Step Out of the Car, Sir
Portland’s Police Bureau, which isn’t exactly known for being a bastion of goodness and good public relations, is tackling the issue of racial profiling with a new plan. Developed by variety of groups including police officers and members of the community, the six-point plan aims to eliminate racial profiling within the department. The Tribune has an article outlining all 6 points of the plan, but a couple points stood out in my mind. One is a community education effort to teach citizens proper behavior during a traffic stop. Apparently “don’t act stupid” is too vague.
One recommendation, and the one likely to involve the most discussion and friction amongst groups, is a proposal to collect traffic stop data (by race) linked to individual officers. Collecting such data would make it apparent when a particular officer was engaging members of particular races at a rate disproportional to the rest of the department. Chief Sizer has stated she’s not thrilled with the idea, and the police officer’s union is dead-set against it.
Of course. Where else would personal accountability be such a foreign, evil concept but in a government job that’s unionized? I really think a bit of accountability might do the Portland Police Bureau some good.
update 12:44: Apparently the Mercury covered this a couple weeks ago, and their article seems to have more details to the plan and the tension the singling out of racist officers is causing.
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No doubt. I wish I had a job where I could fuck up at will including shooting people on the job ( I don’t actually want to shoot anyone) and then balk at any sort of accountability or profiling of my job performance. Apparently they are the laws they enforce. It really makes people genuinely hate the police.
And I meant- Apparently they are ABOVE the laws they enforce.