Review of Police Bureau’s Racial and Political Bias Nears Completion

This inquiry is separate from the outside investigation into the police leak itself, which is also being conducted by the OIR Group.

Portland police officers. (Brian Burk)
By Tess Riski

Portlanders can expect the city to release an outside contractor’s review of possible political and racial bias at the Portland Police Bureau by the end of next month, according to the City Attorney’s Office.

In April, a few weeks after police leaked an incorrect allegation that Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty was involved in a hit-and-run crash on March 3, the city signed a $150,000 contract with the California-based OIR Group to conduct an outside review of the community’s perception of racial and political bias and resistance to change within the bureau.

The contract also says the review will probe “the root causes” of those three matters. It stipulates that the OIR Group will deliver a final report to the City Attorney’s Office “no later than Dec. 31, 2021.”

City Attorney Robert Taylor says the report is near completion. “The cultural review by OIR Group remains underway, and we expect it to be completed and released by the end of January,” Taylor tells WW.

This inquiry is separate from the outside investigation into the police leak itself, which is also being conducted by the OIR Group. That investigation is not expected to be complete until the Police Bureau concludes its own internal affairs investigation into the matter.

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