not upset
or anything.”
As I told him that she had
warned me about his dry humor
he began to laugh. From their presentation the entire class was able to
see the great level of responsibility
placed on police officers and the
process of investigation should
something unethical occur. The
police are human but sometimes
things go wrong that training
and character cannot control. Tonight even the critical classmates
seemed satisfied in the capabilities
of the Portland police to police
themselves.
The Rap Sheet
By Dr. Bryan Baisinger
Clearwater Chiropractic Clinic
Editor’s Statement • By Detective Peter Simpson
The
RAP SHEET
Portland Police Association President: Detective Robert King
Secretary-Treasurer: Officer Leo Painton
Rap Sheet Office: 503-225-9755
Editor
Detective Peter Simpson — 360-518-3429
Advertising Director
Kerri Simpson — 360-954-5186
Subscriptions
Laurie Keller — 503-225-9755
Layout and Graphics
Jackson Communication — 503-653-5191
The Rap Sheet is the official monthly publication of the Portland Police Association.
The Rap Sheet is the only publication of its kind that represents the interests of men
and women working in law enforcement in Portland. Subscription rate is $20 per
year. To submit copy, e-mail to the editor at editor@portlandpolice association.com
by the first Friday of each month. Office is at 1313 NW 19th, Portland, OR 97209.
Phone 503-225-9760. Articles appearing under an author’s byline do not necessarily
represent the opinion of the PPA. Advertising and editorial submissions are due
the first Friday of every month prior to publication.
Send e-mail to: [email protected]
Web page: www.portlandpoliceassociation.com
Advertising fax: (503) 225-9756 • Editorial fax: (503) 225-1158
PPA Officers’ Phone List
Robert King
President
503-323-6015
Leo Painton
Secy.-Treasurer
503-423-5658
Scott Westerman
VP-Central Precinct 503-237-0568
Kevin Warren
VP-Dets./Criminalist 503-795-2422
Jim Gaither
VP-SE Precinct
503-237-3534
Craig Morgan
VP-East Precinct
503-237-3474
Bob Foesch
VP-NE Precinct
503-940-0098
Doug Justus
VP-North Precinct
503-323-5053
Bryan Parman
VP-Sergeants
503-823-0348
Tom Perkins
VP-Services
503-920-5430
Peter Simpson
VP-Services
503-237-1650
Mark Chamberlain VP-Traffic Division
503-323-9363
Daryl Turner
VP-At Large
503-940-0059
Tony Christensen
Safety Committee
503-250-7887
Gary Manougian
Safety Committee
503-250-5169
The Portland Police Association
is affiliated with:
OCPA
Oregon Council
of Police Associations
PAGE 2
•
RAP SHEET
•
Youth Crime Prevention
July is
Youth Crime
P revent ion
Mont h , a nd
there are several opportunities within
the Police Bureau and the
community to
get involved in preventing young
people from becoming involved in
criminal behavior.
The Police Activities League
of Greater Portland is probably the
most familiar to you as an organization that gets police officers directly
involved in the lives of youth. Opportunities exist for mentoring,
coaching, field trip chaperones and
a host of other activities designed
to get cops and kids interacting
together.
I’ve been fortunate in my
career to coach at the annual PAL
Summer Sports Camp and have always had a great time. It’s a chance
to be part gym teacher, part coach,
part referee, part cop, and part kid.
Try holding a gym full of 8-yearold girls captive as you explain the
pick-and-roll and you’ll find that
they are more interested in playing
H-O-R-S-E or dodge ball.
But youth crime prevention
isn’t just limited to coaching at
PAL camp or teaching GREAT
(Gang Resistance Education and
Training); every contact you make
with a youngster is a chance to
prevent him or her from becoming
involved in crime.
Brian Ossenkop (my old GET
partner) and I used to stop and
shoot the bull with young guys all
the time. Part of it was the mission
of our unit: Get to know the young,
potential gang-bangers; but mostly
it was a chance for us to talk to the
fellas about where they were going
in life and what they thought about
the world around them.
I remember on more than
one occasion, we’d get out with a
group of guys playing basketball
in the street and we’d join in for a
few minutes. Brian could usually
drain a few from way outside and
I…well…let’s just say that shooting the rock was never my strongest
skill. It usually put smiles on their
faces and I’d like to believe that
somewhere in their minds they
remember the two blue suits that
jumped out of their cruiser and
played ball with them for only a
few minutes.
It’s an important part of this
job to take a few minutes now and
then to think about what you are do-
JULY 2005
ing that might prevent some youngster from becoming a criminal. It
could be that removing dad from
the house because he’s a doper,
thief, and wife-abuser is going to
prevent his kid from following in
his footsteps. Or, that five minute
chat outside the middle school during the lunch hour that deters some
youngster from joining a gang.
It’s also important to realize
that many of the kids we come in
contact with are not from homes
like ours. I can say with absolute
certainty that my two-year-old acts
more respectful and mature than
many of the youngsters I come
across, but he also lives in a house
with rules and consequences for his
behavior. Many of the youngsters
we deal with have never had that,
which is a major reason why they
become involved in crime: Nobody
has ever held them responsible for
their actions and nobody has really
listened to what they have to say
about themselves, their lives and
how they see the world.
I know, you’re thinking I’ve
gone all soft and mushy with this
stuff, but trying to understand
how they frame things in their
life helps me as an investigator
understand how to approach them
during interviews and talk to them
about the choices they have made
or might make.
As I tell the students at Portland State University during Juvenile Justice classes, “If you can
prevent one child from becoming
involved in the criminal justice system, you have done more than most
people that are trying to change the
world.”
’69 Plymouth reunited
with second owner
Some of you got to see the
beautifully restored 1969 Plymouth
Belvedere Portland Police car at last
year’s PPA picnic. Retired Officer
David Houck did a masterful job of
restoring the car to its 1969 condition and has entered it in car shows
across the nation, winning several
•
trophies and ribbons.
The short backstory to the car
is that a fella by the name of T.J.,
whom was known to almost all the
uniform cops in the 1970s, bought
the car from the Bureau in 1970
after it had been wrecked. T.J. repaired it and used it as his security
car for years as he patrolled several
businesses along MLK (then NE
Union Avenue) and Sandy Boulevard as a Portland Special Police
Officer.
In the mid-1990s, my dad and
I bought the car and planned on
restoring it as a Portland Police
car, but with no time, no place to
do the work and little combined
skill in the area of bodywork, we
sold the car to Dave two years ago
and he immediately brought the car
back to life.
In early June, my dad and Dave
took T.J. to lunch at The Overlook
on Interstate and showed him the
now-restored car, which he hadn’t
seen since he sold it. T.J. enjoyed
taking a ride in the car and shared
a few stories over lunch about the
old days “on the Avenue.”
Dave has offered to make the
car available to people in the Bureau if they have an event that they’d
want to bring the police car to. Just
give him a call or send him an email
and he’ll get back to you.
