FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland Committee for Community-Engaged Policing (PCCEP) Appointees Selected
The decision comes after receiving more than 100 applications from qualified candidates.
Portland, OR–The Office of the Mayor is formally announcing the appointees of the 13-member PCCEP today. The decision comes after receiving more than 100 applications from qualified candidates and conducting interviews with 17 adult candidates and 6 high school-aged youth, based on recommendations from the Selection Advisory Committee (SAC). Following an extensive outreach effort with a focus on removing barriers to participation for historically marginalized communities, the Mayor has appointed 13 Portlanders to serve on the PCCEP, and six Portlanders to serve as alternates.
PCCEP members:
Yolanda Clay
Lakayana Drury
Lakeesha Dumas
Robert Dye
Sharon Gary-Smith
Aden Hassan
Andrew Kalloch
Michelle Lang
Patrick Nolen
Sam Sachs
Zachary Thornhill
Kalonji Williams (youth member)
Sebastian Chevalier (youth member)
The Mayor’s Office is proud to spearhead the PCCEP to develop recommendations for how the Portland Police Bureau can better engage the community in its development of policies that directly affect Portlanders, with a specific focus on racial justice, constitutional policing and mental health issues. The PCCEP selection process was facilitated by Brandon Lee and Hun Taing of Training for Transformation and Brad Taylor of The Brad Taylor Group.
“I am completely confident in the abilities, perspectives and experiences of every single PCCEP appointee to take on this challenging and meaningful work,” says Mayor Wheeler. “This is about more than the Settlement Agreement: The PCCEP represents a unique and important opportunity to improve the community’s relationship with the Portland Police Bureau.”
After working together to draft interview questions, the Selection Advisory Committee (SAC), whose five-person membership was developed through direct appointments made by the City Commissioners and the Mayor. The SAC assessed the applications of over 100 candidates in an effort to determine who would be interviewed as the committee worked towards recommending members for appointment to the Portland Committee on Community Engaged Policing (PCCEP). Discussions around who to interview and initial recommendations to the Mayor were the sole responsibility of the SAC. The Mayor’s Office was not involved in any part of the SAC’s selection process. After consulting with Commissioner offices, Mayor Wheeler then interviewed the candidates before making the final selection.
Going forward, the community will have continued engagement with the PCCEP, whose members will gather input from the community through culturally responsive and relevant strategies.
Outside of the monthly meetings, PCCEP members, with the support of PCCEP Facilitators, will engage community members in the places where community members already are active and in ways that accommodate various communication styles and comfort levels. PCCEP members will also be available for impacted/concerned community members by establishing times where they will be out in the community and available to engage, hear and document the stories, concerns, questions, fears, experiences, ideas and wisdoms of the community.
There will also be quarterly gatherings where the PCCEP will let the public know they have heard and how the public’s words are impacting the work of the PCCEP, including recommendations to PPB and the City.
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