OR: Portland police union wants voters to take another look at the city's new police accountability system
PORTLAND, Oregon — Three and half years ago, a large majority of Portland voters approved a ballot initiative calling for an overhaul of the city's police oversight system, and the city council approved a final version of the plan late last year.
The new system won't take effect until next year, but in the meantime, the Portland police union wants to ask voters to roll back a key piece of it: the civilian oversight board's ability to directly impose corrective action if it determines that an officer violated policy. The current system's two civilian oversight bodies don't have that power.
The police union argues that the oversight structure is biased against the police department, and discipline decisions should ultimately rest with the chief of police. Advocates say the union's proposal would undermine the point of the overhaul, which was to give citizens, not police, the final say.
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/the-story/portland-police-union-ballot-initiative-oversight-system/283-254d40b8-45e3-40b7-905c-a52294948466
