SUMMARY

In 2010, the Department of Justice (DOJ) began an investigation into

allegations of excessive use of force by the Portland Police Bureau (PPB)
against persons with mental illness. After findings were made, the City and
DOJ entered into negotiations which resulted in a Settlement Agreement
which the City Council approved in November 2012. The Agreement outlined
a number of actions that PPB had to undertake to achieve compliance.
Since that time, PPB has made a concerted effort to address the issues raised,
to implement the changes required and to strengthen our community
relationships. This annual report summarizes the efforts made to address the
various action items related to the use of force, training, crisis intervention,
community-based mental health services, accountability and community
engagement. It also highlights the Bureaus work in the areas of problemoriented policing and bias-free policing. The report covers the calendar year
2015.
The PPB has made significant strides since DOJ came to Portland. These are
reflected in a notable reduction in the use of force, the creation of the
Behavioral Health Unit with improved services for persons with actual or
perceived mental illness who come into contact with police, shorter time
frames for administrative investigations, the establishment of a system for the
development or revision of Bureau policies with community input and new
procedures for the evaluation of training needs and outcomes.

CHIEFS MESSAGE
This is a transformative time for the country and for the police
profession. The events over the last year, from Fergusson to Baltimore,
to Chicago and other cities across the country, have deepened the divide
between law enforcement and the communities we serve.
The Police Bureau embraced the DOJ Settlement Agreement from the
outset as one way to address this concern. We are now focusing on a
relationship-based philosophy of policing versus an enforcement-based
philosophy that was once effective but now erodes community trust. We
are actively engaging our community, particularly the Community
Outreach Advisory Board (COAB) and the Compliance Officer and
Community Liaison (COCL), to improve our outreach efforts.
During this year, the Bureau has continued to make the required
changes in regard to policies and training. As a result of these efforts,
the Bureau has experienced a significant decrease in the use of force. In
2015, PPB used force in only one quarter of one percent of the 400,000
calls to which officers responded. This continues a trend that shows that
reportable force is down 35% in the last four years. The Bureau, in
collaboration with the Auditors and Mayors offices, has engaged in a
comprehensive review of its accountability process which should result
in a more efficient and effective system for citizens and members alike.
Also important to note is the ongoing work of our BHU, which
collaborates with various stakeholders to improve the care and
outcomes for persons with behavioral health issues who come into
contact with law enforcement.
In September, 2015, DOJ issued its first report on our progress. That

document has now provided us with more clarity and guidance as we

move forward in our efforts to achieve compliance with all the terms of
the Agreement.

In making these changes, equity remains at the forefront of the

discussions we are having within our community and within the
Portland Police Bureau. This year we hired PPBs first Equity Manager
who will oversee the creation of a roadmap that will help us diversify the
Police Bureau and ensure everything we do, including hiring,
promotions, policy and training, is inclusive.
Although we face critical challenges not unique to most cities across the
country, Portland Police officers remain committed to providing
exceptional public service at a time of great change. We look forward to
continuing the path we have charted to protect and serve our
community and engage our community in new and thoughtful ways.

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH UNIT (BHU)

BHU provides a variety of services through its Behavioral Health Response
Teams (BHRT), Service Coordination Team (SCT) and Enhanced Crisis
Intervention Teams (ECIT) to connect a person to resources, reduce the
frequency of police contact, and to resolve a behavioral health crisis. It does so
with the counsel of both its internal and external advisory committees who
actively engage with PPB on issues of training, mental health policy and
standard operating procedures for the Unit.
This year, the major achievement of the BHU was the expansion of SCTs
responsibilities resulting from the creation of the Supportive Transitions and
Stabilization (STS) program in concert with Central City Concern. The
implementation of this six bed program allows BHU to assertively address the
needs of those with mental health illness and co-occurring disorders who
temporarily require a higher level of care by creating a housing resource for
the BHRTs. It provides 24/7 staffing with case management and peer
supportive services as well as the opportunity to address other issues. Access
to these stabilization beds will be an invaluable tool for intervention and
engagement.
This was achieved while SCT continued to serve its original population of
chronic offenders who have addiction issues and are in need of housing and
treatment. SCT received 538 referrals in 2015 of which 60% met eligibility
criteria. A total of 227 clients were served and 85% of those individuals were
connected to services.
The BHRTs, consisting of a patrol officer and a mental health clinician,
continued to work proactively with persons with mental illness who have
multiple contacts with police or demonstrate high risk behavior to connect
them to appropriate services. In 2015, there were 683 new referrals to BHU of
which 355 were assigned to BHRTs and received follow-up services.
BHU staff focused its efforts at broader community outreach to build
partnerships and educate the public on police response to persons in crisis. In
2015, BHU participated in more than 67 such engagements, including a
presentation to Oregon Health Sciences University psychiatrists. Staff also

hosted representatives from law enforcement agencies across the country

who came to Portland to observe and learn about PPBs model.
The staff also assisted in the development and facilitation of crisis
intervention training for officers in Advanced Academy as well as Reserve
officers. It conducted the annual Enhanced Crisis Intervention training for 28
new volunteer officers which brings the total number of PPB ECIT officers to
105. During this calendar year, those officers responded to 714 calls in which
they applied that advanced training.

