UPDATE: After this news update was posted, City Council adopted Ordinance 191892, which put into City Code the text which creates the Community Police Oversight Board as defined in City Charter 2-10. This Board is now known as the Community Board for Police Accountability (CBPA), and its staff will be a bureau known as the Office of Community-based Police Accountability (OCPA). See the following news update (https://www.portland.gov/police-accountability/news/2024/9/12/city-council-approves-city-code-creating-community-board) for more information.
Dear Portlanders,
The Police Accountability Commission was a group of twenty community members that developed and proposed a new accountability system for Portland police, including a new oversight board and a new investigatory and disciplinary system, to the City Council in September 2023. This email is a new update on City follow-up related to the creation of a new police oversight system as outlined in the City Charter, Section 2-10.
TOMORROW: City Council vote expected on Oversight System City Code
Tomorrow (September 11) during the City Council's morning session, the City Council will have a second reading on the ordinance to establish the new police oversight system by adding new text to City Code. The Council agenda has this as item 794, at the end of the regular agenda (currently anticipated for 11:15-11:30, but it may start earlier or later).
More information on the agenda, including how to join in person at 1900 SW 4th Avenue or watch online (or participate either in person or on Zoom) is at https://www.portland.gov/council/agenda.
Agenda item 794 is an ordinance proposed by Mayor Wheeler. It will be a second reading and could be adopted tomorrow.
Additional Context
Last week (September 4), the City Council had an emergency ordinance to adopt new sections of City Code establishing the new police oversight system. This required a unanimous vote to pass as an emergency ordinance, and the vote was 3-2, meaning it was not adopted. Following this, Council reopened discussion (by reconsidering the ordinance), amended out the emergency clause to make it a regular ordinance, and therefore last week was the first reading. As a regular ordinance, it will require a second reading and then a majority vote to pass.
On August 29, 2024, the US District Court presiding over United States v. City of Portland, which is the case that has the Settlement Agreement including several police-related actions that the City is required to take (including implementing the oversight board), held a Fairness Hearing on the City and United States Department of Justice's joint proposal for the oversight board to amend the Settlement Agreement. (Please note that a previous email erroneously said that the joint proposal to the Court included both the Settlement Agreement text and the City Code text.)
Once approved, the City has three weeks, under the Settlement Agreement, to approve the City Code.
During that Fairness Hearing, presiding judge Michael H. Simon approved the motion effective January 2, 2025. More on this may be found in media reports:
• https://www.opb.org/article/2024/08/29/judge-approves-portland-police-oversight-plan-delays-2025/
• https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2024/08/a-required-police-ride-along-for-members-of-portlands-new-police-accountability-board-prompts-judge-to-promise-ill-come-too.html
• https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2024/08/portland-mayor-ted-wheeler-blasts-judge-for-delaying-new-police-oversight-board-short-sighted-and-high-handed.html
Additional information on the overall process remains live at: https://www.portland.gov/police-accountability
Thank you!