News City Commissioner Dan Saltzman just issued a letter to the grand jurors who yesterday strongly criticized the Portland Police Bureau's actions leading up to the fatal shooting Jan. 29 shooting of Aaron Campbell. Saltzman's letter (PDF) tells grand jurors he shares their concerns and vows "immediate action," including a full review of the bureau's training on handling people in crisis "utilizing ...   More

News Only Mayor Sam Adams knows why he made the unusual decision to assign the Police Bureau to Commissioner Dan Saltzman rather than over-seeing it himself as nearly every mayor in modern Portland history has done. There's at least one logical reason why Adams might not have wanted the bureau after he won election in 2008. As proven by the furor over the fatal Jan. 29 shooting of Aaron Campbell, ...   More

News After more than a week spent standing back while City Commissioner Dan Saltzman and, more recently, City Commissioner Randy Leonard addressed last month's fatal Portland police shooting of Aaron Campbell, Mayor Sam Adams stepped forcefully into the debate this morning. Hours before Rev. Jesse Jackson brings the national spotlight to Portland tonight by speaking at a rally, Adams made an unannounced ...   More

News The African-American Alliance, Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman and Mayor Sam Adams this morning announced their joint request to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for an independent federal civil rights investigation of the Jan. 29 shooting death of Aaron Campbell. That investigation, which comes via the written request [PDF] of U.S. Sen Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland), ...   More

News Police Chief Rosie Sizer just got done with a news conference to take questions about yesterday's fatal shooting at Hoyt Arboretum of a man by a police officer - the second fatal shooting this year by a Portland cop. Sizer left a lot of questions unanswered in this most recent shooting, including the man's identity, how close the officer was to the man when he shot him or how many shots were ...   More

News With a 5-0 vote, City Council tonight approved the new ordinance from Commissioner Randy Leonard and Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade on strengthening police oversight. That decision followed more than three hours of impassioned public testimony and came after Police Chief Rosie Sizer voiced some objections to details of the measure, including its call to make the city auditor (rather than ...   More

News Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer has reversed course and says the police bureau will accept a citizen panel's findings that the officer who fatally shot Aaron Campbell wrongly fired his Taser in an earlier case. In a brief letter (PDF) sent Tuesday to the city's Independent Police Review Division, Sizer says the bureau accepts three findings by the citizen committee. Among the three findings ...   More

News The Albina Ministerial Alliance held a news conference this morning in Northeast Portland's Allen Temple C.M.E. Church to catch up on a busy week of big news dealing with police. The AMA's Coalition for Peace and Justice was formed to push for police reform after the Jan. 29 shooting of Aaron Campbell. In the last week, much has occurred to draw the AMA's attention. First came the announcement ...   More

News Cops say Mike Reese has wasted no time as Portland's new top cop before purging the chief's office of several high-profile figures. Three sources close to the police bureau tell WW that Leslie Stevens and John Eckhart have been told they'll no longer be employed on the 15th floor of the Justice Center. Two of those sources say Brian Martinek also is out. Stevens is head of the bureau's Office ...   More

News Before nightfall of his first day as Portland's new self-appointed police commissioner, Mayor Sam Adams got his first challenge in the form of a fatal police shooting — the third in less than five months this year. Many details about this shooting will emerge in the coming days as they did with the deaths of Aaron Campbell and Jackie Collins. New police chief Mike Reese —appointed ...   More