Stop And Frisk In Oregon

Indeed, the tactic has caught criminals, if unconstitutionally. In Oregon, the definition of criminal is as much a question as the civil rights questions about New York City's aggressive tactic, Stop & Frisk.

 

Since the 1990s, aggressive laws targeting petty behavior and the existing discrimination that comes with the job of policing America, have combined to create a system of profiling, of over-aggressive detective work, and mediocre or poor reporting of crime. The system is not entirely affected, one would assume, as many good folks exist in law enforcement. But the facts are that the system is sometimes oppressive and often illegal.

If we examine the City of Portland's response to over-policing, it may encourage reform in areas where it is needed. Equating a badge with ethics or truthfulness, is plain insanity. The simple fact is this, civil lawsuits are won. In that respect, and in similar response to solving homeless issues, Portland is trying to "protect all of its citizens' legal and civil rights."

And that of course, is the goal. Society in an even somewhat "free" country, expects civil rights to be equal. The citizens of our communities that do not want equality and egalitarian ideologies, are the minority. In Albany, Stop & Frisk isn't the same as New York's, where illegal searches are being conducted. No, here in the 50,000 people strong, the city of Albany, the stop is executed with the same disregard the NSA has for privacy, without any initial physical contact. The frisk part follows, in conversation and intimidation, and sometimes ends in arrest.

In Portland, a decade of severe police brutality has led to a revamped set of conduct rules, and an active approach to "sensitivity training." Picking your battles, as the old saying implies, is a skill that will help police interact with the public in a more respectful manner. Critical thought will lead police to "common sense" decisions, decisions that the public not only deserves, the public demands it. And refresher courses in civil rights will lead to more productive relations with the public.

A city prosecutor said, "We have citations that are described as "contempt of cop." Meaning, the power to arrest leads to some illegal arrests. Some of those end in violent arrest. But in many cases, simple abuse of power translates to poor police work. To balance this, in respect to officers who do a superb job, is to demand better of racist and discriminatory officers. Portland has addressed the problem, as has the ACLU and other rights advocates. Albany would benefit from such a curriculum for its officers. In 2008, Graem Hromas went to prison on multiple sex-offender convictions. Albany Police initially declined to interview Hromas, based on a lack of respect for the person who reported the crime. 

This sort of disregard for citizens and safety, is unacceptable. In their homepage summary of litigating these transgressions against citizens, Kafoury & McDougal are quoted: "Even officers found by juries to have abused citizens routinely suffer absolutely no consequences, while costing the city’s taxpayers substantial money," which is typical for the arena in which cops and taxpayers interact.

In a report that studied  police use of excessive force, and its underlying statistics, researchers found that "the ability to use unrestricted coercive force was at the core, a problem." To address these problems, and to respond effectively, is to accept the problem as real, and to have the passion to solve it.

Efficiency and non-bias are the goals, community safety the ideology.

There are many in law enforcement who deserve applause, and it simply isn't fair that they go unrecognized, but such is life. There is no glory in ethics and morals, only satisfaction.