July 04, 2003
Police Records On Shootings And Deaths Missing, As Citizens Committee Shut Out
Once again, The Oregonian and the Portland Tribune cover the exact same story on the same day -- convenient since article managed to pick up on some different pieces of relevant information. At issue is the absence of files on police shootings and in-custody deaths from 1997 to 2000.
First, here's how the Tribune story opens:
The Portland Police Bureau failed to keep all records relating to police shootings and in-custody deaths between 1997 and 2000, contrary to Oregon law.
Bureau officials say they are now complying with the law. However, many records are missing from 34 old cases being studied by a California consultant on behalf of the Independent Police Review Division of the city auditor's office.
The study was commissioned because police shootings and in-custody deaths are frequently controversial, as the recent Kendra James killing shows.
This lapse surfaced into the public eye, according to both stories, when email between Richard Rosenthal, director of the Independent Police Review, and Oren Root, deputy director of the Police Assessment Resource Center, was mistakenly sent to members of the Citizen Review Committee.
The Tribune gets right to what might become one of the more controversial spects to how this played out (something The Oregonian only gets to further into its piece):
City Auditor Gary Blackmer and IPR Director Richard Rosenthal learned about the missing records a couple of months ago. Instead of discussing the potential problem with the nine members of the Citizen Review Committee, however, Blackmer and Rosenthal tried to prevent them from learning about it, according to sources close to the situation.
Among other things, after information about the problem was accidentally mailed to the members, Rosenthal personally drove to their homes to pick it up.
...
After Rosenthal realized what had happened, he sent the members an e-mail telling them not to read the material. Blackmer and Rosenthal then decided that Rosenthal should retrieve the errant correspondence.
...
When Rosenthal went to retrieve the correspondence on May 15, sources said, he arrived unannounced, late at night in some instances. In one case, Rosenthal reportedly called the cell phone of a committee member who was on a date. He is said to have asked the member to break off the date and return home, but the member politely declined.
And here's how The Oregonian story covers that issue:
"Remember it is unlawful to provide a copy of this document to anyone," Rosenthal wrote in his e-mail to committee members. "It would also be imprudent and inappropriate to talk to anyone about the contents of this e-mail. To be on the safe side, I am requesting that you not read the contents of the e-mail as you are unintended recipients and instead simply return it to this office as soon as possible."
Rosenthal also left phone messages with several of the committee members and visited several of their homes that night -- some as late as 11:30 p.m. -- to personally retrieve the papers, members said.
And while the Tribune reports that "Rosenthal would not comment about his attempts to retrieve the correspondence," The Oregonian snagged this:
On Thursday, Rosenthal declined to discuss the e-mails or his efforts to retrieve them. But he said he was disappointed that the information got out to the news media. Rosenthal said at Wednesday's committee meeting that he might restrict information he makes available to the committee in the future because of what he termed a leak.
Then there's the following slight discrepancy as to when the Bureau's policies were changed to more proeprly reflect state law. This from the Tribune:
Sgt. Brian Schmautz, a Portland police spokesman, said there was no consistent bureau policy on retaining such records until Mark Kroeker was appointed police chief in 2000. Shortly after taking over the helm of the bureau, Schmautz said, Kroeker initiated new policies requiring that all records be retained in criminal investigations.
But this from The Oregonian:
The Police Bureau acknowledged that, until February 2002, it had no standard procedure directing detectives what to place in the bureau's investigative files once cases were considered closed with no criminal case or civil suit pending, said Sgt. Brian Schmautz, police spokesman.
...
In the winter of 2002, Ferraris issued new standard operating procedures for police detectives, directing them to keep and file anything that is part of their work product -- including their notebooks, notes, tapes or photographs.
Both articles also touch on tensions between the City and the Citizen Review Committee. From the Tribune:
Relations between many of the committee members and Blackmer and Rosenthal have been tense for months. The members complain that Blackmer and Rosenthal do not take them seriously and are micromanaging their reviews of police Internal Affairs investigations.
And from The Oregonian:
Committee co-chairwoman Denise Stone said she is disappointed that Rosenthal concluded it was a committee member who made the inadvertent e-mail mailings public.
"I hope that what decisions are made as to what the CRC's access is going to be to information is going to be enough to allow us to do a thorough job," Stone said.
T.J. Browning, another committee member, said she was also disturbed by Rosenthal's message to the committee.
"The fact of the matter is his office leaked this information," Browning said. "All this would be a moot point if citizens had the right to review police shootings and deaths in custody."
It should go without saying that the best thing for the discerning reader to do is read through both articles in full for themselves.