Askance like nobody's watching

Has the state of police oversight in Portland ever been more screwed up than it is now?

Not ony has the city auditor washed her hands of the "Independent Police Review" committee that her office has been running. Not only are we years away from getting the new review board that the voters voted in 17 months ago. But now we also have the city telling an existing "Community Oversight Advisory Board," which is nearly half vacant, that they ought to take a two-month "breather" while their future is pondered.

So who's monitoring the cops these days? To me it seems like no one.

Meanwhile, of course, the PoPo all just got big fat raises and bonuses, and everybody on the City Council is on record as saying what a wonderful thing that is. And as usual, the police union is fighting civilian oversight tooth and nail in front of the faceless, nameless arbitrators who decide the city's future.

But it isn't really much of a fight. The straw man of civilian "oversight" of the cops is lying in a heap on the ground. "Overlooking" is more like it.