Brian's back

Here's a mildly amusing news story following up on the Portland police slander scandal involving city commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. The O plays up as the big news the fact that a couple of 911 operators got suspended or reprimanded for "gossiping" about the case when it all went down in March. They're not allowed to "gossip" about things that happen on 911. I'd like to see a compliance audit on that rule.

But buried way down in the story were two items that constitute the more interesting news. First, Brian Hunzeker, who had to resign as police union president because of some still-mysterious "mistake" in connection with slandering Hardesty, has apparently served out his secret suspension as a motorcycle cop and is back "on patrol" in north Portland. I put quotation marks around "on patrol" because it's not clear what anyone on the Portland police force is being paid to do these days. It certainly is not to answer residents' calls for help or to prevent crime.

The other noteworthy thing is that Hardesty says she's going to sue. And guess who the defendant will be. The individual cops who defamed her? Oh, hell no. It's you and me, the taxpayers! She says she'll be suing the city.

The cops commit willful misconduct, and the taxpayers pay. But only after an outside firm is brought in to "investigate," to the tune of a couple of hundred grand. And in the meantime, the facts are covered up tight. God bless our country and city.

UPDATE, Sept. 8: Apparently I was misreading the O story, and Hunzeker was not, in fact, back on the job. More here.