19 6 8 G e n e r a l O r d e r
book
Brian Ossenkop loaned me
his dad’s General Order book from
1968 and I found this entry that I
thought would be a good speech
to give before a major event where
problems are expected:
“2.116
Cooperation
Required. Coolness and firmness
are required of every officer in
time of extreme peril. They must
act together and protect each other
in the restoration of order. Whoever
shirks from danger or responsibility will be deemed to be guilty of
cowardice and subject to immediate
disciplinary action.”
Read us online at
Police Alcohol Recovery Team
P.A.R.T. is a group of officers
who are recovering alcoholics in
the Portland Police Bureau. We
are made up of various ranks and
come from various divisions of the
Bureau.
Our mission is to help alcoholics in the Law Enforcement
community and their families
achieve and maintain sobriety. We
adhere to an ethical responsibility
of confidentiality, which is a promise to an officer to reveal nothing
about his or her circumstance to any
other Bureau member.
P.A.R.T. members
Officer Ed Riddell
Officer Rob Hawkins
Sergeant Dave Grady
Captain Marty Rowley
SE
Tri-Met
LOS
ID
pgr.920-6781
pgr.920-1728
pgr.790-7929
pgr.301-5033
wk. 793-5301
wk.962-7566
wk.823-0721
Lessons Learned • Capt. Jim Harvey, Retired
Stoking the fires of anger and discontent
It’s 3:50 in the morning on
February 6, 2005. Two LAPD
officers witness a maroon 1990
Toyota Camry run a red light at
Gage Avenue and the 110 Freeway.
The officers follow the car onto the
freeway and believe that it is being
driven by someone who had been
drinking; the car accelerates, then
decelerates, and weaves from one
lane into another. There are two occupants in the car. The officers turn
on the emergency lights and siren.
The car does not stop. They turn off
the siren and use the public address
system in an attempt to order the
driver to stop. They advise radio
dispatchers that they are in pursuit
and learn that the car is stolen.
The car accelerates and leaves
the freeway. At 3:53 a.m., at Western Avenue and 83rd Street, the
driver attempts to turn a corner,
but jumps the curb and strikes a
wall. The patrol car stops behind
the Camry, slightly offset. The
passenger jumps out of the car
and runs East on 83rd. One of the
officers gets out of the patrol unit
just as the stolen car’s driver backs
up and rams the police car. Sensing
his danger, the officer fires 10 shots
from his service weapon, killing the
driver. The passenger is captured a
short distance away.
The bad news is that the driver
is black. The worse news: the driver
is a 13-year-old male.
It takes a few hours to get all
of the facts sorted out in the early
part of the morning. It takes a few
more hours for the news media to
get into high gear. I watch as TV
reporters descended on Audubon
Middle School as it is just letting
out that afternoon. They get a surprise as they interview three African American mothers who were
picking up their children at school.
All three say essentially the same
thing; one says it most succinctly:
“Why was this child out at 4:00 in
the morning? Why was he driving
a stolen car? And where were his
parents?”
When the media attempted to
interview the family, they were told
that they were grieving privately
and would not have anything to
say. Some time later it was learned
that the boy’s father had died in the
past year and the mother took on
two jobs to support the family. After that, her son began to associate
with gang members.
The LAPD launched an extensive investigation of the incident,
and Police Chief William Bratton
presented detailed scale drawings
of the shooting scene on television,
enhanced by the latest in precision
technology. It was an impressive
collection of facts analyzing what
took place in just three minutes
from the time the officers saw a car
run a red light until the shooting.
But the self anointed spokespersons for the community emerged
with their usual ranting demands
and accusations, finding favor with
the press. There is now a new policy
in Los Angeles concerning shooting at moving cars.
The unfortunate death of
Kevin Brown in Los Angeles
was brought back to mind by an
article (6/2/05) in The Oregonian
under Maxine Bernstein’s byline.
More about Portland’s Kendra
James shooting. It seems that The
Oregonian has been pushing for
almost two years to gain access
to the Portland Police Bureau’s
internal staff memos dealing with
the James incident and a voting log
the assistant chiefs sent to former
Police Chief Mark Kroeker. The
Oregon Court of Appeals ruled in
The Oregonian’s favor, Bernstein
reported.
One can only surmise that
upon gaining this information,
the newspaper would reopen the
wounds of racial discontent by
again reporting “yesteryear’s
news.” To what purpose?
Lessons Learned:
1. If there is nothing critical
about police to report these days,
one can always manufacture “news”
by digging up the past.
2. There were responsible
voices in the community who asked
such questions as, “What was Kendra James doing out at that hour of
night? Why wasn’t she home with
her children? Why was she using
cocaine?” They should be heard
from once again.
3. In today’s jargon, The Oregonian needs “greater transparency.” Who is the journalist who
wants to keep the fires of discontent
burning? Will Ms. Bernstein put a
name to this zealot? That might be
a real news story!
Michael Colbach
Personal Injury Attorney
503-243-1900
Write for The Rap Sheet!
1916 SW Madison, Portland, OR 97205
oregonaccidentattorney.com
[email protected]
E-mail your submissions to
[email protected].
www.portlandpoliceassociation.com
•
JULY 2005
•
RAP SHEET
•
PAGE 3
...Citizens’ Academy
(...continued from page 1)
Zap-zap-zap-zap-zap-zap.
When it stopped, my silent
scream also stopped and I laughed
and slapped the floor instinctively
with a judo slap, I kept laughing as I
felt like I had just been thrown. Liz
wasn’t as cheerful. I stood up and
noticed my right hip felt much freer.
It was real tight from lots of kicking
exercises. I was amazed at how well
I could think while being Tasered, I
knew if I could let go of Liz’s hand
it would stop but I was completely
unable to do it. This is a great tool,
more people should feel it.
November 18, 2004
Only two more classes, I’m
thinking about what is next and
starting to anticipate the loss I’ll
feel when the classes are over.
Tonight we first had a look into
the world of Drugs and Vice with
Officers Baldwin and Law, then Detective Division with Commander
Bechard. I have been aware of the
illegal entrepreneurial spirit that
Portland has had being a port city.
You can see it from Old Town to
82nd street to Northeast Portland.
The information presented
was complicated, the presenters
showed a no-win phenomenon of
three of the world’s oldest habits:
sex, gambling and booze/drugs.
Their jobs seemed thankless in the
public eye, some parts of what they
control are legal and some parts
not. It’s okay to drink but not too
much if you are in public. Gambling
is very controlled and then there
are places with illegal gambling.
The police can’t stop the all the illegal activities and yet have to try
as hard as possible to keep things
under control or else they would be
widespread social chaos.
The current political-legal
structure complications became
apparent as Officer Baldwin spoke
about ballot measure 3 and its crippling effects on funding. I usually
think of drugs from a pharmacological perspective, not the legal
and jail time perspective. Many of
the drugs seem scary because they
are potent and cheap. It was very
informative to see what the abuses
and control measures are in place
right now to keep the streets as safe
as possible.
From the detailed layout of the
Detective Division by Commander
Bechard, we could see the struggle
happening to keep up with the volume of crime in the city and the
importance of speed to get an arrest
in many cases. Hollywood makes
this area of police work look unreasonably easy and I think people
PAGE 4
•
often hold the police to the same
standard out of ignorance.
