West Linn cop's blackface clown painting removed from school February 10 2021 The West Linn Police Department issued a statement that the painting has been removed; school district says it should never have been displayed. A post in the West Linn Open Forum community Facebook group has sparked the removal of a velvet painting depicting a clown in blackface from a school resource officer's office wall at West Linn High School. The officer, Jeff Halverson, said the painting was used as an icebreaker to make students more comfortable talking to a police officer. "It's not something the kids are used to seeing — a painting of a clown on a police officer's wall … Same thing with staff. Like, 'Why do you have a velvet painting of a clown?' Why wouldn't I, you know?" he said. "It was a good icebreaker to make people more comfortable. They were talking to a police officer; some of them hadn't done that before."