ACLU of Oregon Petitions Attorney General on Behalf of Don’t Shoot Portland for Public Records

PORTLAND, Ore. — On the same day that the Oregon Court of Appeals issued an opinion reviving a legal challenge to the secret surveillance operations of the Oregon TITAN Fusion Center (“OTFC”), the ACLU of Oregon and Don’t Shoot Portland are petitioning the Oregon Attorney General to review the Oregon Department of Justice (ODOJ)’s refusal to disclose public records relating to OTFC’s surveillance activities during the Black Lives Matter movement. This public records petition is the latest example of the OTFC refusing to let the public scrutinize its questionable operations — something the Court of Appeals pointed to in today’s opinion permitting the challenge to OTFC’s authority to move forward.

Don’t Shoot Portland and ACLU of Oregon are two Oregon nonprofits dedicated to advocating for racial justice, police accountability, and the right to protest. In 2024, both organizations submitted public records requests to illuminate how OTFC works with other law enforcement agencies to monitor and surveil Oregonians engaged in lawful advocacy and protest — including for racial justice.

ODOJ withheld nearly 2000 records from its response — largely the ones it said the ACLU would be “most interested in” — based on its “Third Agency Rule,” which it said requires OTFC to keep records it receives from other agencies confidential. The Petition argues that rule cannot displace ODOJ’s obligations under the Public Records Law.

The disputed records include “Criminal Intelligence Unit Bulletin[s]” issued by the Portland Police Bureau that name Don’t Shoot Portland (sometimes referred to as Don’t Shoot PDX) and “Criminal Intelligence Unit Protest [and] Significant Event Information Briefs” that name Sean Kealiher, a founding organizer of Don’t Shoot PDX’s community action plan who was killed in 2019 at age 23. The existence and limited description of the records suggests OTFC and participating law enforcement agencies may be engaged in improper surveillance of people and groups engaged in protected political and noncriminal activities.

“These fusion centers, like other government surveillance programs past and present, have a history of wrongly targeting and monitoring activists and communities of color, treating protest itself as a threat. Such abuse is made more likely in Oregon by OTFC’s lack of clear legal authority and by the lack of oversight and transparency that defines the fusion center network nationwide,” said Annie Kurtz, ACLU of Oregon, Senior Staff Attorney.

For two decades, OTFC has operated with little oversight or transparency while collecting, analyzing, and disseminating Oregonians’ personal information in the dark. And the little that has been exposed about its practices has only eroded public trust. OTFC has already been sued for monitoring several environmental and indigenous justice groups and activists who protested a proposed fracked-natural-gas pipeline terminal in Coos Bay (in collaboration with the pipeline company), and for monitoring social media accounts for the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, including ODOJ's own Civil Rights Division director.

Given these public concerns, Don’t Shoot Portland and ACLU of Oregon teamed up to request records to shed further light on OTFC's opaque practices, and in particular to unveil how it operated during the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Like art and history, these public records tell the story of who we are. We all have the right to access them. As an archivist and community organizer with grandkids, I have to use art. That's the strongest and safest tool I have. No one can take away the power of our lived generational experiences or our creativity,” said Teressa Raiford, Don’t Shoot Portland, Founder and Community Organizer.

Petitioners urge the Attorney General to stop relying on the unauthorized Third Agency Rule as a blanket exemption to Oregon Public Records Law. The people of Oregon deserve transparency about how state, local, and federal police cooperation affects their rights and freedoms. The Attorney General’s Office has seven days to respond to the ACLU of Oregon and Don’t Shoot Portland’s petition.

Don’t Shoot Portland is an arts and education organization that promotes social justice and civic participation.

The ACLU of Oregon is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with more than 52,000 members and donor supporters. Our mission is to take action together to protect and advance our civil liberties and civil rights for a more just, equitable, and caring democracy in Oregon.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Don’t Shoot Portland’s founding and the two organizations’ collaboration toward a more inclusive democracy.

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