November 23, 2004
Officers Gallagher and Westerman spoke about the duties and operation for the NRT. I confess, my
mind was on those awesome ATVs
they use to get around more quickly.
When I learned that the Eastside
does not have ATVs I knew I’d
need to be in the Central Precinct
if I was part of the Neighborhood
Response Team.
Tonight we also learned about
check forgers. Most of my experiences at the Citizen Academy
seemed far from Hollywood’s notion of what it is like to be a cop but
watching this process for the first
time I felt like I was on an episode
of “Law and Order.”
A group of us got to watch Officer Mann match a scanned check
against the finger print database. It
was a check for just under $1000
cashed at a bank the day before. I
learned that this number is important because forgers always cash
checks under $1000.00 since if the
forged amount is at or above this it
constitutes a federal offence. Even
crooks don’t want to leave their
home state. He showed us how to
look for “identifiable” marks.
This whole process was very
exciting for me because I love
things only a trained eye can see.
For example, one time in Chiropractic College I was the only one to
diagnose a serious cancer condition
by X-ray on a final exit exam. Even
tonight when the officer handed us a
sheet of mixed up fingerprints I was
able to match them 100 percent correctly. Within 10 minutes we saw 5
print matches: 4 being under 1000
and one being over 7000. When
the high number popped up Officer Mann said: Bingo, this is it.
Someone asked: are you sure? He
said: This high? Most likely.
It became clear to me that the
Drugs and Vice Unit is both art and
science. The officers in the Detective Division are very intuitive,
sensitive people who have to rely
on the fact that humans are going to
act like human at all levels. Anyone
can digress to a really stupid state
if the chips are down. I respected
the way the officers were trying to
help people that couldn’t help themselves and possibly be of harm to
themselves and others.
Many people would benefit
from this class; each night at some
point I thought it should be part of
the curriculum of public education
like PE used to be in high school.
Our final night of the Citizens
RAP SHEET
•
Academy, I don’t think we’ll have
a reunion but I am curious what
my classmates will do after the
Citizens Academy and how their
lives will have changed from such
a close look into the world of the
Portland Police.
For me, I’m back to my human
body repair shop fixing up anyone
that asks for help. Officer Mike
Stradley is a long time friend and
the one who recommended the class
to me, but I have really learned how
police are helpers too in a sometime volatile and life threatening
environment. I am coming away
with a much clearer understanding
and appreciation for the integrity of
the people serving and protecting
Portland. Thank you.
Dr. B a isi nger ca n
be contacted via email at
[email protected].
National Night Out invitation
By Juanita Downing
Yes, I know, National Night Out is not until August, but this year it’s
August 2, so if I want to invite any and all officers who might like to attend, I need to get the invitation out now!
Last year’s event, “Honoring Our Heroes in Blue”, was a tremendous
success with a dozen officers from North Precinct, almost 100 community members from St. Johns, and Chief Foxworth stopped by for a half
an hour. This year’s party, “Meet and Eat with Portland’s Finest”, has the
potential of being even bigger and better as the Chief has confirmed he will
visit again, and the Mayor has been invited as well. Please bear in mind,
though, this party is nothing without you. It is dedicated to you and is to
provide an opportunity for you to relax, have some food, and enjoy visiting
with the community you serve. It will also be a chance for the kids in the
neighborhood to see what officers are like for real and hopefully do away
with the fear that some of them may have.
Please join us on Tuesday, August 2. The party starts at about 6:30 p.m.
and will continue until dark (around 9 p.m.).
For location information, please email me at [email protected].
God bless you all and be safe.
2005 Rose Festival
Parade
JULY 2005
•
Read us online at
Retirees Corner • By Bob Roberts
We held
our monthly
“Over the Hill
Gang” lunch
on April
2 7, a t T h e
Refectory. I
called Randy
Tucker, but
he wa s not
feeling up to
snuff, so, he declined the invitation.
An old, semi-familiar face arrived
in the form of Morrie Greenstein,
down from the Salem area. I was
early enough to sit at the source of
the Tootsie Rolls, and with most
of the “Bobs”: Svilar, Thompson,
Warner, and Cosby. Some of the
other “Bobs” were Tobin, and
Benson.
Frank Springer and Barney
Shields arrived early. Glen Griffitts,
Len Stanley and Randy Pulley were
there, and Debbie Ellis and Linda
Johnson arrived. The Reiters, Norm
and Eric, arrived soon after.
Another surprise was the arrival of Robert King, PPA President.
He spoke briefly on the fallacy of
the City pulling out of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the officers
transferred to another detail. The
retired FBI agent present enjoyed
his statement. Most of the crowd
agreed too.
Roland Benson and Chuck
Bryant were enjoying the food, as
were Morrie Pederson, Charles Hill
and John Kirkland. To round out the
crew, we had Gordy Morgan, Harry
Boggs, Ed Clark, Matt Bisinius and
Norm Rosenbloom.
Our speaker gave an excellent
presentation. Gary Granger is the
Chief of Security for OHSU, up on
“Pill Hill”. He showed slides and
explained what they do and what
they run into. Considering whom
some of the clientele are, it is quite
a challenge, given the fact that they
are not armed. In essence, it is like a
small city police department.
The Friday “Lydia’s Lunch
Bunch” has been sporadic in
numbers, with about 11 present on
April 22, and 7 present on April
29. Norm Rosenbloom surprised
us and showed up. Bob Svilar and
Dean Littell are quite consistent. Ed
Patterson and Erv Osbourn made it
on the 22nd, but Ed missed the next
one, due to a doctor’s appointment.
Mel Nilsen got to all except on May
20. By the way, Mel is the Regional
Treasurer for the IPA. (International Police Association). Hal Gowing
has been noticeably absent lately,
but did arrive on May 20. Many of
our fishermen have been missing
also. Norm Reiter came on April
29 and again on May 20.
I understand the clam digging
crew, including Ray Buhrmaster,
got cheated out of their full digging time, because the season
ended, almost before it began. I
think the clams had a virus, and
were contaminated.
Anyway, the main fishing in
the Columbia, I believe is over,
and the fishermen will be back
to join us. In fact, Walt Wier and
Lee Cromwell were back on May
20, and Frank Smith is back in the
fold. We had a full crew with 14
present in May 20, with Al Dean,
Bob Cosby, Bob Schippers, Bob
McPhail, Bob Svilar, Dean Littell,
Ed Patterson and Erv Osbourn. We
had a surprise on May 20 and celebrated Bob Svilar’s 80th Birthday
(May 18). We had a delicious cake,
but no one wanted to sing “Happy
Birthday”. Somebody was too full
to eat their cake, so, guess what? I
volunteered.
So, join us every Friday, 10:
15am at Lydia’s.
I was unable to attend the
breakfast at Denny’s on May 9,
due to a previous commitment in
Las Vegas. My fill-in was Howard
Soumie. He said the weather was
terrible so the attendance was
down. He said there was a “TootsieRoll-fit” due to the absence of Bob
Svilar. Ken Zapp, Joe Murillo, (I
thought he was supposed to be in
Las Vegas), Scott Field, Ray Gericke and Ron Fox showed again.
