Here is an easy solution.... Just simply comply with the cop's orders until the situation calms.... By doing this, one easily avoids a possible tragic outcome....Just Sayin....

Yeah, tell that to some drunk out of his mind homeless guy who recently tried to get himself arrested so that he could get detoxed. Real helpful advice.

Portland police have training problems, cultural problems, management problems, violence problems, credibility problems, etc. I wouldn't even know where to begin fixing all their problems. But at the very least they need to recognize that the community standards about when we want the police to blow somebody away is not something they get to decide for themselves.

i can't be the only who's noticed that sam the man has gained about 20lbs in a couple of months. saw some video today on the news of him talking and was taken a back at the weight gain. what's wrong sam? police dept. got ya down?

I wouldn't even know where to begin fixing all their problems.

You might be surprised how far we could go with an independent police review board that is able to subpeona witnesses, and a DA office that will prosecute police crimes.

I can't have much sympathy for someone who goes around clueless wielding a knife in a public venue. Maybe we need to send Mr. Jack out on domestic violence calls and other public disturbances, and see if his ivory tower, academic interpretation of street life changes. My guess is it would.

Still, the current circus way inwhich city hall manages the police bureau really needs to change. I think the police bureau should be separately elected, and have independent third party reviews of high profile cases.

You might be surprised how far we could go with an independent police review board that is able to subpeona witnesses

How will that be any different than a grand jury? Grand Jury's are regular folk pulled from the jury pool, right? The same people who find the cops did nothing wrong?

Well Bob Clark, I doubt if "Mr Jack" would be shooting unarmed people in the back. It's not about training "ivory towers: or academia, its about a paranoid mindset that makes one see danger where none exists. And blames the victim like "machine" does at top.
This is not something new but it is being studied a lot more by the psych community because of the deaths of the victims.
Google it.

Monty Python did a skit about training troops for attacks with various weapons, most of them fruit. Commander Cleese inevitably blew the banana-wielding trainees away with a gun. It was not supposed to be an example of good policing, but then, the Portland police are known to lack a sense of humor and perhaps they just follow what they took to be legitimate training.

Isn't a martial-arts-trained policeman carrying a baton capable of whacking the arm of an X-acto-knife-carrying man in a stupor and disarming him? If not, why worry about training them and just have them watch Monty Python reruns.

Isn't a martial-arts-trained policeman carrying a baton capable of whacking the arm of an X-acto-knife-carrying man in a stupor and disarming him?

Maybe had the office not been alone, LTL options could have been explored. Given he was the only one there, when confronted with a man with a knife, he did the only thing he could, draw his service weapon.

Dear Machine,

The police pursued and stomped to death a mentally ill person because the "suspected him of having peed in the street". I hope you never have to take leak in public...

Jon - The DA leads Grand Juries through their exercises and has complete control over all of the evidence and how it is presented. So tell me how they are actually independent from a corrupt group that refuses to prosecute rogue cops?

Dear Dean,

Stomped to death ?? Laughable......

"Machine" just wrote "..Stomped to death ?? Laughable.." and I failed to see what it is he thinks is "funny" about a mentally-ill man who was just "thought" to have pissed on the sidewalk being STOMPED to death by 3 cops of ill-repute and them getting away with such murderous deed? Is "Machine" one of the rogue Killer-Kops involved or is he maybe an old has-been PPA copster that see not a thing wrong with killing sidewalk pissers and maybe got away with far worst while he was cop and is keeping his own particular Demons at Bay by lauding what these 3 pukes did?

Maybe "stomped" is too strong a word - perhaps "leaned" has a more PC sound to it - though 20 plus breaks to the ribs sounds horrible no matter the cause.