Portland’s crowd control policy leads to escalations of conflict

February 15, 2017 - The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon (ACLU of Oregon) sent a letter to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) urging them to revise their policy related to crowd management and crowd control (Directive 635.10) in order to improve police interactions with peaceful protests. (You can read the comments in full in the "Documents" section, below). The group says PPB’s current policy has serious flaws and that additional clashes between protesters and police appear inevitable if the policy remains unchanged. 

“Portland’s protest policy should emphasize restraint, de-escalation, and the use of force only as a last resort to ensure public health, safety, and welfare.” 

“Portland’s protest policy should emphasize restraint, de-escalation, and the use of force only as a last resort to ensure public health, safety, and welfare,” said Mat dos Santos, legal director at the ACLU of Oregon. 

The ACLU of Oregon is concerned that the current policy conflates threats to public safety with constitutionally protected activity that may be perceived as disruptive or disorderly. Furthermore, the group urged new thinking around the use of riot gear and crowd control weapons and tactics.

“Current social science shows that the use of militarized police or police dressed in “hard gear” leads to escalation of conflict, not de-escalation,” said Katherine McDowell, vice president for legal affairs at the ACLU of Oregon. “Many of the Portland Police Bureau’s crowd control weapons and tactics pose significant and irreparable health consequences and should be employed only in very limited circumstances.”  

In addition to the ACLU of Oregon, other groups that monitor the use of police force against protesters, including National Lawyers Guild and Portland Copwatch, have communicated similar positions to PPB several times in recent months. Nevertheless, the ACLU of Oregon is hopeful that the PPB’s formal review of policy will yield significant improvement of the City’s positions regarding peaceful protest.

“More and more people are taking to the streets to express their disapproval of the inhumane policies of the Trump administration,” said dos Santos. “We hope this gives leaders a badly needed sense of urgency around amending police directives on crowd management and crowd control.”

The ACLU of Oregon's recommendations include:

• Clarifying the limited circumstances under which police should be able to use military tactics and equipment, such as impact munitions and riot control agents, as well as limiting the uses of aggressive tactics such as containment, dispersal, and mass or selective arrests; 

• Revising the ambiguous and broad use of the term “peace and order” and similar language in the definitions and throughout the directive;

• Eliminating a procedure wherein police inquire about the “purpose” or “intent” of free speech activity with organizers and/or confer with potential targets of protests; 

• Emphasizing that that the lack of a permit does not make a protest unlawful in the directives and updating the City of Portland’s onerous permitting process for unplanned or spontaneous events; and

• A warning against the use of illegal profiling to determine whether a protest potentially poses a threat to the public health, safety, and welfare.

The ACLU of Oregon said they hope to be able to work with the City of Portland and Portland Police Bureau to make meaningful changes to the current policy. 

February 2, 2017 — The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon fully supports the executive order issued by Governor Kate Brown today and applauds the governor for safeguarding Oregon values.

David Rogers, ACLU of Oregon’s executive director, said:

“Governor Brown’s executive order is a meaningful action that reaffirms our state agencies and employees will uphold Oregon’s values of nondiscrimination and inclusiveness. These shared values are an integral part of making Oregon a vibrant and flourishing state that strives to treat all people with respect and dignity.

It is within the governor’s authority to direct state agencies under Oregon law. It is not within the federal government’s authority to require that states enforce federal immigration law.

"The ACLU of Oregon will stand with the governor if this order is challenged."

In 1987, the Oregon legislature determined it was in Oregon’s best interest to prohibit the use of state law enforcement resources in federal immigration enforcement. The reasons cited at that time are still valid today. We want our police to serve all members of the communities and that cannot happen if police are making guesses about whether a person is an undocumented immigrant or not. People will not report crimes or be witnesses if they fear for their safety. This law has worked well in Oregon for 30 years.

The ACLU of Oregon will stand with the governor if this order is challenged.”

Kimberly McCullough, ACLU of Oregon’s legislative director, said:

“Oregon’s unique law has succeeded in keeping the deportation of immigrants by the federal government separate and distinct from the enforcement of our state criminal laws by our local police. We are pleased the governor has extended this important state disentanglement to all state agencies and employees.

We also firmly believe that any attempt by the federal government to create a religious registry should be met with full, swift resistance. In addition to directly violating Oregon law, a government registry of this type is a danger to our open society.”