The coast duo of Bruce Sherman
and George Porter were back. A
couple of rare attendee’s were Ken
Armstrong and Jim Cunningham.
Randy Pulley and Bob Dorney
showed up. Don Montgomery, Peter
Bates and Ralph O’Hara rounded
out the group.
We missed the Redmond lunch
for the Central Oregon retirees on
May 10 also, due to a previous commitment in Reno. This one however
was covered by Lucine Dimoff and
Ray Buhrmaster. They had 19 present, and were, again, at the Juniper
Golf Club. This included Jan Foster, Dave Houck, Wes and Jessie
Durkee, Art and Sheryl Burger,
Dan Lambert and “Boomer” (?),
Mike Linhares, Ken and Millie
Blodget, Dave and Evelyn Holmes,
Diana Raske and her husband Al
Lovgren, Wayne Inman and guest,
John Calbraith, a Washington
County retiree.
Wayne and Carla are looking
for a replacement to arrange these
luncheons, since they have been
doing it for the last year. The next
luncheon will be held August 9 at
the same place, but a new place will
have to be picked as this one will be
www.portlandpoliceassociation.com
•
torn down, and a new one built.
They said that Wayne told an
interesting story while working
with the Deschutes County Rescue
Team. They got a call that a man
was buried in snow, in his car for
15 days, with his car almost completely covered. He was apparently
trying to commit suicide by freezing, but changed his mind. He did
survive.
I talked to Mark Fortner, just
recently retired, but only semiretired. Mark will be teaching at
Monmouth, I believe firearms.
Good luck Mark.
We received email from John
Nagy recently, and some great pictures taken on his most recent trip
to Thailand. He and a friend hired
a van and a driver, and drove over
3000 km’s around the area. They
made a small excursion across the
Mekong to visit a small village in
Laos. He said they found the most
exquisite resort lodge, just outside
of Loie, in the mountains. He is
even looking at property around
Loie and Chiangmai. The pictures
that he sent are really good, and
have him back on an elephant again.
He’s getting lots of experience riding elephants.
It’s that time of year again. Our
annual picnic will be held Sunday
June 26, 2005 at noon. Same place
as last several years, North Clackamas park, 5440 SE Kellogg Creek
Drive. This is just off Highway 224,
at SE Rusk Road. It is a potluck,
so bring eating utensils and plates
and a healthy appetite. We have reserved the covered area again and
there will be drawings for prizes.
Coffee, punch and lemonade will
be furnished. A map is included in
this issue.
This is also election time.
Our nominating committee, Doyle
Souders, made the following slate:
Officers
President: Robert Roberts;
Executive Vice President: Robert
Benson;
2nd Vice President: Kenneth
Zapp;
Secretary: Emma Jozaitis; and
Treasurer: Sally Bible.
dolences to Becky Wooten on the
recent loss of her Mother, Marilyn
“Joni” Greeno, who died April 16,
2005, at age 77.
Directors
Ray Buhrmaster
Alton Christenson
Edmond Clark
Aaron Dunn
Anona Dunn
Michael Foss
Dorothy Lindholm
Melvin Nilsen
Linda Roberts
Doyle Souders
Howard Soumie
Robert Tobin
Helen Warner
Robert Warner
TAPS
Drusilla Savage, widow of
Glenn N. Savage, died February 2,
2005. No other information.
Dorothy Fletcher, widow of
Raymond Fletcher, died the first
part of May 2005, at 90 years old.
Villma A. Shea, widow of
Robert J. Shea, died April 12, 2005.
No other information.
Honorary Directors
Frank D. Soderback, born Oct.
11, 1916 in Portland, died May 3,
2005, at age 88. Graduated from
Roosevelt High School. He married Winifred Fachini, and later
divorced.
He joined the Police Bureau
Jan. 6, 1947, and retired January
6, 1977. In 1978 he married Patricia. After retirement, he moved to
Gresham and worked seasonally
for Multnomah Greyhound Park.
He was a member of Gresham Elks
and Gold’s Gym. He enjoyed fishing, gardening, golfing and walking
his daughter’s dog, Snoop.
He was preceded in death
by his wife, and is survived by
his daughter, Christy Hufana of
Gresham; step-daughters, Rita
Falkland of Las Vegas, Jeri Fengler
and Jaque Wherle of Portland.
Lucine Dimoff
Elmer Brown.
Further nominations may be
made, as stated by our bylaws.
If you are interested in HR218,
which allows us to carry arms in all
states, (retired or working police),
then contact Bob Benson. He has
done a lot of research on it. The
qualification is as follows;
1, Retired in good standing.
2. Prior retirement had full arrest
powers.
3. Had 15 or more years of employment as Law Enforcement
officer.
4. Has non-forfeitable (vested)
right to retirement benefits with
employing agency.
5. during prior 12 months met
States firearm qualifications,
and;
6. Is not under the influence of
alcohol or drugs.
William J. Johnson, born February 5, 1929, died May 10, 2005, at
age 76.He served in the Navy, and
joined the Portland Police Bureau
March 3, 1955, and retired March
3, 1980.
He retired to the Oregon coast
and was living in Bay City, with his
wife, Juna. Survivors include his
wife; sons, Michael and Timothy;
daughters, Lori Johnson and Lynda
J. Williams; sister, Joan Morton; 4
grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
We would like to offer our condolences to the families of these.
We lost one of older and very
active Board members recently.
Dorothy Fletcher died at age 90.
She and Ray were very active
Board Members, with Ray writing this newsletter for years until
he became too ill to do it. Dorothy
and Ray were faithful in visiting ill
members in hospitals and keeping
tabs on the home-bound. We will
miss Dorothy.
We would like to offer our con-
2005 Deadlines for The Rap Sheet
August issue:
September issue:
October issue:
November issue:
December issue:
July 15
August 12
September 16
October 14
November 11
Central Precinct
Back to School Month
Southeast Precinct Month
Northeast Precinct Month
Holiday Safety Month
*Articles and editorials must be submitted by the listed dates for consideration in The Rap Sheet. Email
submissions to: [email protected]
JULY 2005
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PAGE 5
Compton “Cowboys” - Race
politics at the expense of cops
By Jack Dunphy
National Review Online
columnist
If you’ve watched any television news at all in the past few
weeks, you’ve surely seen the video footage of Los Angeles County
sheriff’s deputies firing their weapons at a white Chevrolet Tahoe.
The May 9 incident took place in
Compton, a small city adjacent to
South-Central Los Angeles, when
deputies responded to a report of a
shooting.
The suspect, the deputies were
told, was driving a white SUV, and
when they spotted one in the area
and tried to pull it over, the driver,
44-year-old Winston Hayes, refused to stop. Hayes led deputies
on a low-speed chase through the
residential area for about twelve
minutes before finding his path
blocked by squad cars. Rather
than surrender, he drove onto the
sidewalk and toward a home before stopping and reversing toward
some deputies who had now left
their cars. In the next 18 seconds,
ten deputies fired 120 rounds at the
Tahoe, hitting Hayes four times,
but also sending bullets up and
down the street to lodge in several
homes. No bystanders were struck,
but one deputy was wounded in the
crossfire. Hayes was charged with
felony evading and driving under
the influence of drugs.
