Leadership Information
Current Phase of Work
The Commission is currently in the Concluding Phase of Work (the sixth and final phase of the PAC's work). The Co-Chairs for this phase of work will be:
- Full Commission: Dan Handelman, Seemab Hussaini, Charlie Michelle-Westley
Previous Phases of Work
The Commission worked through the Organizational Phase of Work through March 2022. During that period, the co-chairs were:
- Full Commission Co-Chairs: Sophia Glenn, Angie Tomlinson
- Sub-Committee on Bylaws and Internal Processes Co-Chairs: Lovisa Lloyd, Jason Renaud
- Sub-Committee on Community Engagement Framework Co-Chairs: Faythe Aiken, Monica Arce
The Commission worked through the Fact-Finding Phase of Work from April-October 2022. During that period, the co-chairs were:
- Full Commission Co-Chairs: Faythe Aiken, Seemab Hussaini, Lovisa Lloyd
- Sub-Committee on Research Co-Chairs: Sophia Glenn, Angie Tomlinson
- Sub-Committee on Community Engagement Events Co-Chairs: Christian Orellana Bauer, Tirsa Orellana
The Commission worked through the Powers and Duties Phase of Work from October 2022-February 2023. During that period, the co-chairs were:
- Full Commission Co-Chairs: Christian Orellana Bauer, Tirsa Orellana, Aje Amaechi
- Sub-Committee on Access to Information Co-Chairs: Obinna Ugwu-Oju, Dan Handelman
- Sub-Committee on Officer Accountability Co-Chairs: Charlie Michelle-Westley, Dan Handelman
- Sub-Committee on Structural Oversight Co-Chairs: Faythe Aiken, Debbie Aiona
The Commission worked through the Structure and Details Phase of Work from February-May 2023. The co-chairs for this phase of work were:
- Full Commission Co-Chairs: Charlie Michelle-Westley, Katherine McDowell, KC Lewis
- Sub-Committee on Board Membership Co-Chairs: Obinna Ugwu-Oju, Tirsa Orellana
- Sub-Committee on Oversight Agency Co-Chairs: Aje Amaechi, Dan Handelman
- Sub-Committee on Reporting and Transparency Co-Chairs: Debbie Aiona, Connie Wohn
The Commission held its Transition Plan and Broader System Phase of Work from May-July 2023. The co-chairs for this phase of work were:
- Full Commission Co-Chairs: Debbie Aiona, Tim Pitts, Christian Orellana Bauer
- Sub-Committee on Transition Plan Co-Chairs: Faythe Aiken, Katherine McDowell
- Sub-Committee on Broader System Co-Chairs: KC Lewis, Seemab Hussaini
Bios and Statements of Intent
Faythe Aiken
Bio: Hello, my name is Faythe Aiken and I use she/her gender pronouns. I have been a proud Portlander for 10 years. Born with a developmental disability and as a daughter of an immigrant, I have spent my life navigating systems that were not designed for people like me. This experience has developed an innate sense of responsibility to work to dismantle systems of oppression. -- this informs my work in my day job as a research analyst. I have a Master's Degree in Public Policy from PSU and will use my technical and lived experience to contribute to the work of the Police Accountability Commission.
People with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by police misconduct. Compounding this, people with disabilities face accessibility challenges to participate in activism, social justice, and civic engagement.
Statement of interest: I hope my work on the Commission can provide insight into areas where accessibility are needed in the accountability process. As a lifelong extrovert, I am keen to meet community members, answer questions, and hear input related to accountability. You can reach out to me at faythe.aiken@portlandoregon.gov.
Debbie Aiona
Bio: Debbie Aiona is a long-time resident of Portland and an active volunteer with the League of Women Voters of Portland. She currently is the Action Committee chair, has been on the board for over 25 years, and served as president from 1995 - 2000. She first became involved in police oversight in 2000 when she assumed responsibility for representing the League on Mayor Katz’s PIIAC reform workgroup.
Statement of Interest: The League has been consistently involved in this issue since the early 1980s when the League president served on the Storrs Commission that was responsible for recommending creation of the city’s first oversight system. She tracked the issue until handing it off in 2000 to Ms. Aiona, who has been monitoring the Independent Police Review and police-related committees since then. As a close observer of our current system and a supporter of stronger oversight, Ms. Aiona is interested in working with others on the commission to design a system that is transparent, accessible to the public, holds officers accountable, and improves police conduct and policies.
