In the pursuit of intentional dialogue, the WAIC team developed, discussed, debated, and approved a questionnaire for Wilsonville’s Mayoral and City Council candidates. Our goal is to raise awareness of Wilsonville’s greatest diversity, equity, and inclusion gaps, and how we together might solve them.
After reading this, check out their responses on transportation, homeownership, homelessness, and universal broadband.
As part of the national drive to eradicate unequal outcomes in policing by race or ethnicity, Wilsonville community members have been working with the government and police to develop a civilian oversight body. The work of this body could be to track and analyze key policing metrics, along with individual incidents of concern, and report to the City Council.
This call for oversight is not new. In 2018, an OIR Group audit of police practice recommended increased engagement in civilian oversight of police to ensure equal racial outcomes.
1. Do you support a civilian policing oversight committee in Wilsonville?
If yes, please describe areas where you think oversight would be warranted and explain how such a committee would interact with Wilsonville’s existing contract for police services with Clackamas County.
If no, please explain what, if anything, you would do to address unequal outcomes in policing by race or ethnicity and the 2018 OIR Group recommendation.
Mayor candidates:
Ben West
I support a task force of various members made of a diverse mix of our population that could report to the City Council on how to improve the community’s relationship with law enforcement, and to share their lived experience. I do not support an oversight committee that has no experience in police work or knowledge in policing best practices to pass judgement on law enforcement. Please take time to learn more about my position on policing at www.benwestfororegon.com.
Right now, we have a unique opportunity to have the necessary discussion about practical policing reforms. I do want to hear the ideas of Wilsonville residents. We are in the throes of social upheaval as our city, region and nation are embroiled in civil unrest connected to police brutality and social injustices. As we debate these polarizing issues, I am committed to protecting Wilsonville from the injustices we have seen across the country. Early in this civic struggle, I began reaching out to other elected officials and leaders and started the conversation around policies that will make all those in our city safer.
I fully support the heroes, the men and women that daily put themselves in harm's way to keep our communities safe, and who put their lives on the line to protect someone they may have never met. I do not support policies that call for the dismantling of police forces. I believe we can back the blue while protecting vulnerable and minority populations.
Julie Fitzgerald
I want to be sure that Wilsonville is operating and evaluating our police services in a manner that makes all of our citizens feel secure and safe, and in a way that builds and maintains trust and respect among the citizenry and the police.
WAIC provided candidates with an electronic copy of a publicly available report called the July 2018 OIR report. Produced by a consulting firm called the OIR Group under contract with Clackamas County at the Sheriff's request, the OIR report covered the last several years of work by a former Clackamas County Sheriff Office (CCSO) employee referred to in the report as Detective Jeffrey Green. In 2009, Detective Green was assigned to the City of Wilsonville Police Department per the City of Wilsonville's contract with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office (CCSO). I referenced the July 2018 OIR report and the CCSO's Final OIR Implementation 2019 Report (posted on the CCSO's website) as I answered WAIC's question #1. CCSO responded to all 51 recommendations listed in the June 2018 OIR Report.
The report tells a very long, sorrowful story. It also describes what I view as some heroic police work. Sheriff Roberts expresses his feelings about the report in the cover letter on the 2019 Implementation Report. Here is one excerpt:
“As a former child-abuse detective, I was appalled that we had let down these survivors. As Sheriff, I needed to reassure the public that this neglect of duty and supervisory failure would not happen again. In July 2017, I asked the Clackamas Board of County Commissioners to hire an independent law enforcement consultant to review our investigative policies and procedures to address gaps in our performance and supervision, and to prepare a public report on their findings and recommendations. The County hired the OIR Group.”
In an Oregonian article dated June 20, 2019, Sheriff Craig Roberts said a "quality assurance program" and new technology that allows the agency to track overdue cases have been implemented. The story also referenced that Sheriff Roberts had emailed the County Chair that both of the new programs would have detected Green's lack of performance".
One of my takeaways from the OIR review and response, is to learn from the past take action to prevent past actions from repeating themselves. I recommend an evaluation of the City's review schedule and process for Wilsonville Policies and Procedures, to see where vulnerabilities may exist and improvements can be made.
