The City and the US Department of Justice have reached agreement on eight remedies to address the City’s response to the social justice protests of 2020. The further police reforms include body-worn cameras for officers, an outside critical assessment of the Portland Police Bureau’s 2020 protest response, the hiring of a civilian academic director for police training, and further investigation of supervisory PPB members (lieutenants and above) who may have trained or directed officers to use force contrary to policy. Those remedies, viewable here:
are proposed to become an amendment to the existing settlement agreement between the City and the DOJ.
Before approving the new remedies, U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon will hold a fairness hearing on Friday, April 29 at 9 a.m. in his courtroom on the 15th floor of the U.S. Courthouse, at 1000 S.W. Third Ave. The hearing is designed to provide an opportunity for the parties and interested community members to testify as to whether the proposed remedies are fair, adequate and reasonable.
The Court is allowing both in-person and remote participation in the hearing:
- If you wish to provide written comments in advance, those are due by Tuesday, April 26, and may be emailed to Mary Austad, the judge’s courtroom deputy, at mary_austad@ord.uscourts.gov.
- If you wish to provide testimony in person, you may sign up at the courtroom on the day of the hearing.
- If you are unable to attend in person, you may provide testimony by video conference. If you wish to do so, you must contact Mary Austad no later than Friday, April 22.
- To listen to the proceedings via phone (there is no video livestream), observers can call 1-888-684-8852, access code 8190761.