Aje Amaechi
Bio: Aje (aka Je) (pronouns she/they) is a first-generation Jamaican-American who has lived in Portland since 2014. She has an educational background in the Philosophy of Mind and Critical Race Theory. As a student, she became involved with organizing for economic justice, environmental justice, and other causes related to Black and Indigenous self-determination. Je currently works at Freedom to Thrive, an organization devoted to transformative organizing and capacity building around transformative justice and healing justice. Her work centers around crimmigration– the intersection of criminal justice and immigration enforcement– using a Pro Black, gender-affirming lens.
Statement of Interest: Aje's intent in becoming a PAC member is to help redress harms and prevent further injustices carried out against Black, disabled and houseless members of the community. She also intends to make sure that the voices of queer Black people are heard in this conversation and to share what she learns about policing with other queer BIPOC community members.
Monica Arce
Bio: Hello Portland, my name is Monica Arce, and I use she/her/ella pronouns. I am a mom, a midwife, an immigrant and a proud brown Portlander, who has been living here since 1994. My family of origin is from Peru, and I moved to the US in 1990. I first worked as a Spanish medical interpreter and then became a nurse-midwife hoping to work in community health. I was so lucky to get a job at Virginia Garcia soon after graduation and have been working there as a midwife for the last 15 years. During my time at Virginia Garcia I have been relentlessly working on making our health care system feel safe and be culturally sensitive. I have been serving the Latinx community for 25 years and plan to use my position in the Police Accountability Commission to represent our interests as best as I can. Para la comunidad de Portland que prefiere hablar en español y quiere compartir en su idioma sus ideas para mejorar los sistemas de responsabilidad policíaca en nuestra ciudad, pueden escribirme al siguiente correo electrónico: monica.arce@portlandoregon.gov. ¡Espero escuchar de ustedes!
Statement of Interest: Monica is looking forward to providing a voice and representation to the Latinx community while serving in the Police Accountability Commission. During her work as the site medical director at VG, she has had ample experience negotiating and representing the concerns and interests of the patients of Virginia Garcia at several institutions, including the large hospital systems where deliveries take place. She promises to always keep fairness and respect for the difficult work law enforcement does in our community while holding all of this work under the important lens of racial and social justice.
Cameron Browne
Bio: Cameron (he/him) was born and raised in NE Portland's Cully neighborhood. After attending Oregon State University, he moved back to Portland as a freelance photographer. For the last 20 years he has worked with local and national newspapers, magazines, small and large businesses, non-profits, international corporations, local manufacturers, and sports leagues. A workday could be anything from photographing a Trailblazers game to portraits of the State Treasurer or product photography of a Nike shoe, or a Freightliner truck, or documenting a news event. He gets various looks into the home, work, personal and political lives of people in Portland.
Statement of Interest: Having seen the racial divisions in Portland (in his lifetime), seeing and hearing the experiences of minority communities while living and working in the community, Cameron is hoping to bring attention to inequalities in policing, the use of force, and systemic problems between police and all marginalized communities.
Yume Delegato
Bio: Yume Delegato was born and raised in Portland and has worked in the community for over two decades, most recently as the Vice Chair of the City of Portland’s Citizen Review Committee and as Artistic Director of PDX Pop Now!, a nonprofit dedicated to making local music accessible to all Portlanders. Previously, he served as a community volunteer on the CRC’s Crowd Control and Use of Force Workgroup and on the Salmonberry Trail Intergovernmental Agency’s Segment Review Committee.
Statement of Interest: The passage of Measure 26-217 has provided the City of Portland with a rare and crucial opportunity to rethink our approach to Police Accountability in a cogent and meaningful way. Having served for several years within our current oversight system, I hope to bring my lived experience and understanding of what does and does not work in the current system to help the Police Accountability Commission finish their scope of work and create a new system of oversight that serves all Portlanders equitably.
Sophia Glenn
Bio: I moved to Portland in 2008 and have been working and living in the city since then. I care about my community and want to serve to make a positive contribution to the commission that brings about deep-rooted police reforms in a non-violent manner.
