Portland Mayoral Candidates Differ on 48-Hour Rule for Cops

Ted Wheeler wants to end it. Jules Bailey doesn't.

Portland mayoral candidates Ted Wheeler and Jules Bailey hit a lot of the same notes at campaign forums. On issues of homelessness, sustainability and economic development, they sometimes sound like allies not opponents.

But on one issue, the two frontrunners diverge.

Wheeler, Oregon's treasurer, says he wants to abolish a provision in the Portland Police Association's contract that gives officers who use deadly force 48 hours before they have to answer questions.

Bailey, endorsed by the Portland Police union this week, says he doesn't.

At a forum Thursday on social justice, Bailey danced around the subject before moderator Jo Ann Hardesty, a former state legislator, tried to force him to give a yes or no answer on whether he supported eliminating the provision. Wheeler and Sarah Iannarone, a third mayoral candidate who also attended the forum, both said they wanted to strip the rule from the police contract, which is up for negotiation in 2017.

"What I heard from Ted Wheeler and Sarah Iannarone was unequivocal support for eliminating the rule," Jason Renaud, another moderator at the forum, tells WW. "What I heard from Jules was equivocation."

Watch the video:

The 48-hour rule has been a focus of Portland activists for years, as WW wrote in a January cover story about the 2016 election. Portland is unique in offering police this protection; other police departments have eliminated it already.

Meanwhile, activists say the 48-hour period gives police officers the opportunity to collude with others to protect themselves from prosecution. (Police officers say the use of deadly force can traumatize officers and they need time to recover before answering questions.)

Rev. LeRoy Haynes, a leader of the Albina Ministerial Alliance, says it wasn't clear to him whether Bailey, a Multnomah County commissioner, misunderstood Portland's agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on the topic of the 48-hour rule (see video)—or truly supported keeping it.

Earlier in the week, however, WW asked Wheeler and Bailey whether they would ditch the 48-hour rule.

"I would work hard to eliminate the 48-hour time period," Wheeler said.

Bailey's answer to the yes or no question, emailed through a spokeswoman, was far more convoluted.

"Portland police officers are held to an incredibly high standard, especially during deadly force investigations," Bailey wrote. "We have robust involvement by outside agencies, such as the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, and robust community dialogue about these events. The Police Bureau also uses communication restriction orders, which prohibit officers from communicating with one another during the investigation. I will strive to bring Portland residents the highest degree of accuracy and accountability when it comes to these investigations. Both the community and the officers deserve full and fair investigations."

Renaud, one of the moderators at Thursday's forum, says he was disappointed in Bailey's response at the Thursday forum. Renaud says a mayor's ability to change police culture starts with the police union contract.

"If a candidate for mayor isn't willing to roll up his sleeves and get in there," Renaud tells WW, "they're not suitable for running a major American city."

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