October 31, 2003
(Updated) Kroeker Era Officially Ends As Foxworth Sworn In Under Mantle Of Community Policing
Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.
Officially bringing to a close the reign of former Police Chief Mark Kroeker (who is moving on to become the police commissioner of a United Nations mission in Liberia, of all things), Derrick Foxworth, Bureau veteran of over twenty years, was sworn in as the new Chief of the Portland Police Bureau this afternoon in a ceremony held in City Council Chambers at City Hall.
"I said when I appointed Chief Foxworth two months ago that he was the right person for the right time, and this is the right time for this person," said Mayor Vera Katz.
"He's a problem solver, he likes to bring people together, he's a detail person -- and that makes any Mayor thrilled," added Katz after praising Foxworth for "practicing community policing at its best" while commander of the Northeast Precinct. "He sees the big picture, but he also knows all the little things that need to be done to get to that big picture."
Concluding her remarks, Katz added: "Police bureaus can never be complacent. New challenges will always arise, and they will always be tested. This is a man who can ensure that the Police Bureau will not be complacent, will be able to meet those challenges, and will be able to pass all those tests."
After having an opportunity to introduce his family, and accidentally breaking the microphone stand, causing participants to have to keep the microphone in hand for the ceremony, Chief Foxworth yielded the floor to Judge Sid Galton of the Multnomah County Circuit Court, himself introduced as having "a long-standing commitment to community policing."
Judge Galton called Foxworth "a model of professionalism law enforcement skill, and inclusion."
"He is a man of the highest integrity, honesty, and character, and he is open, accessible, and learns from careful listening," said Galton. "The chief is a true diplomat, one who will emphasize and enhance community policing, and one who has maintained and fostered his Portland roots."
After swearing to uphold the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Oregon, and the Charter of the City and Portland and its laws, and introducing his assistant chiefs, Chief Foxworth had his own opportunity to outline his role as the head of the Portland Police Bureau.
"Let me say first of all that it is a great honor, and it's a privilege, and I am humbled to serve as Chief of Police not just for the citizens of Portland," said Foxworth, "but also for the men and women of the Portland Police Bureau."
It is a tremendous responsibiltiy, and it's one that no one individual can bear alone. So with that in mind, I ask that you help me bear this responsibility. I ask that you help me share in this responsibily of being the Chief of Police for all the citiznes of Portland, and for the Portland Police Bureau.
...
My commitment is to be a Chief that is committed to community policing. And quite often times, people ... confuse the definition of what community policing truly is. Community policing, very simply, is police and citizens working together -- a shared responsibility for the welfare of their communities.
The police cannot do it alone. Enforcement is not the answer alone. We cannot arrest our way out of the situation. Enforcement alone is not going to make our neighborhoods safer. Enforcement alone and police alone [are] not going to improve neighborhood livability. Community policing takes a holistic approach to solving the problems of our neighborhoods and what our community is facing.
Calling upon those members of the Portland Police Bureau present in the room to stand, Chief Foxworth urged Portlanders to show appreciation: "Little things like coming up to a police officer and letting them know that you apppreciate the work that they do, inviting them to community meetings, letting them know that the work that they do is valued"
And he called on the men and women of the Bureau to recommit themselves to community policing:
As you go about your daily activites, when you're faced with a problem in the community, when your talking about making decisions that impact the community, that you involve the community. That you look around the room, and you look at the table, and say: "Who else needs to be here? Who else is not in this room? Who else should we be reaching out to? We're about to make a decision that's going to have an impact, [and] we should make sure that those people who are going to be affected by that [decision] are also here, so that they have some input."
In a press release sent out yesterday from the Portland Police Bureau, Rev. A. Wayne Johnson, co-chair of the Chief's Forum was quoted as saying: "The Chief's Forum looks forward to working with Chief Foxworth in an ongoing effort to make community policing effective."
As has been evident since Mayor Katz first selected Derrick Foxworth to replace Mark Kroeker, hopes are running high across Portland that the new Chief can deliver the substance of community policing, rather than the lip service it received (from both the Bureau and the Mayor's office) under the previous Chief.
Such a high-profile emphasis on resurrecting community policing in Portland, which had been suffering so much under Chief Kroeker, was clearly the intended message of today's ceremony. Now that Chief Foxworth has been officially sworn-in, the attention (as Foxworth himself suggested) of both the Bureau and the people of Portland now must turn to the challenge of turning that message from words to reality.
Update
Today's coverage on The Oregonian points something out I should have mentioned:
In the past two months, the new chief has spent much of his time meeting with interest groups to fortify his relationships in the city. He has focused on addressing the 89 recommendations of an outside consultant's report that identified ways the bureau could improve its review, investigations and oversight of officer-involved shootings. And he is preparing for community workshops in the spring to discuss the bureau's strategic plan for the next two years.
Indeed, one of the reasons why much of the community seems to have high hopes for the tenure of Chief Foxworth is that one of the first things he did was to provide a status report on where the Portland Police Bureau stood in regards to the PARC report's recommendations, and one a dastically-reduced timeframe from the "we'll be back in six months" indicated by Mark Kroeker. Point being, Foxworth has already made moves to restore the Bureau's responsiveness.
Comments (1)
Lee Hyslin on 16 Jan 2004
Please inform me on what Chief
Foxworth's new ideas are for
controlling the escalating
gang violence in the city of
Portland. Does he back measure 11?
Regards,
Lee Hyslin