Statement of Interest: Seeing and experiencing firsthand the repercussions of how important it is, for our community and nation, to hold our public servants, police officers, accountable to the highest standards is just one reason why I want to serve. The other reason is to glean from these experiences to help build a community with police officers who are truly and humbly serving the public needs in a kind, respectful and dignified manner.
Dan Handelman
Bio: Dan Handelman is a co-founding member of Peace and Justice Works and its police accountability project group Portland Copwatch. In 1991 he also helped co-found Flying Focus Video Collective, which has produced a program on cable access every week on social justice topics. Dan attended nearly every police oversight meeting in the City since 1992 (PIIAC 1992-2001/Citizen Review Committee 2001-present). He was appointed to sit on three previous City commissions looking at the oversight system - - Mayor Katz's Work Group in 2000, and on stakeholder groups in 2010 and 2016. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform.
Statement of Interest: I want to bring our years of experience studying local and national police accountability issues to the table as the City designs the new oversight system. This includes the perspectives we've gathered over nearly 30 years from people who have experienced and/or are concerned about police misconduct including BIPOC, immigrant, refugee, low income/houseless people and people with mental health and substance abuse issues.
Seemab Hussaini
Bio: As a social justice advocate, Seemab is a founder of a Muslim civil rights organization in the State of Oregon. As a community organizer, has created dialogue with Oregon’s local and state officials and their staff, while finding alliances with social justice organizations and faith leaders throughout the city and across states. As a community member and Muslim American representative, he presented on panels to advance dialogue in hate-crimes and organized onsite events, rallies and marches as a member of several grassroots coalitions. He often seeks out opportunities to educate, advocate for others, particularly for underserved and marginalized community members.
Statement of Interest: Faith and immigrant/refugee communities are impacted by injustices carried out in places where accountability and representation should matter the most, the same places where there has been historic failures. I intend to inform this commission and my communities as what is and should be possible with Reimagining Portland police accountability.
KC Lewis
Bio: KC Lewis has lived in Oregon for more than fifteen years (with a brief 3-year stop in Chicago for law school), and has been a practicing attorney for nearly eight. He currently works as a public defender in Hillsboro. He is a person with mental illness, and hopes to bring the perspective of those with mental illness (who are disproportionately policed and the victims of police violence) to the work of the Police Accountability Commission. In his free time, he enjoys playing tabletop role-playing games and spending time with his fiancé and their four cats: Colors, Highway, Cooper, and CC.
Statement of Interest: As someone who has both worked as a criminal prosecutor and as an advocate for people with disabilities caught up in the criminal justice system, KC hopes to help build a system of true accountability that can create trust between the criminal justice system and the community in order to make us all safer.
Lovisa Lloyd
Bio: Lovisa Lloyd is an intellectual property paralegal with a background in criminal civil rights work. From 2016 to 2019, she served in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, where she assisted in the investigation and prosecution of use-of-force cases involving police and correctional officers. As part of her work, she reviewed a large number of internal police investigations. As an undergraduate at Howard University, she studied the intersection of US government history and African-American history.
Statement of Interest: She hopes to bring a new perspective to the issue of police accountability, and to assist Portland in becoming a national leader in this area.
Katherine McDowell
Bio: I have practiced law in Portland since 1988. I started a women-owned law firm in 2006, focusing on energy and environmental law, with offices in downtown Portland. For the last 30 years, I have volunteered as a civil rights lawyer and community advocate. In 2016, the National Lawyers Guild trained me as a legal observer, and I then started the ACLU of Oregon’s legal observer program. Based on my personal experiences as a legal observer, I have co-authored comments on Portland Police Crowd Control Directives and advised on police reform legislation.
Statement of Interest: I want to join the ReThink Police Accountability Commission because, as a small business owner in downtown Portland, as a volunteer civil rights lawyer, and as an observer of police misconduct and brutality, I am committed to advancing racial justice and disability rights through robust police oversight and accountability. This is what Measure 26-217 imagines, and I want to help make it happen.