TRAINING
In 2015, the Training Division created a more robust needs assessment
and engaged in strategic planning to further develop community input
related to training. It also continued to build capacity in the area of
program evaluation including pretest-posttests, student feedback and
in-class learning assessments. These improvements, in turn, impacted
the various courses that were conducted during the year including:

40 hours of Annual In-Service training to all sworn members,

which both DOJ and COCL observed. The content included
classroom instruction, skills training, and scenario based training.

One Advanced Academy in 2015, which included CIT Certification

for all students.
Enhanced CIT (ECIT) course for 28 students, which was conducted
in partnership with the Behavior Health Unit (BHU).
In addition, the Division formalized its existing curriculum review
process by documenting the Training Managers review and approval of
the content of each lesson plan. The Training Division manager now
serves as an advisor in the Bureaus weekly directives drafting meetings
to make sure any changes in policy are reflected in training.
It also continued to press for progress on the acquisition of a new Learning
Management system. In December, the City approved the release of a Request
for Proposal for this new platform that meets the functional and technical
needs of the Bureau. It will allow PPB to combine its existing multiple
databases into a single system with improved search capability and
functionality.

Further, to help inform not only its own but other Portland Police Bureau
community advisory groups, the Training Division held day long trainings for
the COAB, CRC and TAC to provide a glimpse into the world of training for
police officers.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS DIVISION

Professional Standards Division (PSD) is responsible for organizational
accountability by ensuring policies and expectations are clearly defined and
adhered to through complete, fair and unbiased investigations. During the
DOJ investigation, both DOJ and the City concluded that the system was too
complex for both the public and bureau members to navigate and that
investigations took too long to conclude. In 2015, PSD made major advances
in addressing these areas of concern.

With regard to the first, PSD participated with the Auditor, Mayors office
and the City Attorney on a workgroup to explore substantive changes to
the accountability system to make it more efficient and legitimate for all
involved. This lengthy and comprehensive exercise resulted in
consensus among the stakeholders on a proposed model that is now
being reviewed by a focus group of community members.
As for timeframes, PPB made noticeable gains towards meeting the 180day timeline that is required in the Agreement. In 2015, twice as many
cases were completed within 180 days than the year before. However,
clearly more work needs to be done. Improvements in this arena are
also contemplated in the new proposed structure.
Beginning in February 2015, PSDs Internal Affairs began investigating all use
of force complaints, not just those referred by Independent Police Review
(IPR). The Division also assisted in drafting the new bias-free policing policy
that will inform IAs and IPRs investigations of all complaints alleging police
profiling.
PSD is also responsible for the Employee Information System (EIS). In early
2015 staff finished training supervisors on the applicable policy. The software
itself was substantially updated this year including the discussion tracker to

automatically notify employees when an entry had been made by their

supervisor. The alert system was upgraded to allow for new intervention
options for supervisors when reviewing alerts. PPB continues to monitor and
track the threshold alerts required in the Agreement.

USE OF FORCE INSPECTOR

With the addition of two crime analysts to the team, the years major
accomplishment was the completion of a complex force audit
methodology after consultation with the COCL. This methodology
establishes how the Bureau, through the Inspector, will measure
compliance with the Settlement Agreement. The completion of a
standardized methodology creates the ability for each question posed in
the audit to be answered using the same parameters, thus increasing the
reliability of the data.
After the audit methodology, the next milestone was the creation of a
cloud-based data collection tool used to track the audit responses
themselves. This system has reduced the time it takes to audit a force
case by more than 50% when compared to using a spreadsheet based
collection system. Additionally, this system allows for multiple users to
input data at the same time, further increasing productivity.
This year also saw the revamping of the two force reports (Force Data
Collection Report Summary and Force Demographics Report Summary)
the Bureau publishes each quarter. After feedback from the Department
of Justice and the COCL, the force reports now include significantly more
historical information to provide the reader more context about the data
captured on Force Data Collection Reports (FDCR).

The Inspector also developed a system to track the times each month
that members notify the Professional Standards Division when a Serious
Use of Force (as defined by Directive 940.00) or ANY force used against a
person with actual or perceived mental illness occurs. This system

requires the on-call PSD lieutenant to not only evaluate the incoming
telephone briefing from the member on the street, but also to review a
summary to ensure consistency and adherence to policy and procedure.
The lieutenant also provides a summary of the incident to the PSD
captain to further increase accountability.

EQUITY
The Portland Police Bureau shares with law enforcement agencies
across the county a concern for its relationship with the community it
serves. It recognizes the importance of maintaining strong ties with all
segments of our community. That is why the City and Portland Police
Bureau leadership advocated for the Equity and Diversity Program
Manager position which was filled in February 2015.
During this first year of assessment, the Equity and Diversity Program
Manager worked with the COPS Grant team and Hatfield Fellow to
develop a 4 year strategic equity and evaluation plan. In order to
properly inform the plan the following steps and processes were taken:
Assessment Interviews and Internal Mappings with PPB members,
City of Portland partners and community members and leaders
Evaluation Planning
Best Practices Review (Local & National)
Strategic Plan Design meetings
Officer Listening Sessions
As a result of this work, a framework was developed that consists of six
levers of change: Data Management Systems; Communication and
Engagement; Recruitment; Screening & Background; Leadership
Development; Training; and PPB and Community Advisory Structures.
Much of this work has already begun and will continue in the coming
months.

