Mayor Sam Adams is angling for a January decision on whether Portland should rejoin the Joint Terrorism Task Force—a question that took on new urgency last month after a Corvallis man thought he had detonated a bomb in Pioneer Square, part of a jihadist sting plot assisted by the FBI.
And, as reported in this space and everywhere else, Adams' office several days ago asked Portlanders to chime in on his proposed "work plan" for examining that question. On Friday, December 17, his office heard from one of the loudest critics of the idea, Portland Copwatch. Their first recommendation: Don't. Don't even ask. Just don't do it.
Which is what a lot of folks have been saying about all the agita over whether we should reconsider a decisive decision in 2005 to pull our cops out, partly amid concerns we couldn't control whether they'd be forced to violate state and local laws as part of the federal task force's mission to defend against terror plots.
Of course, knowing that Adams is out to score some easy political points off this issue (after stealing the ball, so to speak, from council rival Dan Saltzman), Copwatch offered some other questions that the mayor's study might also consider.
The proposed questions look more deeply at the unit that currently farms out officers, when needed, to work on federal enforcement efforts. Copwatch also wants the council to open the process up to more public testimony. (It should be noted that Dan Handelman, Copwatch's first among equals, initially spotted the JTTF on a consent agenda a decade ago and brought to the attention of an unknowing public.)
Keep reading to see Copwatch's full letter to the mayor's office and city council.