Charlie Michelle-Westley
Bio: A member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, on a healing journey from Intergenerational/historical and current day trauma, including neglect, poverty, abuses unimaginable as a child, teen and adult, addictions, mental illness, extensive physical and emotional police brutality, incarceration, tragic death of friends and loved ones including my mother and police beatings and imprisonment for my schizophrenic father. Twenty years ago, I was able to turn my life around and now I’m on a healing journey recovering from all of the above trauma and during this healing process I discovered the common thread was that all of the above was smothered and designed in societies racist systems. I experienced racism while still in the womb of my Native mother and unfortunately will always anticipate racism. However, I also found my voice, my passion, my calling to be of service to all those who struggle in colonized America, and fight this fight of a lifetime for Justice, Equality, Equity, Antiracism, Anti-oppression, for Respect and Reparation so we can start living without fear of those that should protect and serve “ALL” We the People.
Statement of Interest: As a Native woman in colonized America, I first and foremost will be the uncensored voice of the people adversely affected by societal racist roots because my entire life has prepared me for this very critical moment in history, my Intent is to rise up and fight the injustices that prevail for all the people who disproportionately are affected by colonial “ism”. I have committed myself to uprooting policing as we have experienced it, No longer allow justification for No accountability as police act as judge, jury, and executioners’ and in its stead provide anti-racism in all its forms to truly serve and protect the people not the Blue Line of criminal coverup, hold any public servant accountable, and erase the racial construct that was invented to oppress with violence, my intent is there is no turning back!
Tirsa Orellana
Bio: My name is Tirsa Orellana (she/her/hers), first born of five children of Salvadoran parents who immigrated to Los Angeles. I have worked with a local immigration law firm, labor rights organization and currently working in the public sector doing legal work. Members in our communities have been targets of systemic injustices that place their beings at risk. I am determined to continue listening and using my voice to demand change. I enjoy long walks with my golden retriever, spending time on Mt. Hood, gazing off into the sunset and sharing a cooked meal with loved ones.
Statement of Interest: I want to serve in this commission because my lived experience of growing up in an overpoliced neighborhood has brought about the desire to take action and engage in conversation about the current practices within our policing institution(s). To serve in the commission would mean to bring first lived insight based on my experiences.
Christian Orellana Bauer
Bio: Christian Orellana Bauer is a multidisciplinary artist working in Portland, OR. They were born in Cuenca, Ecuador in 1995 and moved to Portland as a child. Growing up as a multicultural BIPOC in a majority white city and as a member of an over-policed community has immensely influenced their artistic practice, perspective of the world, and identity.
Statement of Interest: Christian's intent in joining the Police Accountability Commission (PAC) is to more directly contribute their lived experience and knowledge of these issues to the ongoing conversations surrounding the deeply rooted systemic problems within both Law Enforcement and by extension the Criminal Justice System. Additionally they hope to help engage at least in some way with the development of the infrastructure needed to start applying these larger nuanced conversations at a practical level.
Tim Pitts
Bio: Tim (he /him) moved to Portland in 2002, and lives near Lloyd Center in Northeast Portland. He works in real estate, managing several rental properties and running a small real estate agency. Working in real estate has led to a deep connection with the community and makes him keenly aware of the importance of public safety in a thriving city. He frequently walks and bikes around town and values feeling safe when wandering around Portland.
Statement of Interest: Tim is excited by the work of the Commission because he sees a clear need for more accountability from our police. There is clearly a broken bond between the police and the community, and increased accountability will help to repair this connection. The community deserves to be protected from crime by professionals who follow the law and are held accountable when they do something wrong.
Cherie Smith
Bio: Cherie Smith is a 2nd generation Oregonian and proud resident of SE Portland. As a passionate gardener, animal & nature lover, artist and world traveler, Cherie sees the world through the eyes of a humanitarian and considers herself a way-shower for peace, prosperity, and a better way of life for all. The greatest gift we can give our children is their future. After that, we leave them fertile fields, knowledge to harvest them and a wealth of our understanding about the planet we live on. That includes a love of all mankind and an innate ability to cultivate peace, understanding and abundance for all to partake in.
Statement of Interest: Cherie seeks to bring her compassion, critical thinking, and experience as a mother of BIPOC children to serve on the PAC for the good of all the residents of the city of Portland and Oregon. As a business owner and concerned resident, she sees that there is much opportunity here to bring light and change to a city and even be a model for the nation. Cherie is honored to serve her community and create police accountability and oversight.
Angie Tomlinson
Bio: I am Angie Tomlinson, with the maiden name of Angie Guerra. I am half Latina, but due to extreme police violence that happened almost 50 years ago, I never got to connect with the Mexican side of my family. I want to do this work so that the situation that I have gone through will not perpetuate. I know this will be hard work for change, but it is needed, and I am ready for the work.
