Six years ago, Portland's federally-required police oversight committee was in disarray. Now, it appears its replacement has reached a similar point. Dubbed the Community Oversight Advisory Board (COAB), the 15-person group of volunteers was tasked with overseeing the city's 2014 settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice, a decision meant to repair Portland Police Bureau's damning record of using force against people with mental illnesses. Part of the agreement required a level of community.
Portland's newest police oversight board is in session. Last night marked the inaugural meeting of the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing (PCCEP), a 13-member group tasked with reviewing the federally mandated reforms the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) must make to improve its interactions with people in mental health crises. "I am very clear that this is the huge night," said PPB Chief Danielle Outlaw, addressing the commission and the 60 community members who came out.
The community volunteer board overseeing changes to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) will go on a 60-day "recess," according to an a agreement recently ratified by the city and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). The hiatus is "to evaluate how to create a better process that fulfills the intention of community involvement in police accountability," the Mayor's office said today. The Community Oversight Advisory Board (COAB) was created following the DOJ's 2014 settlement.
The last time Portland officials created a committee to improve police interactions with the public, it blew up it their face. It wasn't entirely the city's fault. Portland was ordered to assemble a Community Oversight Advisory Board, or COAB, by a federal judge as part of the city's 2014 settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ). That agreement, meant to improve the way Portland police use force against mentally ill people, calls for.