After Portland voters approved Measure 26-217, the Police Accountability Commission (PAC) spent 20 months researching and reviewing practices from around the country to develop a comprehensive plan for the new Community Board for Police Accountability (CBPA). In light of City Council’s decision to discard the majority of the PAC’s recommendations, we demand these key recommendations be adopted: Full investigative authority over ALL police misconduct complaints; removal of law enforcement representatives from the CBPA nominating committee to ensure genuine independence; elimination of problematic “anti-bias” language added by the City that could exclude individuals with lived experience from serving on the board; implementation of continuous improvement mechanisms, including systemic findings and regular reviews of PPB; restoration of community members’ right to appeal findings in misconduct cases.
Led by a network of community groups and activists, including the PMPC