A group of activists is demanding that Portland’s police chief acknowledge that black lives matter.
The Portland Racial Justice Congress was expected to hold a rally in Portland’s Lincoln Park at 6 p.m. Friday to speak out against the killing of black people by police officers in other cities.
The organizers of the rally issued a list of demands for Portland Police Chief Mike Sauschuck. Among them is greater transparency by including community members in law enforcement oversight and policy committees.
Standing outside the police department Friday afternoon, Sauschuck said a police-citizen review subcommittee is already in place.
“This group of volunteer civilians and citizens that live right here in the city of Portland have an opportunity to review every external and internal affairs complaint,” he says. “So if somebody comes in off the street and makes a complaint against a police officer, they’re going to see the same package that I’m going to see.”
The Portland Racial Justice Congress also wants Sauschuck to acknowledge that there’s a nationwide problem with the brutalization of people of color at the hands of law enforcement. Sauschuck says there is a disproportionate number of contacts between minorities and law enforcement in the system overall.
“You won’t find a police officer, a good police officer in this country, that would say that we don’t want our police officers to be held accountable. We do something wrong, whether that’s you make a mistake, it’s a moral issue, or something criminal, which some of these instances have displayed, then that needs to be dealt with,” he says
The third demand by rally organizers is for the Portland police to use body cameras. Sauschuck says he’s exploring the idea, but there are many issues to consider.
“Just imagine police officers walking into somebody’s living room on their worst day, and all that information being caught on camera, and that all being information that should and can be, by the law, released to the general public,” he says.
Requests for comment from the Portland Racial Justice Congress were not returned.
