A police officer in the Portland (Oregon) Police Bureau “Rapid Response Team” (Goon Squad) was caught on video wailing a journalist, and when he finally forced her to the ground, he continued to strike her with his night stick in her head.<\/p>\n
Today, for the first time in the history of Portland, Oregon, an officer was indicted for his actions in suppressing a protest<\/a>. <\/p>\n It was only 4th<\/span> degree assault, a misdemeanor, but in response, the PPB Goon Squad voted to disband<\/a>, because they are afraid of the rule of law.<\/p>\n They are still on the force, but the “Rapid Response Team” is now shut down.<\/p>\n Considering their behavior, I would say, “Good Riddance,” because they are a bunch of bad cops who should not be allowed close to a water pistol, but Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is (once again) taking the side of the abusive cops, even as more evidence piles up against other members of the unit<\/a>:<\/p>\n Portland\u2019s public safety landscape has undergone tectonic shifts in under 72 hours. <\/p>\n On June 15, the day after the Portland Police Association filed for closed-door mediation<\/a> to hash out its contract with the city, the Multnomah County District Attorney\u2019s Office announced that a grand jury had indicted Portland police officer Corey Budworth<\/a> on one count of assault in the fourth degree for his use of force at an Aug. 2020 protest. <\/p>\n Budworth, now on administrative leave, was a part of the police bureau\u2019s Rapid Response Team, a 50-member unit most known for its management of protests. RRT members, whose assignment on the team is voluntary, receive specialized training in \u201ccrowd psychology and behavior [and] team formations and movements,\u201d according to PPB. \u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n In response, Mayor Ted Wheeler\u2014who said he learned of the RRT dissolution late Wednesday night\u2014has activated mobile law enforcement units in PPB and requested assistance from Oregon State Police. Wheeler also said that he heard directly from RRT members during an impromptu Thursday morning Zoom meeting between the mayor\u2019s office and law enforcement. <\/p>\n \u201cI want to acknowledge the toll this past year has taken on them and their families\u2014they have worked long hours under difficult conditions,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cI personally heard from some of them today, and I appreciate their willingness to share their concerns about managing the many public gatherings that often were violent and destructive.\u201d It is a disgrace that this piece of sh%$ mayor is still in office. (He’s also in the pocket of real estate developers)<\/p>\n This is my assessment too. <\/p>\n The fact that the police are SO<\/b> shocked that they are held accountable is a mark of just how bad the culture of policing in Portland is right now.<\/p>\n Until some police officers are disabused of the notion that they can act with impunity, and their fellow cops are disabused of the notion that it is OK for them to look the other way, it will never be fixed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A police officer in the Portland (Oregon) Police Bureau “Rapid Response Team” (Goon Squad) was caught on video wailing a journalist, and when he finally forced her to the ground, he continued to strike her with his night stick in her head. Today, for the first time in the history of Portland, Oregon, an officer …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1051,1041,978],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hypocrisy","category-law-enforcement-misconduct","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200178"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200178\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Hours after Budworth\u2019s indictment, news broke that Erik Kammerer, a squad leader for RRT who is also a homicide detective for the police bureau, is under review by the Oregon Department of Justice<\/a> for potential criminal prosecution. (WW has reported extensively on complaints alleging Kammerer <\/a>used excessive force during protests.) <\/p>\n
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\u2026\u2026\u2026 <\/p>\n
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\u2026\u2026\u2026
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Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, a longtime advocate of police reform in Portland, called the RRT resignations \u201can opportunity to commit change.\u201d
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\u201cWe should formally disband the RRT, but through Council action,\u201d Hardesty said in a statement Thursday. \u201cThe good old boy network is crumbling and we can either be a part of the change or part of the status quo\u2014but the arc of justice is bending quickly and it\u2019s imperative that the Portland City Council lands on the right side of history.\u201d
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Hardesty went on to describe the RRT members as \u201cstaging their own protest\u201d through their resignations, which she said occurred \u201cthe moment there is a possibility for accountability for inappropriate and potentially illegal conduct.\u201d
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