Commissioner Dan Saltzman addresses the Campbell shooting and his resolve to bring needed change to the Police Bureau in a guest column in today's Oregonian.
Police Bureau
February 21, 2010
February 20, 2010
Randy's Weekend Rewind: Aftermath of Campbell shooting dominates the week of February 14-19, 2010
Police Bureau repeats fatal mistake in shooting death of Aaron Campbell After reading a thoughtful letter written by the Grand Jury reviewing the case, Commissioner Leonard noticed that the circumstances surrounding Aaron Campbell's death were eerily similar to a case from four years prior, when Raymond Gwerder was killed by a police sniper. On February 16, Randy posted this essay outlining the similarities between the two tragedies, and his view that the Police Bureau leadership should be held accountable for failing to correct the glaring communication problems that resulted in two needless deaths.
Gwerder, like Campbell, was killed by a police sniper who was unaware of the progress a police negotiator was making toward a peaceful outcome. The City settled a lawsuit with the Gwerder family for a record $500,000 in 2007. At that time, Commissioner Leonard met with Chief Sizer to ask what was being done to ensure that communication on scene was improved so nothing of the sort would happen again. Chief Sizer assured both Commissioner Leonard and the public that the Police Bureau would take action to address the communication failures. Just a few years later, the same communication failures continued despite Chief Sizer's public assurances, and Aaron Campbell lost his life as a result.
When she should have acknowledged and began remedying the communication failures, Chief Rosie Sizer chose another path. First she suggested that more mental health experts on the scene would solve the problem, and then she used the opportunity to campaign for a $100 million regional training facility. Neither of these have any relationship to the cause of the two tragedies, and represent the Police Bureau Administration's continued focus on deflecting criticism in crisis, rather than accepting responsibility and taking action to resolve the root cause of the tragic incidents.
Steve Duin of the Oregonian makes a similar point in his recent column.
Read Commissioner Leonard's essay on the circumstances, as well as an unedited TV interview with Commissioner Leonard on KGW, and other media coverage here.
Grand Jury releases transcripts from Campbell case
Transcripts of the Campbell shooting were released this week detailing the tragedy and the lack of communication among police officers on scene. Read more coverage of the Campbell case here.
Fire Bureau moves ahead with plans to purchase second rapid response rescue boat
A tragic drowning death of a young boy in the Willamette last May highlighted the need for a second rapid response rescue boat to be stationed in the Willamette River. Currently, the closest rapid response boat is on the Columbia River, with response times to areas like the Sellwood bridge coming in at over 40 minutes. The new craft, which will be housed at Station 21 at the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge, will give the Fire Bureau the ability to respond to an area like Sellwood in less than 6 minutes. Read more about the craft, and the Fire Bureau's plan to staff the boat, here.
Water Bureau solar array sets single day, and weekly record for electricity generated
On Thursday, February 18, the Spring weather helped the Water Bureau's solar array generate the most power it has ever generated in a single day -- 1,166 Kilowatt hours of electricity! Just when we were busy being excited about that, the array followed that up with another record breaking day on Friday the 19th with 1,168 Kilowatt hours of power produced. These two occurrences mark the first time the array has broken the 1,000 kilowatt hour mark for a single day, and 1,168 Kilowatt hours is enough juice to power 37 houses for an entire day!
For the week of February 13-19, the array generated a weekly record of 5,156 kilowatt hours of electricity. That is a dramatic increase from the 3,075 Kilowatt hours generated last week. 5,156 Kilowatt hours is enough to power:
-->1 average household for 5 1/2 months OR
-->5 1/2 average households for 1 month OR
-->22 households for 1 week OR
-->165 households for 1 day!
Some new, some old, none forgotten
On President's Day, Commissioner Leonard and his staff took the opportunity to reflect on their favorite presidents.
Posted by: TK
February 18, 2010
KGW VIDEO: Randy discusses Campbell shooting in unedited interview
February 16, 2010
Police Bureau repeats fatal mistake in Campbell shooting
Failure to address glaring communication problems from Gwerder shooting results in second tragedy
In reading the letter from the Grand Jury that heard testimony on the shooting death of Aaron Campbell by a Portland Police Officer, I was struck by the measured and thoughtful, yet direct tone of the Grand Jury’s message. It was clear to me that the letter did not lay the cause of Mr. Campbell’s death on his behavior, but rather on a lack of basic communication between the officers on the scene and the Portland Police Bureau negotiator who was pursuing a peaceful surrender with a distraught Aaron Campbell.
