September 02, 2003
(Updated) Mayor Names Derrick Foxworth As New Chief Of Portland Police Bureau
Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.
As expected, Mayor Vera Katz this morning (in front of a standing-room-only Rose Room at City Hall) named Acting Chief Derrick Foxowrth to replace the outgoing Mark Kroeker as the new Chief of the Portland Police Bureau.
Katz referred to her July announcement not to seek a new term as Mayor and three goals she had set for the remainder of her term regarding the Portland Police Bureau: recommit the Bureau to community policing; review various internal Bureau policies and make changes where appropriate; and (most importantly, she said) rebuild the trust between the Bureau, its officers, and the community.
Drawing attention to the polarization between the Bureau and the community, Katz said it is the Mayor's job to "focus the discussion on what we can do and how to do it."
Marking Foxworth as "respected and highly regarded" by both the community and the police organization, she said that she feels "very strongly" that he is the right person for the job at this time in the history of the Portland Police Bureau.
Foxworth, saying that it is "an honor" to have this opportunity, explained that it's important for him not to only be the Chief of the Portland Police Bureau, but also to be the "Chief of Portland for the citizens of Portland."
"Community policing," Foxworth stressed, "is not a public relations campaign, not one program, and not one person." Rather, he said, it must involve the officers walking the streets in Portland neighborhoods as well as all key stakeholders in the community. It is, he added, a "shared responsibility" to make Portland safer and more livable.
Foxworth outlines his own top three goals: Reduce crime and fear of crime; improve the quality of life and livability; and improve the relationship between the police and the community.
While clearly understanding that changes are needed at the Portland Police Bureau, he explained his view that first "you must know what needs to change." In addition to referencing the recent outside report on police-involved shootings, he also stated that he would be "meeting and listening to those who are stakeholders both within the organization and in the community" to help determine what needs to change.
"Change," he cautioned, "does not happen overnight."
He urged the citizens of Portland (sidenote: I do wish officials would stop using the narrow term "citizens" for these sorts of things) to "support us, not hinder us" and asked that criticisms of the Bureau be done constructively rather than with "hatred and malice."
Asked why he felt the need specifically to point out that community policing is not merely public relations, and if doing so meant that community policing has been off-track, Foxworth said only, "It is important to clearly define what community policing is and what it is not."
Referring again to the independent report, Foxworth said that the "senior leadership" and others would be meeting to talk about those issues, but that some areas will require time.
Asked about possible changes to the Independent Police Review and the Citizen Review Committee, Foxworth would only say, "It's too early to say what that's going to look like."
Moving back to the independent report, Foxworth stated that it would not be unfair to say that there are "mixed feelings" about it inside the Bureau, but that it contains "good recommendations."
Mayor Katz, for her part, responding to the weekend coverage of Chief Kroeker's resignation, said only that she "did not send an intermediary" but did admit "the process wasn't elegant."
If there was any more on this (other than Lars Larson's repeated, loud, and slightly belligerent-sounding questions about why she fired the Chief), I missed it, since I had to hustle out the door to catch the MAX train to the Blumenauer event.
How much of Chief Foxworth's talk of needing time was a reflection of taking a slow (or stalling) pace and how much is simply standard news conference banter is not entirely clear. But it's probably safe to assume at least a little that it's mainly the latter. It's rather apparent that the reason for this change in leadership is that changes need to happen and they simply weren't going to move forward with Kroeker at the helm -- either because he was reluctant or because of the "lightning rod" effect I've mentioned previously.
And now, the obligatory quick list of other stories on this: KATU, KOIN, KGW, and AP.
Update
The following is Mayor Katz's explanation for why it was time for Mark Kroeker to go. She made this statement during her regular webcast interview on OregonLive:
I don't think it was any one particular thing. It was really a combination of all events, and my strong sense that it was time to bring somebody from inside to deal with all of the issues that the Police Bureau has been ciritcized for. And that I thought that a new pair of eyes, somebody who is from Portland, somebody who knows the Bureau, who's served 22 years in the Bureau, had a better chance and a better opportunity to do that.
Update
Taken from her email list, here (pdf) is a message from Katz which includes what looks like her prepared remarks from this morning's news conference.
Update
There are no permalinks, so you'll just have to make sure you're reading the September 2nd entry, but on this page you'll find Lars Larson's thoughts for the day. I'm especially fond of how they are written entirely in capital letters, which by standard netiquette is considered shouting.
I admit now that I'm not entirely certain that it was Lars shouting at least twice at the Mayor, "Why did you fire the Chief?" at today's news conference, especially since he says in his little rant that the Mayor "laid down the law" to a colleague of Larson's. But I'm pretty much going on a comment by Reverend Roy Tate of the Albina Ministerial Alliance, who was standing in front of me, for my impression that it was, in fact, Lars shouting. It's pretty hard to mistake his voice, anyway.
As for the issue of having no public discussion on the matter of replacing a Chief of Police, Katz explained in her OregonLive webcast today that the Chief position is an "at will" position, and that, as the Commissioner in charge of the Police Bureau, she can indeed hire and fire as she sees fit. And, to her mind, the current polarization between the Bureau and the community required that the City have a new Chief now, and not after a long vetting process.