On the news last night, Ms. Wheat concluded by stating that the department stand by these officers. Maybe that is the problem.

Normally I support the police but in this case they were clearly in the wrong. For their own image the police need to stand up and admit it when they screwed up.

I'm just wondering in the Chasse case when, not if, the City settles in order to not have things come out in open court.

I applaud the two brave witnesses who saw the entire exchange and corroborated the victims' accounts of what happened, not the police. I believe that is the key difference between this incident and others.

That, and the fact that the victims lived to tell their story, of course.

Ms. Wheat concluded by stating that the department stand by these officers. Maybe that is the problem

Without a doubt. That, and the rest of us just standing by.

I applaud the two brave witnesses who saw the entire exchange and corroborated the victims' accounts of what happened

And how.

The Portland police have a long history of beating down potential witnesses to their actions. Copwatching can be very dangerous in this town.

Leo Besner, one of the over-amped cops involved in this sordid event, really needs to be cut loose by the Bureau. He was involved in a large cop riot during a visit to town by George W. Bush in 2002 that resulted in nearly $1 million in costs to the city.

He also shot a guy in the back with a high-powered rifle during a hostage situation when that action was not nearly justified.

Is there any financial consequence to the good police? Why should anyone change if their budget and pensions are unaffected by judgments like this? If each judgment or settlement took a bite out of their pensions, the good police would make sure their bad apple coworkers were removed.

It's not going to get any better as police depts. around the country continue to hire ex-M.P.s, now including swarms of PTSD'd Iraq-Afgan vets who aren't being given the care they are entitled to, have earned, and need, by the military and the Vets Admin. At least we can be thankful that most of the goons shave their heads to let us know how little is inside those nubbled noggins.

I can hardly wait for the Chasse trial. $20 million? 25 million?

If memory serves correctly, Leo Besner was
previous to his gig here in PDX, a cop with
LAPD and one of the Rampart's Station gang
that had to find a new place of employment
in the late-1990's due to some very serious
corruption issues, and their old-boss, Mark
"Croak-of-Kroeker" Kroeker sprang on the
scene here in PDX in late 1999 or early in
2000 at the behest of Vera Katz(who was so
loathed thereafter to admit she'd make such
a mistake and dug in her heels to further
justify a bad decision by making it worst
in letting him stay on till the Scottie
McCollister fiasco made it impossible for
him to hang on) and it not long till those
from LAPD needing a "new place" employment
and away from the investigators there are
showing up here in PDX. Kroeker is long
gone, Vera Katz is long gone, so the main
question today is WHY IN THE HELL IS LEO
BESNER STILL AT PPB and WHAT IS SIZER
GETTING FOR KEEPING HIM ON THE FORCE???

So why hasn't someone stuck a microphone in our Police Commissioner's face regarding any of the recent issues?
Oh, that's right, the only three investigative reporters in this town have such a backlog of work they'll never get to this stuff...

Is there any financial consequence to the good police? Why should anyone change if their budget and pensions are unaffected by judgments like this? If each judgment or settlement took a bite out of their pensions, the good police would make sure their bad apple coworkers were removed.

Somehow I don't see the union letting that happen.

Does anyone know where in Portland I need to go so that a Portland officer can walk by and "scare me" too. Y'all seem to take such joy in the paying out of large sums of money that I figured I might get me some too.

Thank you, Greg Kafoury, for another great performance.

Thank you, two witnesses, for your courageous civic solidarity.

And thanks to Portland's many respectful, conscientious officers who are also burdened by Mr Besner and -- as we have been reminded by boo hoo -- others of similar, sordid provenance.

Never posted before, but thought I could add a few tales.
1. I was crossing a street downtown two years ago with my 4year old daughter at a crosswalk with the light, when a motorcycle cop turned onto our street nearly hitting us. It was, btw, a one-way street, and he was going the wrong way. He grabbed my jacket, and threatened to ticket me for Jay-walking, said some unpleasant things about my parenting, then u-turned and drove off.
2. I was on a jury for an antiwar protester/rioter. We listened to the police for two days, then watched the video. From the video it was clear the cops had rioted, not the protesters. We had sat and listened to cops lie in court for two days. Before watching the tape, we were all willing to convict the kid. We only watched the tapes to be thorough.

I personally think we have too few police, and they've gotten scared(of lawsuits, of the public). Scared men with guns are dangerous

It's kinda funny, but I have had to major involvements with the police in my life that are similar in scope to what happened here.

In the first, I was pulled over for failing to come to a complete stop at a stopsign. When the office approached, I presented my carry permit and was extracted from the vehicle at gunpoint. They put me on the back of the cruiser and secured the gun in my ankle holster. (exactly as the permit instructor said they would).

In the second instance, the police had an APB out for a large white male driving a late model red truck heading south from location A. Guess what? I was a large white male driving a late model red truck heading in the same direction. Imagine my surprise to see 3 patrol cars following me. Long story short, they did a felony stop and placed me in the back of the car. Luckily, I could prove where I had been at the time of the alleged incident, so 15 minutes later, I was one my way home with a great story to tell.

Guess what, I never considered suing the police in either incident.

You're not required to show the cops your gun license, unless they ask for it. Sounds like you're better off keeping it to yourself, unless the situation degrades to a body search.

I don't have much respect left for Portland cops. They just don't have any system of internal discipline or getting rid of those who shouldn't be in uniform.

Not only do bad cops keep getting away with bad conduct, but the rest of the cops see this and either become demoralized or begin to abuse their authority as well.

Read "Portland Confidential" about the history of the force. Corruption isn't something new to the force. It's built into Portland PD's DNA.

I've been in a union which endlessly and successfully kept the worst employees on the job (gold brickers, sexual harrassers, whining downers). It's like cancer to the rest of the workforce to protect those people in the ranks.

My few interactions with the Portland Police have always been respectful and down to business.

Sounds like Officer Besner needs to get on board with this style, and less with the shooting and assaulting style. He's now accountable to the taxpayers for a cumulative total of $675,000 as awarded in a court of law. Wonder how much more it takes before he's shown the door?

As long as the police focus their attention on the loudmouth law-abiding citizenry, the quiet, polite sociopathic gangsters will continue to have a field day in Portland.

Corruption isn't something new to the force. It's built into Portland PD's DNA.

I disagree - most policemen are honest, hard working, straightforward and courteus with the public, and are - privately - likely apalled at the behavior of some of their "bad apple" comrades on the force. What is a problem is that this bad apple subculture is tolerated by both city administrators and the police union, and speaking out against it from within the force is very, very dangerous - watch the movie Serpico some time.