[Peace-discuss] Can Urbana control its police?

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The Urbana city council seems quite pleased with its new liberal
majority.  Here's an example it might emulate. --CGE]

	Joy in gallery as Portland quits FBI task force
	The City Council votes 4-1 to leave the nationwide 
	anti-terror effort, but the police chief will stay 
	on a panel and get briefings
	Friday, April 29, 2005
	ANNA GRIFFIN

They may not have won any new friends in Washington D.C., but Portland
City Council members heard mostly kudos from their constituents Thursday
as they officially ended the Portland Police Bureau's involvement in the
FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force.

As expected, the City Council voted 4-1 to reassign the two Portland
officers serving on the local, state and federal anti-terror team back to
the Police Bureau within 90 days.

Portland Police Chief Derrick Foxworth will keep his seat on a committee
of law enforcement leaders who receive regular briefings on the task
force's investigations. The two Portland officers will keep their
top-secret security clearances in case they're needed to help respond to
a terrorist attack, but city investigators won't do any broader
anti-terrorism work.

With the vote, Portland becomes the first U.S. city to pull its officers
out of a FBI anti-terrorism force.

"I am so proud of Portland," said Basja Samuelson, a Northeast Portland
resident who was one of 21 speakers Thursday -- 16 of them in favor of
the City Council's decision. "I am so proud of you as our mayor and our
commissioners, and your willingness to stand up and show that you are the
ones who have responsibility and authority over our police officers."

Potter, a former Portland police chief, announced last month that he
wanted more access for himself, the police chief and the city attorney to
the task force's work. Without more civilian oversight, the mayor says,
he cannot guarantee that Portland officers obey state laws barring them
from investigating people strictly because of their political or
religious ties.

He met several times with federal officials over the past few weeks, but
they could not find a way to both address the mayor's worries and keep
Portland in the task force. Instead, they agreed to disagree.

"When we look at our history, we see examples that when we blindly give
people power, that sometimes the power is misused," Potter said. "It is
in our lifetime that we have seen that. We have people sitting in that
room who have felt the effects of the abuse of power."

"I don't think whether we stay in or out of the JTTF will determine the
safety of Portland citizens. I think what will determine the safety of
Portland citizens is when we work together, when we watch out for each
and care for each other, that our society is safer."

Potter and his colleagues have gotten pressure to compromise in recent
days from other politicians -- who fear payback from Washington D.C. --
and business leaders worried about the message Thursday's decision sends
to the rest of the country. Foxworth argued in a memo to the mayor for
continuing the city's involvement. Robert King, president of the Portland
Police Association, said officers he's spoken with disagree with pulling
out and don't understand the City Council's stance.

But on Thursday night, the City Council made its final decision in front
of a crowd that heartily supported its decision.

Nationally, there are some 100 task forces -- joint local, state and
federal squads assigned the duty of preventing and investigating both
foreign and domestic terrorist attacks. Portland's task force is credited
with the arrests and convictions of six people for conspiring against
U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Yet the Portland area is also home to Brandon Mayfield, a lawyer and
convert to Islam whose fingerprints were mistakenly linked to the
terrorist bombings that killed 191 people in Spain last year. Mayfield,
who is suing the government, spent two weeks in jail before the FBI
acknowledged its mistake. His name came up several times Thursday night.

"Look at the reign of terror they conducted against this man, the lies
they told," said Paul McAdams, waving copies of the investigative reports
used against Mayfield. "Anyone in this room could be a victim of the
FBI."

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed Freedom of Information Act
requests in 10 states, including Oregon, in an attempt to discover
whether task forces have been used to spy on people. Critics of the task
force concept, and Portland's participation, point to examples of
egregious behavior elsewhere, such as the Fresno, Calif., case in which a
local sheriff's deputy went undercover to infiltrate an anti-war group.

The ACLU hopes Portland's decision sparks similar debates elsewhere.

Potter invited representatives of the ACLU to sit in on his negotiations
with the federal government. And for civil libertarians, Thursday's vote
marked a victory after five years of work to open up the task force's
files or remove Portland's officers.

"This is pretty much what we've been asking for all along," said Dan
Handelman, co-founder of the police watchdog group Portland Copwatch.
"Overall in taking this action, you are setting a national trend. This is
a great moment in our history and in our country's history."

This is by no means the first time Portland has questioned federal law
enforcement policies. In December 2001, Portland leaders refused to help
with federal anti-terrorism interviews of foreign visitors. In 2003, the
City Council criticized and called for broad changes in the USA Patriot
Act.

None of the federal law enforcement leaders with whom Potter negotiated
appeared to be in the audience Thursday, although Potter said he invited
them.

Following City Hall protocol, audience members don't applaud or boo
during City Council meetings. Instead, they silently wave their hands in
the air to show their approval.

There was plenty of waving Thursday, until Dan Saltzman spoke. Normally
the commissioner who attracts the least attention, he spent much of the
night listening to speakers criticize him for his vote, even before he'd
actually cast it.

"I believe our failure to be in the Joint Terrorism Task Force here puts
other Americans at risk, not just in Portland, Oregon," he said. "We are
a country, and to make this city somehow sound like we are a federal
government in and of ourselves is the wrong line of logic."

Moments after Saltzman's no vote --and the stillness that accompanied it
-- the City Council made its decision official and adjourned. The crowd
applauded for nearly three minutes.

Anna Griffin: 503-294-5988; annagriffin at news.oregonian.com

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