Rules are for other people


I see that the Portland police are ignorinng, if not defying, their own policy about disclosing the names of officers who shoot people. Those names are supposed to be released within 24 hours of the shooting unless there's a "credible security threat." Nowadays the cops routinely refuse to release the names for many days. Apparently they take the position that there's always a threat, however vague. The latest instance is here.

If they really think there's always going to be a threat, then they ought to go through the steps necessary to change the policy. DEclaring exceptions time after time is not the answer.

It's classic Portland city government, covering up information at will. And it's classic Portland police, who have never been subject to meaningful civilian supervision. By now we were supposed to have a whole new procedure for overseeing them. It was passed overwhelmingly by the voters two years ago. But it's gone nowhere.

Then they wonder why people don't trust them.

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