About the Coalition of Advisory Groups

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ABOUT US:

The mission of the CAG is to enhance collaboration and support among duly recognized police advisory groups in the City of Portland, enhancing their ability to act as an avenue for collective community input to the Portland Police Bureau and City Leadership regarding policies, directives, and programs involving public safety. 

The CAG has no budgetary or policy authority.

The advisory groups reflect a commitment by the PPB to establish and maintain communication with various communities in Portland to receive their input regarding bureau policies, directives, and practices, as part of an effort to eliminate disparities for communities experiencing inequities in policing and thereby build public trust, pursue public safety reform, and increase police legitimacy.

Participating Groups:

The CAG currently consists of seven advisory groups. Five of them are Community and Culturally Specific Advisory Councils (CCSACs). They are, alphabetically:

• African American Advisory Council
• Asian and Pacific Islander American Advisory Council
• Latino Advisory Council
• Muslim Advisory Council
• Slavic Advisory Council.

Each of these five councils is an independent, self-organized body whose meetings are not open to the public if the council so chooses.

The other two advisory councils are Portland Police Bureau Operational Advisory Councils. They are:

• Behavioral Health Unit Advisory Committee and
• Training Advisory Council

These councils are structured by the PPB and work closely with a Bureau division (the Behavioral Health Unit and the Training Division, respectively). These councils do hold public meetings and their minutes are available online.

The CAG is, like the CCSACs, a self-organized group that is not accountable to any government agency and has no formal reporting requirements. In order to allow meeting participants to be transparent with their views and more generally provide a safe environment for mutual understanding, candid conversations and trust, the CAG meetings may be attended by outside observers by invitation only.

Information on this Website:

The CAG maintains this website where formal statements by the CAG and summaries of decisions and issues discussed at monthly CAG will be posted.

We observe these rules for the meeting summaries that appear on the website: 

• No names of people who speak at the meeting or their advisory council membership status appear. Mention can be made to governmental bureaus or departments or council names, if such mention has a clarifying purpose.
• Following each CAG monthly meeting and approval of the minutes by participating councils, the summary will be posted on the CAG website.