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AMA Coalition for Justice and Police Reform Actions

Albina Ministerial Alliance to Hold Vigil for Kendra James

Sunday, May 5 marks the tenth anniversary of controversial police shooting

Bruce Poinsette Of The Skanner News

May 01, 2013

Sunday, May 5 will mark the tenth anniversary of the killing of Kendra James. The 21-year-old Black woman was shot and killed, despite being unarmed, by Officer Scott McCollister during a traffic stop.

The Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform will be leading a memorial vigil at the Greater Faith Baptist Church at 931 N. Skidmore. This site is just yards away from where the shooting occurred.

According to a statement from the alliance, “James' death was a touchstone for many in Portland who saw the shooting of an unarmed African American woman as a symptom of a Police Bureau needing major reforms. In many ways her death led the accountability efforts down the path to the changes now being sought as a remedy by the Department of Justice in their lawsuit against the City.”

According to reports, the incident occurred when James tried to drive away from the traffic stop. McCollister told investigators that most of his body was inside the car when he tried to remove her. He said he tried to pull her out by her hair, pepper spray her and use a Taser but all attempts were unsuccessful. When she put the car into drive, he fired his gun because he thought his life was in danger, he claimed.

Police Chief Mark Kroeker and former Mayor Vera Katz, then police commissioner, disciplined McCollister for unsatisfactory performance.

McCollister was suspended for 5.5 months before an arbitrator lifted the suspension.

The arbitrator, John C Truesdale, ordered the city to pay McCollister’s lost wages and expunge the suspension from his record because the Portland Police Bureau didn’t conduct a full internal affairs investigation. Such investigations are required by bureau policy in cases where officers use deadly force.

Kroeker was forced to resign that same year.

On Dec. 17 of 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint against the city, based on an 18-month investigation of the police bureau. The City and justice officials filed a settlement agreement at the same time.

As of Feb. 20, the alliance, justice department, City and the Portland Police Association have been in mediation talks to try and resolve their differences on police reforms.

The justice department concluded Portland police engaged in a ‘pattern or practice’ of violating the civil rights of people with mental illness, or those thought to have mental illness.

The settlement required changes to police use of force and Taser policies, along with stepped up crisis intervention, training, supervision, accountability and discipline procedures. The settlement will cost $3.5 million to implement, according to City estimates.
ortland Police Association opposes the settlement on the grounds that it undermines the union’s collective bargaining rights. The judge granted the association the right to be a legal party with a right to intervene in some of the reforms, based on an earlier Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals court ruling that recognized settlements like these may affect collective bargaining agreements.

The Albina Ministerial Alliance wants more public input, on the grounds that the settlement fails to address concerns about racially biased policing, and does not include adequate oversight to ensure the agreement works.

Sunday’s vigil begins at 5 p.m. and members of James’ family will be in attendance.

For more information on the alliance, go to
Portland Police Association opposes the settlement on the grounds that it undermines the union’s collective bargaining rights. The judge granted the association the right to be a legal party with a right to intervene in some of the reforms, based on an earlier Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals court ruling that recognized settlements like these may affect collective bargaining agreements.

The Albina Ministerial Alliance wants more public input, on the grounds that the settlement fails to address concerns about racially biased policing, and does not include adequate oversight to ensure the agreement works.

Sunday’s vigil begins at 5 p.m. and members of James’ family will be in attendance.

For more information on the alliance, go to http://www.albinaministerialcoalition.org/.
Community Legislative Concepts for 2013 Session


Use of Force-changes current conditions under which law enforcement personnel can use deadly force from the current fear base to a reasonable person standard (would bring Oregon law into compliance with Federal court rulings)

Stand Your Ground-Clarifies Oregon’s law requires a person to seek to retreat if possible instead of using deadly force.

Investigation of police shootings-requires an investigation of officer involved shooting to be conducted by a neighboring police agency.

Grand jury investigation of Police Officers-requires that officers required to face a grand jury face a neighboring counties grand jury rather than the grand jury of their home county.

End Racial Profiling-expand the definition of racial profiling to include manner of dress and housing status; sets up statewide data collection process and requires the Attorney General of Oregon to act when certain conditions are met.


Contact your legislative representatives at the below link and make your voice heard.

http://www.leg.state.or.us/ comm/

 

The Arbitration regarding the shooting of Aaron Campbell has concluded with
the recommended reinstatement of Officer Ron Frashour to the Portland Police Bureau.
information:
 
Frashour shot the unarmed Aaron Campbell in the back
in January, 2010 and was fired later that year. 
 
The reinstatement of Frashour is another in a long line of arbitration overturning
firings of officers who wrongfully use deadly force, or otherwise take actions
often targeted at communities of color.
 
--Officer Scott McCollister, who was suspended for six months after shooting and
killing African American Kendra James in 2003, was reinstated with back pay;
--Officer Douglas Erickson, who shot and wounded African American Gerald
Gratton in the back in 1993, was reinstated;
--Officers Richard Montee and Paul Wickersham, fired for selling T-Shirts reading
"Don't Choke 'Em, Smoke 'Em" after an officer choked African American security
guard Lloyd "Tony" Stevenson in 1985, were reinstated;
--Officers Craig Ward and Jim Galloway, fired for tossing dead opossums on
the porch of a black-owned business in 1981, were reinstated;
and
--In one case where the victim, Dennis Young, was white, Lt. Jeffrey Kaer was
reinstated after being fired for shooting and killing Young in 2006.
 
The apparent racial bias of the arbitration system comes in the midst of a national
debate on racial profiling, sparked by the shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin in
Florida. Like Keaton Otis, an African American man shot and killed by Portland
Police less than four months after Campbell, Martin was deemed suspicious for
wearing a hoodie.

For More Information:  visit http://albinaministerialcoalition.org/
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