As has become standard in
such incidents, the reporting on
the shooting included the racial
calculus of those involved: Hayes
is black, the neighborhood where
the incident occurred is black and
Latino, and the deputies who fired
were of varied ethnicities. And because Hayes is black, the shooting
also aroused the inevitable display
of orchestrated outrage in the usual
quarters, which of course included
a visit by that peripatetic minister
of grievance, Al Sharpton.
Granted, it wasn’t pretty. Any
cop who sees the tape can spot the
tactical mistakes following one
upon the other, the most glaring
of which comes when deputies on
opposite sidewalks fire at the Tahoe
as it advances slowly up the street,
only to find themselves shooting at
each other as the truck comes to a
stop between them. What is most
surprising is that more people
weren’t hurt.
But while some of the published criticism of the deputies’
actions has been responsible and
o
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•
JULY 2005
well-grounded, the shooting has
also inspired a wave of what can
best be described as anti-police hysteria, a glaring example of which
was published in the op-ed section
of the May 23 Los Angeles Times.
Joe Domanick, a professor journalism at the University of Southern
California, described the incident
as a “drunken-cowboy shooting,”
revealing that he, like fellow USC
professor Robert Scheer, whose
op-ed column appears in the
Times each Tuesday, has found a
way to spill the contents of his bile
duct directly onto the pages of the
newspaper. “They rolled out when
a driver wouldn’t stop” Dominick
wrote, “got frustrated and angry
and shot at him again and again.”
This is beyond insulting, but
it should come as no surprise to
anyone familiar with Domanick’s
earlier work. His 1994 book, To
Protect and to Serve: the LAPD’s
Century of War in the City of
Dreams, is little more than a collection of the department’s most
controversial incidents, each of
them interpreted in the light least
favorable to the involved officers.
I am not so reflexively defensive
of cops as to deny there have been
many problems in the LAPD, but if
the book were your only reference
on the department you would be led
to believe it had done nothing right
in its entire history.
Of the recent Compton shooting, Dominick wrote, “It’s an L.A.
story so old, predictable and familiar — remember 13-year-old Devin
Brown? — that it seems almost
banal to discuss it again . . .” Yes,
we remember Devin Brown, who in
February was shot and killed as he
attempted to run over an LAPD officer with a stolen car. We were told
at the time he was an honor student
when he in fact wasn’t, and we were
told he wasn’t a gang member when
he in fact was.
But some of us also remember
Ricardo Lizarraga, Brian Brown,
Filbert Cuesta, Steven Gajda, and
Mario Navidad, only the last five of
the many LAPD officers to be shot
and killed in the line of duty. And
we remember Stephen Sorensen,
David Powell, David March, Jake
Kuredjian, and Michael Honeig,
the last five L.A. County sheriff’s
deputies to be similarly murdered.
And, since Domanick and so many
others find relevance in such facts,
it should be pointed out that nearly
all of these officers were gunned
down by black or Latino men. If the
•
learned Professor Domanick found
any outrage at all in the death of any
of these officers, it apparently did
not rise to a level that inspired him
to publish anything about it.
And if Domanick is so concerned with the perceived erosion
of racial harmony in Compton,
perhaps we can look forward to
his commentary on an incident
that merited only a brief mention
deep within the second section
of the May 25 L.A. Times. Here
is the entire story, as reported by
the Times:
“Seven known black gang
members have been arrested on
suspicion of beating and shouting
racial slurs at two white men who
had left the Compton courthouse,
sheriff’s officials said Tuesday.
“The two, who are brothers,
told deputies they were walking to
their car Monday in a residential
neighborhood when they were confronted by about 15 males shouting
gang monikers and racial slurs, Los
Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. James
Hellmold said. The brothers, ages
34 and 41, had cuts and bruises
around their head, face and arms,
and one said he was hit on the back
of his head with a blunt instrument,
Hellmold said.”
I suppose it’s a wonder that the
story appeared at all, but is there
any doubt that if this incident instead involved two black men set
upon and beaten by 15 white gang
members, that the Times would
have played it above the fold on
the front page, probably for several days running? And wouldn’t
the victims be subsisting on greenroom cold cuts for weeks on end
as they made the rounds among
the television news shows? As it is,
you’ll probably never hear another
word about it, especially from Joe
Domanick.
Joe Domanick would have you
believe that the sheriff’s deputies
who risk their lives to patrol the
streets of Compton are a bigger
threat to the city’s well-being than
those 15 gang members. It costs a
fortune to send a kid to USC; maybe
now some parents will have an idea
of what they’re paying for.
— Jack Dunphy is an officer in
the Los Angeles Police Department.
“Jack Dunphy” is the author’s nom
de cyber. The opinions expressed
are his own and almost certainly
do not reflect those of the LAPD
management.
Read us online at
Fugitives and Refugees:
A Walk in Portland, Oregon
By John Moe – Amazon.com
It’s rare to find a travel guide
and a memoir joined neatly together
in a single, highly readable 176page volume. But Chuck Palahniuk
(Fight Club, Choke, Lullaby) is a
writer of rare talent and his home
of Portland, Oregon, is a city of rare
wonders.
In Strangers and Refugees: A
Walk in Portland, Oregon, Palahniuk goes beyond the AAA handbooks to reveal the places, people,
and legends of Portland that have
long been known only to locals.
The reader learns the location of
the legendary Self Cleaning House,
where to find the restless ghost of
the founder of Powell’s Books, and
why feral cats are such an important
part of Portland baseball.
Portland, it seems, is also a
highly sexual city and Palahniuk
dutifully dissects the specialties of
each strip joint as well as discussing
Mochika, a zoo penguin with a real
fetish for black boots.
Along the way, he includes
“postcards” from his life in the Rose
City dating back to 1981 when, as
a 19-year-old, he dropped acid and
accidentally ate part of a woman’s
fur coat during a laser show of Pink
Floyd’s The Wall.
As Palahniuk matures, the
postcards reveal the author becoming increasingly a part of the
city’s scene, culminating with a
wild and wooly Millennium Eve
celebration at the Baghdad Theater
that featured a screening of the film
version of Fight Club.
Fugitives and Refugees is a
must for anyone who may, in their
lives, go to Portland. But its appeal
should reach beyond Oregonians.
Palahniuk’s love of the city is so
Purchase, Refinance, or Line of Credit
great, and his stories so weirdly
wonderful, it makes one want to
get out of the house, get in the car,
and drive to Portland right away.
Just remember to pack the book.
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Cadets assist at plane crash site
By Juanita Downing
North Precinct Volunteer
On Saturday, April 30, North
Precinct cadets John Davis and
Carisa Rudnick were out on their
regular swing shift patrol in downtown St. Johns when they received a
call from dispatch. Davis said, “We
were at Pattie’s Home Plate Café
listening to the Big Foot Convention when the plane crash call came
out. Dispatch got a hold of us and
called us to the scene.”
