Portland Police History: dead possums at a black-owned Northeast restaurant called the Burger Barn Incident

Chief Bruce Baker resigned and Mayor Frank Ivancie took the Portland Police Bureau from Commissioner Charles Jordan. There is no guarantee the same thing will happen this time, however - despite the large and loud protest sponsored by the Portland Police Association on Tuesday. In the wake of the demonstration, the City Council closed ranks behind Chief Rosie Sizer and Commissioner Dan Saltzman. Hundreds of police officers, family members and supporters rallied outside City Hall to press the no-confidence vote that the union has called on Sizer and Saltzman. Speaking to the cheering crowd, Sgt. Scott Westerman, union president, accused the chief and commissioner of not supporting officers who follow bureau policies, but find themselves in controversial situations. The union executive board authorized the vote after Saltzman suspended Officer Christopher Humphreys for shooting a 12-year-old girl in the leg with a beanbag round after the girl resisted arrest. Saltzman had previously suspended Humphreys for not requiring that James Chasse be taken directly to a hospital after being arrested three years ago. Chasse died of injuries sustained during the arrest after first being driven to the Justice Center jail. 'This is not about a single incident, a single officer, a single chief or a single commissioner. It is about public safety,' said Westerman, who insists Humphreys followed bureau policies in both cases and was punished by Saltzman for political reasons. The no-confidence vote is under way and the results will be announced on Nov. 30. But even as Tuesday's rally was taking place, Saltzman released a statement calling Sizer a 'great chief and civic leader.' Before the vote was authorized, Mayor Sam Adams and Commissioner Randy Leonard expressed support for Saltzman's authority to suspend Humphreys. Following the protest, commissioners Nick Fish and Amanda Fritz joined their fellow commissioners in supporting Sizer and Saltzman. Despite those developments, there still are remarkable similarities today to the events that led to the last no-confidence vote in 1981. After Adams took office in January, he broke with tradition and gave the bureau to Saltzman. Twenty-eight years ago, Ivancie was not in charge of the bureau, either. Instead, he had left it with Jordan, who had been assigned it by previous Mayor Neil Goldschmidt. Back then, the chief was Bruce Baker, who had been appointed by Goldschmidt. Sizer also was appointed by a previous mayor - Tom Potter. In April, four months after Ivancie took office, two young police officers created a public controversy by dumping four dead possums at a black-owned Northeast restaurant called the Burger Barn. Although the officers said they were protesting frequent police calls to the restaurant, the Black United Front saw the incident as racist and led a large protest march on City Hall. Jordan reacted to the incident by firing the officers, prompting a COUNTER-DEMONSTRATION BY HUNDREDS OF POLICE officers. The union also authorized a no-confidence vote that went heavily against Jordan and Baker, who resigned shortly after the results were announced. When Jordan said that he was going to conduct a national search for a replacement, Ivancie took the bureau from him in June and promoted Capt. Ron Still to chief.

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