They came in a not-so-well orchestrated succession. Statements by Portland Police Bureau leadership and the Mayor’s office came within hours of the other yesterday. And in the late afternoon another statement explained the rest.
It came from the Portland Police Association–the cop’s union–complaining about recent events by Occupy Portland protesters.

After being cheer led by the Mayor and Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Randy Leonard (with Nick Fish and Dan Saltzman silenced by the rest), official Portland decided to shake a reproving forefinger at Occupy Portland.

All it took to get this mild remonstrance was a protester trying to throw a cop under a bus. No biggie.

The PIO for the cops issued the first statement saying,

Unfortunately, Occupy Portland provided no information to Portland Police regarding the route or possible number attendees, despite repeated requests throughout the day for this information. 

Having no information on unpermitted marches and events makes it very difficult for the Police Bureau to make plans to assist [emphasis mine] in these marches. When police cannot properly plan for marches, the safety of marchers, officers and the public safety is put in jeopardy.
  

Early in the march, people left the sidewalk, entered the street and refused officers’ direction [emph mine] to get on and stay on the sidewalk. 

During the march, a sergeant was pushed into the path of a moving TriMet bus. …Police reported that last night the tone of the march also changed in that marchers seemed to want a confrontation with police. [emphasis mine]  The group marched against traffic and provoked motorists along the route.  

Wow! The protesters didn’t provide the cops with a parade route and weren’t nice to citizens and the cops???! Unprecedented! Oh, wait. Portland officials have never required the protesters to file a parade route or take out a permit. Gee, do you suppose that’s why they still don’t do it? 

Then the next statement came from the Police-Chief-turned-Mayoral-Candidate-in-Waiting Mike Reese who insists now that officers wear their riot gear while patrolling Occupy Portland especially after the non permitted march and cop into bus incident:

Because unpermitted marches pose a significant threat to marchers, police and motorists, incident commanders will have the authority to order appropriate action if marchers are not staying on sidewalks and obeying laws. [emphasis mine–didn’t want you to miss the irony]


Due to the strain on patrol officers, I am ordering all sworn members to begin wearing their Class C uniforms and duty belts, effective Friday, November 4, 2011. All sworn members will have their gas mask, baton, and helmet immediately available.

The reluctant Police Commissioner–Mayor Sam Adams–chimed in next.

One police sergeant suffered minor injuries when he was pushed in front of a TriMet bus. Fortunately, he will be okay. Violence like this will not be tolerated [other violence, however, has been tolerated].

Today, we released a statement stressing the importance of working collaboratively in advance of events like these, to share information. When we do not have this information or marches are unpermitted, police will be asking participants to stay on sidewalks and obey all traffic laws [emphasis mine–gotta appreciate that now they’re asking the protesters to follow the law when they’ve been breaking it for weeks].

This is a very reasonable request. We need advance information to ensure the route is safe. We also need to have the right number of police officers to facilitate a successful march [I wonder if he was ever concerned about a Tea Party being “successful.”] without unfairly pulling officers away from Portland’s neighborhoods.

The last statement explained the previous three. We found out why “Official Portland” went all 5-Oh on the protesters. The Police Officers Union is ticked.

My favorite part of the letter to Portlanders

I’m glad the union is speaking up, but, frankly it’s a little late. Here’s my official response to them.