Skip to main content
Portland City Council will hold a lengthy work session on Tues. Feb. 15 beginning at 9:30 am on the question of whether to rejoin the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Presenting their case at that meeting, will be interim U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton (above), who wants the city in the JTTF; and ACLU director Dave Dave Fidanque along with his allies opposed to the city rejoining the JTTF. The council will not take public testimony at that meeting but one interested party has weighed in with them in advance.
Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon wrote [PDF] to all five commissioners last week, urging Portland to join up.
"As a neighbor, and a Sheriff who has committed investigators to the JTTF for many years, I thought it might be helpful to share some insight from our experiences by addressing a few of the criticisms raised by opponents of the JTTF," Gordon wrote in a Feb 2. letter.
After addressing those specific concerns, most having to do with whether the JTTF endangers Oregonians' civil rights, Gordon concluded with this observation: "We are involved in other regional task forces comprised of members from PPB, Federal and other local agencies on priorities from drug trafficking to sex trafficking. It makes no sense that with the most potent threat to public safety—terrorism—we insist on working in silos."
Here's a release from City Hall on next week's hearing:
WWeek 2015