September 02, 2003
Past And Future Chiefs Of Police
Today's edition of the Portland Tribune has a look at Derrick Foxworth and what he faces as the new Chief of the Portland Police Bureau:
Foxworth's first test could come Thursday when the City Council holds a public hearing on an independent report criticizing bureau commanders for failing to properly investigate policed shootings and in-custody deaths.
The report, prepared by the Los Angeles-based Police Assessment Resource Center, offered 89 recommendations for reforming the bureau.
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Some activists already are questioning Foxworth's abilities to enact the recommendations, however. Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch noted that Foxworth is part of the command structure criticized in the report. Before being appointed assistant chief, Foxworth served as a lieutenant and precinct commander.
Handelman and other activists are planning to push the council for fast action on the recommendations at the Thursday hearing. They believe that even more reforms are necessary to overcome what they see as an "us versus them" mentality in the bureau.
Other demands on the bureau are likely to be made two days later, on Saturday, when the Albina Ministerial Alliance releases its report on the Kendra James shooting. The killing of the 21-year-old black woman by white officer Scott McCollister has sparked repeated protests and calls for reforms by the city's minority communities.
For what it's worth, Foxworth already noted today that the decision on McCollister's discipline has already been made, is not intended for a review, and is in the hands of the arbitration process anyway.
Meanwhile, Jack Bogdanski has his own look at the challenges of being Chief of Police in Portland:
People are praising Foxworth and wishing him well, and I join them, but I'm not optimistic. He's taking on one of the most impossible government jobs anywhere, and in his early 40s no less. He's working under a lame-duck mayor who has shown little ability to help get the bureau's problems under control. And there's all sorts of old and heavy baggage being thrown around by the officers' union, the lefty community, the African-American community, you name it.
You just can't win in that job. It's a bitch, both physically and psychologically.
Bogdanski also has an excellent set of prose snapshots of the tenures of past Chiefs of Police and some of what transpired during their particular terms in that position.