In 2020, Portland voters approved a major overhaul of the city’s current police oversight and accountability system. A ballot measure called for a new, civilian-led police oversight board and a city-funded team of investigators with the authority to investigate complaints and issue discipline.
Five years later, the new Community Board for Police Accountability (CBPA) is close to being operational, but now, staff with the city’s current independent investigative body say they’re worried about losing their jobs.
Employees with the city of Portland’s Independent Police Review (IPR) have authorized a strike, citing uncertainty over their jobs amid a transition to the new CBPA system. The IPR has been in place since 2001. The office independently investigates complaints against sworn police officers, meaning it’s not part of the Portland Police Bureau and operates as its own entity within the city–the same structure the new investigating body will use.
For nearly 25 years, IPR has served as the only investigative unit related to police conduct, outside of PPB’s own internal affairs unit. Last year, IPR took in 224 police misconduct complaints, 18 of which resulted in full administrative investigations.
The majority of IPR’s staff are trained investigators assigned to review allegations of officer misconduct submitted by the public, or other police personnel. Years ago, after Portlanders voted to revamp the police oversight system, Portland City Council members tried to create assurances that IPR staff would keep their jobs under the new system once the transition from IPR to CBPA went into effect. Now, IPR says labor negotiations with the city haven’t honored those assurances.
“In the new oversight system, right now, the city is saying ‘Yeah you can apply for a job there,’” David Kreisman, representative for AFSCME Local 189-5, which represents IPR workers, told the Mercury. “The city is reorganizing or refocusing on how they're going to be staffing this, so the main point we're looking for is successorship language.”
So far, IPR staff say they haven’t gotten that. On August 19, all of the 11 union-represented IPR staff voted to authorize a strike. The work stoppage wouldn’t be immediate. Staff say it would likely occur sometime in the fall if AFSCME and the city reach an impasse over labor negotiations.
Gayla Jennings is an operations coordinator at IPR. She’s worked at the city since 2008, first as a staffer in the Auditor’s Office. In 2022, she moved over to the IPR Division.
Jennings says most of her colleagues are professional investigators at IPR with backgrounds in similar agencies like the Department of Human Services, and Child Protective Services. Some of them have degrees in criminology.
“Through our bargaining efforts, we wanted guaranteed options for future employment with the city, or to be provided an option to exit and receive commensurable compensation that recognizes our stewardship of the current police oversight system during this transition,” Jennings said.
Last month, Jennings wrote a letter to US District Judge Michael H. Simon on behalf of her colleagues. Judge Simon presides over hearings about the city’s settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice regarding the city’s police force.
In a July 16 letter, Jennings cited a budget note from the 2021-22 fiscal year by the former Portland City Council, which “commits to preserving the existing positions in Independent Police Review (IPR) as permanent, ongoing positions.”
“Council acknowledges the importance of the positions and the expertise of the employees who hold them in meeting the terms of the City’s settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice,” the budget note states.
Labor negotiators for the city of Portland have been meeting with AFSCME since March 26. The two parties held mediation talks last Thursday. The following day, the city issued a statement about the ongoing attempts to come to an agreement with its IPR division.
“While we’re disappointed that a strike vote occurred before reaching 150 days of bargaining—and ahead of our first scheduled mediation session yesterday—we remain committed to achieving a fair agreement,” Alison Perkins, a public information officer with the city’s Bureau of Human Resources, told the Mercury Friday.
“Hiring decisions cannot be predetermined in the transition to the Office of Community-based Police Accountability,” Perkins noted, but pointed to a proposal presented to AFSCME Local 189 last month that outlines options for IPR employees to either apply for positions in the new oversight system, or accept a job within the city performing “substantially equivalent work.”
Kreisman, the union rep, says IPR employees shouldn’t have to re-apply for jobs at the city.
“What we're saying is they’re still going to have to have investigators, and there is no one more qualified to be doing this work than the investigators at IPR,” he said.
The next mediation session is scheduled for Sept. 25. Perkins says the city is “hopeful that we can continue to make meaningful progress.”
