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Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum today removed Darin Tweedt, the chief of the Oregon Department of Justice's criminal division, from his post.
"After more than three years in office, the Attorney General felt like this was the right time to make a leadership change within her Criminal Justice Division," Rosenblum's spokeswoman Kristina Edmunson tells WW in a statement.
Tweedt's group has been under scrutiny in recent months because one of the investigators in the criminal justice section used a computer surveillance tool called "Digital Stakeout" to monitor people using hashtags like "Black Lives Matter" and "Fuck the Police" on Twitter.
Among the people the agent apparently monitored for using the hashtag: one of the agency's lawyers, civil-rights division chief Erious Johnson.
When Rosenblum did not take immediate action in October, the Urban League of Portland, whose executive director Nkenge Harmon Johnson is married to Erious Johnson, demanded an investigation.
In November, Rosenblum hired a lawyer from the Stoel Rives firm to find out what happened. That investigation is ongoing. (Disclosure: Rosenblum is married to Richard Meeker, the co-owner of WW's parent company.)
Rosenblum's top deputy, Fred Boss, announced to all DOJ staff via email this afternoon that Rosenblum was removing Tweedt from his position and reassigning him within the agency.
Here's that announcement:
Willamette Week