According to the Grand Jury’s letter, the incident commander who was overseeing the negotiations with Mr. Campbell did not make the officer who fired the fatal shot aware “…that Mr. Campbell had specifically and emphatically said that he was not going to hurt himself or anyone else.”
Also according to the Grand Jury’s letter, one police officer released his K-9 dog in an effort to bring Mr. Campbell down to the ground moments before the fatal shot was fired. The officer that shot Mr. Campbell stated that he was not only unaware of the status of the negotiations, he also was unaware that the K-9 dog had been released to take down Mr. Campbell.
The Grand Jury summarized its concerns regarding Mr. Campbell’s death:
“We feel that his death resulted from flawed police policies, incomplete or inappropriate training, incomplete communication, and other issues with the police effort.”
The Grand Jury concluded its concerns by saying:
“We feel strongly that something must be done to correct this, and the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) should be held responsible for this tragedy.”
Sadly, if the past is any predictor of the future the Grand Jury’s wish to hold the PPB responsible for the death of Aaron Campbell is not going to happen.
It shouldn’t be that way this time. This is the second recent shooting death where the PPB has shot and killed a distraught citizen as a direct result of a lack of communication between the shooting officer and the Police negotiator.
On November 4, 2005, Raymond Gwerder was threatening to shoot himself inside of an apartment. While he was on the phone with a police negotiator and cooperating with directions to surrender, he was shot and killed by a Police sniper. The official reports in this case paint a picture of a complete absence of communication between the incident commander, the police negotiator, and the officer that shot Mr. Gwerder.
In 2007, the City agreed to a record $500,000 settlement for the shooting death of Raymond Dwayne Gwerder.
In November 2007, I met with the SERT commander regarding the shooting of Mr. Gwerder. Shortly thereafter I met with Chief Sizer. At that meeting Chief Sizer assured me that the Police Bureau would adopt procedures that would prevent a repeat failure in communication between officers in positions to shoot a suspect and negotiators working to achieve a peaceful surrender.
If the Grand Jury was upset about the Aaron Campbell case, what would their reaction have been had they known about the nearly identical circumstances in the shooting death of Raymond Gwerder just four years before?
Despite the clear description of the problem from the Grand Jury, Police Chief Sizer has responded to the Campbell incident by assuring the public that she now will have mental health experts respond to similar emergency incidents to advise the police during an emergency incident.
That sounds good, but the lack of mental health expertise during the Campbell or Gwerder incident did not contribute to the death of either of those men. A platoon of mental health experts will do nothing to prevent similar tragic deaths if the Police Bureau does not address its failure to communicate in life or death incidents like these.
Gwerder died in 2005 because of a lack of communication between police at the scene. It is indefensible that nothing was done by the Police Chief then to prevent a similar incident. After Campbell became the second victim of this communication failure, it is unconscionable that the Police Chief would suggest that the problem is a lack of mental health expertise. Instead, she should be acknowledging—and remedying—the fatal lack of communication between police officers during emergency incidents.
The Grand Jury made a clear and unprecedented declaration that “…the Portland Police Bureau should be held responsible for this tragedy.” Although I have my own opinion, it is up to Mayor Adams and Commissioner Saltzman to decide how to respond. In my view, they can either repeat history by perpetuating an unhealthy deference to the Police Chief, or they can use this moment to take meaningful action and create a real turning point in the history and accountability of the Police Bureau.
February 11, 2010
February 08, 2010
Update on Commissioner Leonard's efforts to strengthen Police oversight
We are pleased to say that we are progressing very swiftly, working with Auditor Griffin-Valade and other Council members to craft the changes. We are optimistic that we will complete the construct of the changes this week for the City Attorney's office to draft into City Code. Commissioner Leonard intends to bring the changes to the City Council for approval as soon as the City Attorney's office can complete their work.
For more information, including a number of examples that illustrate the need for greater Police oversight, please click here.