Portland has reached agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on reforms to police policy, training, and oversight, The Oregonian reports. The city estimates the reforms will cost $3.5 million to implement. Among the changes, Portland must hire or retain a compliance coordinator and community liaison to oversee reforms of police policies. A 15-member Community Oversight Advisory Board will also be created.
The police bureau will adopt the kind of crisis intervention team model used in Memphis. It will expand its single mobile crisis unit, which pairs one officer with one Project Respond mental health worker, to three units – one for each precinct. Police will set up a new Addictions and Behavioral Health Unit. It will include a new sworn Crisis Intervention Team coordinator, an analyst, and the five officers in the bureau’s mobile crisis unit. If the bureau can’t meet a 180-day timeline for internal investigations, it must provide the Justice Department with a written explanation and come up with an action plan to achieve the goal. Mayor Sam Adams said, “For me this is a watershed moment for the Portland Police Bureau.”