Davis and Rudnick were first
sent to MLK and Columbia, but on
their way there, they were told to go
to the Columbia Waste Water Treatment Plant instead. As they were
heading for Columbia, all the other
officers’ cars were coming toward
them, so they did a u-turn. Then
the call came that the plane was
on Portland Road., and the North
Precinct Cadets were the second
car on the scene.
North Precinct Sgt. Donald
Kahut asked Davis and Rudnick to
shut off the traffic on Marine Drive
and Portland Road and it was done.
Sgt. Kahut then sent Davis back to
North Precinct for more flares and
batteries. His trip back and forth
was not easy as he had to navigate
around many fire trucks, police cars
and media vehicles.
By the time Davis got back
to the scene, a few East Precinct
cadets had arrived to assist. Davis
explained, “They did a good job of
www.portlandpoliceassociation.com
•
setting the flares up. When we set
the flares up, we just shut the road
off. But they shut down the turning lanes and put out more flares
to direct traffic.” Davis added, “I
am grateful to the East Precinct
cadets. They came a long way
and I really appreciate their help.
North Precinct is short on Cadets
and when a call comes out, we like
to help each other out.”
The following East Precinct
cadets assisted with the plane crash:
Adam Anderson, David Bieker,
Ron Brown, Greg Budey, James
Trendell, and Ryan Waters.
Thanks to all the Cadets who
were called to the scene for a job
well done!
JULY 2005
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PAGE 7
Good Cop—Bad Cop
What real life cops think of Hollywood Portrayals
By Bill Gallagher
Brainstorm Northwest magazine, December 2002 issue
Editor’s Note: Many of you
probably haven’t seen this. Great
story. PS
edges that because so much of what
he does is write reports, reality
can’t touch fantasy when it comes
to audience appeal.
What follows are cop movie
lists based on what these ten co-
operative Portland Police Bureau
officers told BrainstormNW. They
were recruited for critic duties by
a Bureau wide email. Their opinions are only their own and not the
Bureau’s.
The ten best cop movies
of all time
Officer Jim Lawrence came up
with half of this list. His top five cop
movies all came up in interviews
with the other ten officer/critics.
1. The French Connection.
This is as close as you’ll come to
a GREAT cop movie. It won the
Academy Award for Best Picture
in 1971. Gene Hackman as Pop-
“Most police movies make
me want to puke. Make that your
lead.” - Detective Sergeant Scott
Johnson
In real life there are more good
cops than there are bad cops. But
in Hollywood, most of the good
movies are about bad cops. If all
you know about police work is
what you see on the big screen, you
might think being a cop is either
about breaking the rules to get the
bad guys or going all the way over
to the dark side and becoming one
of the bad guys.
Think again.
Here to straighten you out are
eleven members of the Portland Police Bureau. BrainstormNW asked
them to play film critic when it
comes to cop movies. They were
asked to critique the way their
careers in law enforcement are
portrayed on the big screen.
This is just about cop movies,
not cop television shows. Cops get
a much better shake on the small
screen. And no Feds. We’re talking strictly local cops, from the
big cities to the suburbs, from the
boondocks to the backwoods, as
rendered for the box office.
The critical consensus is that
there are really only a few good
cop movies and a lot of really bad
cop movies along with some stupid
and some dangerous cop movies.
But there are no really great cop
movies. There are some great
scenes and great performances in
various cop movies but never a beginning-to-end film classic about a
cop or cops.
The officer/critics also agreed
that only a few cop movies bear
even a passing resemblance to the
reality of their jobs. And they raise
the issue of dealing with what I’ll
call the “Training Day/Bad Lieutenant thing.” Bad cop movies like
these give those who don’t know
better the idea that the cops are
criminals too, nothing more than
crooks and killers with badges. Try
telling the 17-year old gang banger
who’s seen Denzel as Detective
Alonzo Harris about twenty times
that the cops aren’t brutal and corrupt. But the studios know that what
sells tickets is the extreme.
More than one officer acknowl-
PAGE 8
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JULY 2005
•
Read us online at
...Good Cop, Bad Cop
eye Doyle, the dogged New York
narcotics detective, captures the
reality of surveillance work when
he’s seen eating cold pizza outside
the fancy restaurant where the suspect is dining. The chase scene is
shown in training classes at police
academies. It’s directed by the same
guy, William Friedkin, who spent a
lot of time in Portland recently directing “The Hunted,” with Tommy
Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro.
2. The New Centurions. One
of the few cop movies that features
officers in uniforms working the
streets. Based on a Joseph Wambaugh book and starring George C.
Scott and Stacey Keach, this underrated cop movie gives us two smart
cops consumed by the job.
3. Colors. Who would think
that a movie starring Sean Penn and
directed by Dennis Hopper (Remember “Easy Rider?” He directed
that too.) would make this list. But
it kept coming up in conversations
with the officers. It’s based in L.A.
in 1987 when gang wars were at
their peak (387 gang-related killings the year before). Penn plays the
adrenalized rookie teamed with the
savvy veteran street officer played
by Robert Duvall. “Colors”gets it.
“That movie had a huge impact on
how kids looked at us,” according
to Officer Rafe Cancio of Portland’s
Gang Enforcement Team.
4. The Border. This almost
violates the “no Feds” condition
since it tells the story of a uniformed Border Patrol officer, but
Jack Nicholson does such a great
job playing the conflicted cop that
I’ll make an exception. He’s dealing
with what a lot of street cops deal
with every day: the futility of the
work. You bust them; they’re back
on the streets. You deport them;
they’re back wading across the Rio
Grande. Pretty harsh treatment of
Jack’s fellow border patrol officers
(especially Harvey Keitel as the
smuggler’s accomplice) betrays a
bit of an anti-cop bias.
5. Heat. Back in the mid-90s I
interviewed then—Portland Police
Chief Charles Moose and asked
him about his favorite cop movie.
The man who has become the bestknown police chief in America said
there was only one: “Heat.” It stars
Al Pacino as the edgy LAPD Robbery-Homicide detective who’s up
against Robert DeNiro as the brains
behind a crack team of armed robbers. Written and directed by Michael Mann of “Miami Vice” fame,
it appeals to lots of cops for the way
it shows the cost of being consumed
by your career fighting crime. Now
the rest of the best. The other five
cop movies that belong on the list.
6. Dirty Harry. Most of the officers chuckled when I mentioned
Clint Eastwood’s best known role.
“Escapist…almost cartoonish,” is
the way Officer Bob Gorgone describes the movie that New Yorker
critic Pauline Kael once called “a
remarkably single-minded attack
on liberal values.” Released in 1971,
it had an eerie resonance recently
as the snipers near Washington DC
demanded $10 million to stop the
killing just as the psycho killer in
“Harry” had.
7. Fargo. There’s not enough of
Marge Gunderson of the Brainerd,
Minnesota police force—as played
by Frances McDormand in this film
from the Coen Brothers—but what
there is of her appeals to all the officers who mentioned this movie.