A scheduled, periodic Policy and Procedure review should include eradicating policies found to produce unequal outcomes by race or ethnicity, including but not limited to the police department; it could prevent the kinds of problems outlined in the June 2018 OIR report.
One role of a citizen committee or council could be to periodically to review track and analyze key policing metrics. I have been doing some reading on the subject, and found helpful reference material in this article on Police Advisory Committees. I prefer a name like a Police Advisory Council or Committee over “oversight”, and I think the scope and purpose of any such group should be carefully considered, as described in the following excerpt from the above-referenced article on Police Advisory Councils:
“The recently released Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing emphasized the importance of citizen involvement in policing as a strategy to improve trust between law enforcement and the public. Within the study, citizen advisory boards or community involvement were specifically recommended as action items for local law enforcement, as well as support and collaboration with the federal government, training and education, improved technologies, and officer wellness and safety programs. Today, it is critically important for all police organizations to promote and cultivate citizen involvement with their agencies. However, implementing boards and commissions must be done thoughtfully and purposefully in order to establish a meaningful, effective relationship.”
Several weeks ago, I asked to meet with Wilsonville Chief of Police Rob Wurpes. We talked about the community, his staff, the level of experience they bring, current trends around community policing, effective community engagement, and more. When I was on the city council, I voted to add an officer to meet the increased need. The population growth mainly drove that need. During our conversation, I observed that we're going to be ready for more public safety staff in the near term. As Mayor, I will continue, as I did when I served on the City Council, to participate in the budget process actively, and I will expect all members of the budget committee to do the same. Prudent fiscal planning will enable us to apply the police and public safety resources needed so that all of our citizens feel secure and safe, and in a way that builds and maintains trust and respect among the citizenry and the police.
City Council candidates:
Kristin Akervall
I strongly support actions that help develop community relationships, build trust between the community and our police, address implicit bias we all hold, and strengthen productive communication channels that can shape ongoing improvements to the services provided. I support the idea that this work might be done through a community group that reviews policing data and assists in community relationship building, and I want to explore how this initiative can be executed. For this work to be effective, we need to cover what does the structure, membership, and defined responsibility of this group look like, what resources do they have available, and how does it interact with existing community groups that are also looking to forward Diversity, Equity and Inclusion issues. There are many different models and careful analysis will be needed to find what best fits the needs of our community and allows for impact. During these discussions we need close collaboration with community members, the city, and Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. I believe we must have everyone at the table to bring the most enduring and effective actions.
Joann Linville
I support a civilian police committee/commission much like that created in Eugene in 1998 as a subset of a larger organization established by City ordinance to address diversity, equity and inclusion. I believe this sub-organization should be volunteers appointed by the City representing the diversity and special populations of our community and staffed by City staff. The organization should function in an advisory capacity reporting to the Chief of Police, the City Manager and the City Council on the following:
1. Provide input on police policy, procedures, practices and resource issues within the context of our particular community and communities values and cultures
2. Review Wilsonville policing data to uncover strengths, trends and potential areas for advising
3. Facilitate communication between the community and police
4. Increase public understanding of police policies and procedures through facilitating trainings and workshop
5. Assist in recommending and providing training resources to City staff and police personnel regarding bias, disability justice, microaggression, development of cultural competence and other skill development
6. Discuss and make recommendations consistent with community values and needs of citizens
7. Share information and perspectives from other community groups, organizations and constituencies within the community
8. Represent the council/commission at public events and community organizations.
Because Wilsonville contracts law enforcement services with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, all Wilsonville police personnel are employees of the Sheriff’s Office. It would not be my recommendation that this organization review or comment on complaints related to the actions of individual police officers. There are currently processes at the state and local level for those complaints to be addressed and for personnel action to be taken through the Sheriff’s Office.
John Budiao
No response provided.
All of the candidates were provided the same timeline to respond. After multiple attempts to reach out to candidate John Budiao, we were still unable to receive any responses. We will update our website with his response should it become available.
Imran Haider
Yes. I think if citizens of Wilsonville have questions about crime and/or arrests being made, they should be able to speak with members of the local police force once per month in an organized forum. The council could mediate or liaise to create a productive forum that is not an interrogation or in any form accusatory either way but just allows people to have the ability to have questions asked and answered by those doing a very important job in the community.