In addition, PPB is focusing on managing equity in everyday policing.

Currently, PPB is developing training on this subject for its 2016 InService for officers and will serve as a refresher for the Sergeants. A
version of this training has already been implemented with senior
leadership and command staff. The Office of Equity and Human Rights
has served as a partner in this endeavor.
This course will be facilitated by local community trainers who are
experts in their fields. They will co-train with two sworn members. This
is part of a strategy to develop a pool of diverse community partners
who will be able to support the Bureaus efforts at training, curriculum
development and strengthened community engagement and participate in
future dialogues.

STOPS DATA

The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) has taken a strategic approach, using
three integrated initiativespolicy, education and training, and
research and evaluation-to help achieve bias-free policing within its
organization. The Chiefs themselves led a discussion with members
regarding the legal concepts surrounding traffic and pedestrian stops
during each of the 22 weeks of In-Service training.
In 2015, the Strategic Services Division (SSD) produced and
disseminated numerous stops reports to the public, offering community
members an introspective look into police operations and activities;
improved the analytical rigor of its stops report to better identify areas
requiring attention; and engaged with the community to educate and to
solicit feedback from community members about the stops data
collection process.
SSD produced four quarterly reports and a 2014 Annual Report on the
racial distribution of police stops of drivers and pedestrians. These
reports serve as an early warning system tool, designed to assist the City
of Portland and PPB executive management with (1) identifying patterns
of potential bias policing within the Police Bureau, (2) examining
whether racial disparities are based on societal factors or bias, (3)
assessing the effectiveness of police practices, and (4) developing
strategies for reducing racial disparities in stops and consent searches
while balancing public safety concerns.

In addition to report production, SSD improved the analytical rigor of its

Annual Stops Report by incorporating racial profiling measures for

analyzing and interpreting its stops data. In its current Annual Report,
PPB incorporated five indicators for identifying potentially
discriminatory practices in police stops and adopted a new rating scale
to help interpret its results and identify areas requiring closer
examination. The report showed that PPB reduced the number of stops,
but racial disparities in police stops still persisted among African
American drivers at one precinct at a level requiring further
examination. It was also found that PPB had demonstrated
judiciousness when conducting searches, as demonstrated by the decline
in the number of searches conducted on drivers and pedestrians and
improvements in contraband recovery rates.
Finally, SSD presented on PPBs stops data collection process to the
Community and Police Relations Committee in July 2015. At the meeting,
SSD gathered community feedback on issues of greatest concern to them
about police stops. SSD addressed some of those issues in its Annual
Stops Report and also identified areas where both the police and the
community could work together in the future to help improve the
effectiveness of policing activities and the delivery of services to the
community.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT/PROBLEMORIENTED POLICING

With the creation of the Community Oversight Advisory Board (COAB) this
year, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) gained the advisers necessary for the
development of its Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) plan as
outlined by the Agreement. PPB is in the process of collaborating on a timeline
for its completion and initiating the necessary first steps for the task,
including a community survey.
While awaiting this consultation, PPB established internal structures to
support this effort. Early in 2015, the Bureau created an internal CEO
committee comprised of representatives from all units/divisions. It collected
data regarding already existing outreach activities of the Bureau to analyze
and assess. PPB currently engages with over 300 different community groups
and organizations including business and neighborhood associations, social
service agencies, youth-focused programs, educational institutions, and
culturally specific groups. It made a presentation to COAB in November to
solicit feedback on these efforts as well as seek input on what outreach and
engagement means to the community. PPB is very actively involved in the
COAB, with 5 members sitting on the Board as advisors. A number of others
have been engaged in training COAB on various aspects of PPB work.
In addition to the COAB process and officers daily outreach efforts, PPB
supports other types of community engagement efforts by developing new
analytic, strategic and technological techniques. This includes the
development of the Neighborhood Involvement Location (NiLoc) program
which sends officers to selected areas for short, 15 minute walking patrols
aimed at increasing police/community interactions rather than enforcement.
This program initially used call and crime data for location selection but now
PPB utilizes different outreach methods aimed at gaining direct community
input into those selections.
This, in turn, has enhanced the Bureaus problem-oriented policing efforts.

PPBs survey work, attendance at community meetings, participatory mapping

sessions with community members and the use of social media have informed
plans for addressing problems identified in its survey and using the tactics
selected by survey respondents. A number of these projects have been
successfully undertaken including Downtown, the Hawthorne District and
Albina/Killingsworth for which PPB was one of five finalists for the Goldstein
Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing at the annual international
conference. One example currently underway is in the King Neighborhood.