She’s a decent cop playing by the
rules, maintaining a home life and
not losing her humanity on the job.
She even shoots a fleeing low-life
sociopath in the lower leg to wound
rather than kill him.
8. L.A. Confidential. James
Ellroy, who wrote the book on
which this movie is based, won’t cop
to how much of this story is based
on the truth. In fact, he brags about
making it all up. But for a probing
look at the personalities that make
up a big city police force, you can’t
beat this one from director Curtis
Hanson. It’s got corrupt cops, honest cops and conflicted cops played
by Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe,
Guy Pearce and James Cromwell.
This is arguably the best ensemble
cast ever in a cop movie.
9. Serpico. Is there better
dramatic material for a cop movie
than the agony of the officer who
decides to expose the venality of his
colleagues? Al Pacino plays Frank
Serpico of the NYPD as neither
saint nor crusader but as a man
who believes that doing his job as
a cop means calling out cops who
can’t be trusted. Pacino has played
lots of cops, but never as well as he
plays this role.
10. A tie between The Pledge
and Homicide. Sean Penn directs
Jack Nicholson in “The Pledge,”
which deals with a detective in
a mid-sized city who can’t let go
of his last case. Jack goes around
the bend but the obsession with (or
commitment to) that one case can
be typical, according to our panel
of police officer critics.
“Homicide” is here because I
had to find a place for at least one
David Mamet movie. Joe Mantegna
plays a detective who happens to
be Jewish and finds himself caught
between his religion and his alle-
www.portlandpoliceassociation.com
•
giance to the police force. Mamet
dialog crackles with cop-speak.
The three “best” worst
cop movies
When I asked Sergeant Brian
Schmautz of the Portland Police
Bureau for help contacting officers
who might have something to say
about cop movies I mentioned
“Training Day.” There was a long
pause on the other end of the phone
line. Then he said, slowly, “That…
movie…was…unnerving.”
1. Training Day. Denzel
Washington finally gets his Academy Award for Best Actor and it’s
in a movie that a few of the officers
I spoke with couldn’t even watch.
Unfortunately, lots of kids and
criminals have watched it. “They
see that movie and they see us as
ugly, evil and corrupt,” according to
Officer Gorgone. “’Training Day’ is
as harmful as any movie I’ve ever
seen when it comes to police work,”
says Officer Jerry Cioeta. “I’ve had
kids say to me, ‘Hey, don’t think I
don’t know what’s going on. I’ve
seen the movie. I know you beat
people up.’”
2. Bad Lieutenant. When I
told non-cops I was working on
a piece about cop movies, a typical response was, “Oh, like ‘Bad
Lieutenant?’” Harvey Keitel plays
the Lieutenant who even other bad
cops can’t believe when it comes
to how low he has sunk. As with
“Training Day,” some officers can’t
stand to watch this one all the way
through.
3. Internal Affairs. The rare
corrupt cop movie that features
a uniformed officer. In this case
Richard Gere plays an LAPD
Sergeant who crosses way over
the line and will kill his partner
to protect his criminal enterprise.
The crusading Internal Affairs officer (Andy Garcia) who goes after
him is only marginally better. He’s
supposed to be the good guy but
he belts his wife at one point and
violates about a dozen department
rules along the way.
time investigating crimes, tracking
down leads, typing up reports and
sitting in court. It’s difficult, tedious
work and you’re not going to get
rich doing it. But I’ve been on the
job for 28 years and I wouldn’t have
it any other way. I’m a detective,
that’s what I do. If you break the
law in my city I will do everything
in my power to hunt you down and
put you behind bars.”
Delivered to a classroom of
elementary school kids. Good
speech. Lousy movie.
Or, as Captain Mike Bell,
Commander of the Transit Police
Division with the Portland Police
Bureau, says, “My wife tells me,
‘Wouldn’t it be neat to be a movie
Captain?’ She means wouldn’t it
be neat not to have to go to endless
meetings, deal with mountains of
paper and get to be out on the streets
sometimes?”
And this, from Sergeant Johnson, who finds that most cop movies
make him want to puke. “They’re
all about this man of action. Man
of action? I’m a man of writing
reports.”
Our panel of cop movie critics:
Officer Jim Lawrence, Officer
Rafe Cancio, Officer Bob Gorgone,
Officer Garth Edwards, Officer
Jerry Cioeta, Officer Jeff Helfrich,
Detective John Brooks, Sergeant
Detective Scott Johnson, Sergeant
Brian Schmautz and Captain Mike
Bell.
Bill Gallagher is Program
Director and Movie Critic for
Newstalk 860 KPAM.
Best speech about cop
movies in a cop movie
1. From Showtime starring Robert DeNiro and Eddie
Murphy.
“Being a police officer is not
what you see on television. I’ve
never had to choose between the red
wire and the blue wire. Never seen a
police car flip over causing a chain
reaction with other cars that burst
into flames. Never had to jump from
one rooftop to another. I spend my
JULY 2005
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PAGE 9
Let’s Talk • By Daryl Turner
More needs to be done to help
injured officers
9304 SE Main St.
Milwaukie, Oregon 97222
A
couple of
weeks ago
a s I wa s
walking
out of the
lobby of
Central
Precinct,
I ran into
Officer
Mike Davis. I knew Mike from
working Central Days years ago.
Mike worked the upper Northwest
District and is well-known and respected by those he worked around.
Mike sustained injuries in a horrific
car accident on the freeway when a
vehicle hit his stationary patrol car
as he was performing his duties as
a Portland Police Officer.
As I talked to Mike, it was obvious that he was unhappy about
the way officers with serious workrelated injuries are treated by the
City and the Bureau. The story is
the same, although the names may
be different. Whether the last name
is Davis, Guzman, Barker, Groepper, Wynn, Hergert, Harmon, or
Steinbronn, why should the City
be allowed to add insult to injury?
Cops who are injured or who have
work-related illnesses should be
treated a lot better than they are by
the system.
First of all, Mayor Potter and
Randy Leonard should get together
and take all that time they’ve been
using to find ways to interfere in
Bureau policies and find a way to
help injured cops and firefighters
keep respectable health benefits
and wages.
I don’t know a cop in this city
that comes to work thinking “I can
get shot, run over or get cancer
today so the City will give me a
free ride for the rest of my life.”
No cop hopes to sustain a career
ending injury or illness so that they
can live off of reduced wages and
medical benefits.
Any cop who loses their ability
to work at their chosen profession
because of an on-the-job injury
or illness not only should receive
their full pay, they should also keep
their full benefits until they are of
retirement age. Those who are able,
should be allowed to come back to
work in a limited-duty capacity
doing something worthwhile like
helping with investigations or
working with the training division, mentoring young officers, or
working in E.A.P.
We, as a membership, need to
push for changes in the way officers
are treated when they incur on-thejob disabilities. Sure, there’s going
to be a small percentage of those
who will try to milk the system,
either faking an injury or exaggerating the extent of an injury.
But should the large majority be
punished by a system that causes
them to lose good wages and benefits because in the course of doing
their jobs something happens which
causes that officer to be unable to
work full duty either temporarily or
for life? The answer is not just no,
but Hell No!