Statement of Interest: I am very much looking forward to starting the work on this committee. I know that the reasons that many of us were chosen for the committee were probably horrific situations, so it’s hard for me to say that I am excited or proud to be on the committee. But, I very much want to be part of changing things for the better. The Portland Community can do this, and I want to be part of that change.
Obinna Ugwu-Oju
Bio: Obi is a relatively new transplant to Portland. He moved here in 2019 from Virginia, after finishing orthopaedic surgery residency and hand surgery fellowship in Virginia. He lives with his wife and young daughter in the Rose City Park neighborhood in Northeast Portland. Obi hopes to bring his community-oriented and medical background to bring a diverse perspective to policing in Portland as we get through these challenging times together
Statement of Interest: Obi's mission is to bring our neighborhoods' and medical community's voices together to improve both our relationships with and confidence in policing in Portland.
Connie Wohn
Bio: Connie Wohn is known for dreaming up truly unique brand activations, brand positioning and brand elevating events. As a 15-year event producer, Connie thrives when bringing people together to experience things for the greater good. A strong focus on communications & team building with an emphasis on efficiency, effectiveness & creativity. An active member of Portland’s creative community fabric she thrives at creating spaces and experiences for the community to gather around with attention to detail and a strong hospitality focus. Calling in the community to support & get behind the brands and embrace them fully is a special skill. This comes from the right understanding of the market and the brand's contribution to the landscape. All things culture, fun and current are her specialties. With an emphasis on sustainability & equity to all events, she is leading the discussion for the industry. Now rounding out the tool box by adding the skill of becoming an Official COVID 19 Compliance Director to keep all productions safe and compliant. Any current film, video, music production, photography production or small event should have the oversight and support of a COVID 19 Compliance officer. Keeping all things experience at the forefront of safety and innovation.
Statement of Interest: I am thrilled to be able to help provide a diverse and wide perspective to the Rethink Police Accountability Commission. This is an important voice to provide for our community and to the future of humanity and Portland going forward.
Council Appointments of Commission Members
City Council Resolution 37547 (07-28-2021)
Resolution 37547, adopted by the City Council on July 28, 2021 after the adoption of Resolution 37548, appointed 20 members of the community to the Police Accountability Commission. Exhibits to this Resolution included the bios and short statements of intent of the 20 appointees.
City Council Resolution 37569 (03-30-2022)
Resolution 37569, adopted by the City Council on March 30, 2022, appointed a replacement member to the Police Accountability Commission and clarified previous resolutions' intended start date for the Commission's work. Exhibits to this Resolution included the bio and short statement of intent of the new appointee.
City Council Resolution 37573 (05-04-2022)
Resolution 37573, adopted by the City Council on May 4, 2022, appointed a replacement member to the Police Accountability Commission. Exhibits to this Resolution included the bio and short statement of intent of the new appointee.
City Council Resolution 37584 (08-03-2022)
Resolution 37584, adopted by the City Council on August 3, 2022, appointed a replacement member to the Police Accountability Commission. Exhibits to this Resolution included the bio and short statement of intent of the new appointee.
City Council Resolution 37586 (08-31-2022)
Resolution 37586, adopted by the City Council on August 31, 2022, appointed two new members to the Police Accountability Commission. Exhibits to this Resolution included the bio and short statement of intent from both appointees.
City Council Resolution 37605 (12-14-2022)
Resolution 37605, adopted by the City Council on December 14, 2022, appointed a member to the Police Accountability Commission. Exhibits to this Resolution included the bio and short statement of interest of the new appointee.
City Council Resolution 37606 (01-18-2023)
Resolution 37606, adopted by the City Council on January 18, 2023, appointed a member to the Police Accountability Commission. Exhibits to this Resolution included the bio and short statement of interest of the new appointee.
City Council Resolution 37613 (03-15-2023)
Resolution 37613, adopted by the City Council on March 15, 2023, appointed two members to the Police Accountability Commission, and included an exhibit with the bio and short statement of interest from the new appointees.
City Council Resolution 37622 (06-28-2023)
Resolution 37622, adopted by the City council on June 28, 2023, appointed a member to the Police Accountability Commission. This resolution included an exhibit with the bio and short statement of interest of the new appointee.