The Mayor’s office should
make it a priority to solve this
problem or to appoint someone to
do it. We as cops feel secure in our
ability to take care of ourselves on
the job. We feel like the most important issue on a daily basis is to
protect the citizens of Portland to
go home healthy at the end of every
shift. When we get hurt or ill, we
need to know that we will be taken
care of in a dignified manner and
Mayor Potter can help make this a
reality.
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Secretary-Treasurer’s Report • By Leo Painton
By the
t i me you
rea d t h is
article, The
Oregonian
should
have published its
investigative report
on the Fire and Police Disability
and Retirement Fund (FPDR). I can
only guess what their report might
say but I do not believe that the results will make anyone happy.
As with any disability and
retirement system, ours has problems. However, our system tends to
be unique to this country. I have
attend several educational and
training seminars over the years as
an FPDR trustee. Two particular
differences stand out when comparing us to other systems.
The first is the fact that we are
a pay as you go system. The FPDR
trustees develop a budget each year,
present that to the Council and the
budget is funded by property
taxes. This is the funding mechanism that the citizens of Portland
chose. We have tried to change it
over the years but the political will
to make the hard choices has not
been there.
The second is the fact that
we deal with both disability and
retirement issues of Portland police officers and firefighters. Many
systems separate these two issues.
As an example the state of Oregon
has the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and a separate
Workers Compensation system.
As I have mentioned on these
pages before, I am now sitting on a
second citizens’ committee that is
reviewing the FPDR system. Our
directive from City Council is to
come up with suggestions on how
to fund a system that has grown to
a $ 1.3 billion dollar deficit to the
City. Had we started funding it
when the earlier committee finished
their work it sat at approximately $
9 million.
Our second directive is to
review the disability costs of our
system. This task will be a little
more cumbersome to the committee because a comparison to other
systems can be very difficult. As an
example the state system has three
components when it comes to disability issues. There is Workers
Compensation, social security and
PERS has a disability component.
Based on the difficulty the committee has had in getting proposals to
do the work, others must believe
that this could be a daunting task
also.
I firmly believe the City would
like to be wipe their hands of the
FPDR and place all new hires into
the state system for both retirement
and disability purposes.
of our injured police officers and
firefighters. It has become more
difficult in this day of more cases
of Hepatitis C which is not a presumptive disease under the FPDR
Charter as is Hepatitis B. It was not
a known quantity when the Charter
was amended. There are more studies indicating a connection between
methamphetamine and higher cases
of cancer in public safety personnel
because of our contact with labs and
the idiots who build them. Rising
health care costs also take their
toll.
Firefighter Bob Lemon and I
will maintain an open mind while
we work with the committee, but
will remain ever vigilant in taking
care of our fellow police officers
and firefighters. My hope is that the
citizens of Portland would also like
to maintain control over taking care
of their public safety officers and
not turn them over to the State.
Obviously, for those already
working here, you have a contractual right to the retirement
you signed up for when you were
hired. We are not so sure about the
disability benefits.
The trustees of the FPDR
are constantly looking for ways
to conserve disability costs while
still looking out for the interests
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•
JULY 2005
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PAGE 11
Movers and Shakers
Recent transfers, promotions, resignations and retirements
Police Officer Gail Alexander
(DPSST # 37248) returned from
an extended Leave of Absence and
was assigned to Northeast Precinct
effective May 2, 2005.
Detective David Anderson
(DPSST # 18154) East Precinct/
Detectives transferred to the East
Precinct/Detective Supervisory
Sergeant position effective April
7, 2005.
Police Administrative Support Specialist Debra Antone
(DPSST # 29667) Drugs & Vice
Division/Asset Forfeitures Unit
was promoted to Evidence Control Specialist and assigned to the
Property/Evidence Division effective April 25, 2005.
Police Officer Darryl Dodak
(DPSST #44054) Northeast Precinct resigned from the Bureau
effective March 12, 2005.
Police Officer John Grable
(DPSST # 24187) Central Precinct
transferred to the Drugs and Vice
Division effective April 21, 2005.
Crime Analyst Wendy LinKelly (DPSST # 34775) Planning
and Support Division resigned
from the Bureau effective April
15, 2005.
Police Officer Scott McCollister (DPSST # 40709) East Precinct
was placed on Leave of Service effective April 21, 2005.
Administrative Assistant Veronica Nordeen (DPSST # 38179)
Records Division was promoted
to Program Specialist through accretion of duties and will remain
in the Records Division effective
September 21, 2004.
Police Officer Jeffrey Parker
(DPSST # 23993) returned to duty
from a Leave of Service and was
assigned to North Precinct effective
April 18, 2005.
Police Officer Stuart Palmiter
(DPSST # 27244) Northeast Precinct was placed on Leave of Service effective April 19, 2005.
Police Officer David Ragland
(DPSST # 14641) Operations
Support/Telephone Report Unit
was placed on Leave of Service
effective March 31, 2005.
Police Officer John Rebman
(DPSST # 25220) Traffic Division was placed on Administrative
Leave effective May 5, 2005.
Sergeant Kelli Sheffer (DPSST
# 19192) Central Precinct transferred to Central Detectives as a
Supervisory Sergeant effective
April 21, 2005.
Marti Strohmeyer (DPSST
# 39063) was appointed Police
Records Specialist and assigned
to the Records Division effective
May 3, 2005.
Police Information & Referral
Specialist Debra Tester (DPSST #
38110) Information and Referral
Unit resigned from the Bureau effective May 4, 2005.
Police Administrative Support
Specialist Scott Thoman (DPSST
# 38107) Personnel Division was
promoted to Evidence Control
Specialist and assigned to the
Property/Evidence Division effective May 19, 2005.
Sergea nt Er ic Torgerson
(DPSST # 29361) Central Precinct
was placed on Administrative
Leave effective May 9, 2005.
Police Officer Chad Wilcott
(DPSST # 34585) North Precinct
resigned from the Bureau effective
April 22, 2005.
Police Records Specialist
Sherry Winslow (DPSST # 33733)
Records Division was promoted to
Police Records Training Coordinator and will remain in the Records
Division effective May 5, 2005.
Sergea nt Ka rl McDade
(DPSST # 2994), North Precinct,
retired from the Bureau after
twenty years of service effective
May 31, 2005.
Retirements
Sergeant Axel Gerber (DPSST
# 7382), Identification Division, retired from the Bureau after twentynine years of service effective June
15, 2005.
O f f i c e r D o u g Ko slo s k e
(DPSST # 9336), Drugs and Vice
Division, retired from the Bureau
after twenty-seven years of service
effective June 30, 2005.
Police Officer Rebecca Wooten (DPSST # 9807), Detective
Division / DA Investigator, retired
from the Bureau after twenty-seven
years of service effective April 12,
2005.
S e rge a nt St eve n L a r s e n
(DPSST # 12246), East Precinct /
Air Support Unit, retired from the
Bureau after twenty-six years of
service effective June 7, 2005
July is Youth Crime
Prevention Month
PAGE 12
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•
JULY 2005
•
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