Mayor Sam Adams, the city’s police commissioner, called the officers’ drunk-driving arrests “beyond disappointing.”

Wonder how the officers feel about Creepy's past behaviors?

Absolutely.

The most damning indication that police culture in general may be corrupt (and I hate to come to that conclusion) is the way leaders of departments routinely excuse rather than excoriate the bad behavior of their subordinates. You'd think that decent cops or police union leaders would be furious at those whose behavior damages the reputation of cops in general. Instead, when cops do bad things, what we usually hear from other cops is anger directed toward police critics ("we put our lives on the line every day--how dare you challenge us") and a lot of talk about how difficult and stressful the job of a policeman is--as if it weren't a job requirement to handle stress and and difficulty responsibly.

Motion seconded, Jack. Mayor is too hypocritical to be anything more than paralyzed (again) -- hey Chief & Council, watcha gonna do? Don't wait until next contract negotiations, either. Got a copy of the current contract to share, Jack?

If you'd just quit criticizing them for breaking the law, they wouldn't have to do so much "coping."

One thing I noticed is that 5/6 of the arrests were made outside of PDX city limits. Since most officers live and drive in PDX, I wonder how many have been pulled over while intoxicated, and allowed to go home? I bet the problem is much greater than we think it is.

Jesse,
Actually I think the majority of PDX police officers live outside the city.

The last I knew (admittedly a while ago), a clear majority of City cops did not reside in Portland. "Community policing" is a buzz word phrase of little actual meaning since most cops do not live in the community they police. City cops are great at taking Portland's money home to communities outside of Portland, many of which are outside of Oregon.

This is what Reese has been saying all along by studying alcohol among other police departments and the general public. He hopes to use this information to say that his cops are no more drunk than other cops or the rest of the population so get over it.

It's not unlike the old saw about law enforcement being so incredibly dangerous. There are many professions more deadly, and who goes into law enforcement expecting not to face danger?

Reese Adams and all these cops need to have their rear ends hauled into a judges chambers and read the riot act. To their faces by the judge and sternly ordered to knock this crap off and strong cursed out to their faces by the judge. Too.

Somehow the phrase "sober as a judge" springs to mind.

Practicioners in the tri-county area will chuckle with knowledge of certain judges.

What these cop need are 1) cops who will press charges 2) DAs who will treat them equally with other citizens (though DAs are loathe to ever honor the 14th ammendment in any way) 3) Judges who will hold them accountable with convictions/sentencing, etc.

When there are real consequences for bad behavior, it is a lot less likely to happen. And that doesn't just go for drunken driving but also for depraved indifference when they murder or assault people.

Sorry to be in the minority, but to me it indicates that the support system for the profession is insufficient. I can think of few other profession -- except attorneys -- where such a high percentage of one's efforts is "discarded."

I'm an engineer -- I push electrons around and they occasionally push back -- and I need frequent "release" from extended play on a Whak-A-Mole arcade game. And the laws of physics have never tried to hurt me or insult me. (They will, however, let me hurt myself. And let me make a fool of myself.)

I'm not excusing sub-optimal behavior, but let's try some root-cause analysis of the problem. Then fix it.

When your job is to enforce the law and break one of the chief one's your agency claims you're "tough on," that's a long way from demanding a "root cause analysis." As sworn law enforcement officers, they should be prosecuted and have their rights taken the same as every doctor, lawyer, mechanic and waitress who's ever been pulled over by them. Otherwise, they lose their authority to enforce the law. You don't get to tell other people what to do and then snub your nose at the laws when you break them yourself. Period.

Not disagreeing with ya', observer, just saying the problem should be fixed BEFORE they offend. Prosecuting a drunk driver after causing a fatality is really pretty hollow compared to preventing it.

Here is your answer, in code (sorta).

Root_Cause = Read_Input (String)

If Root_Cause = "Lack Of Consequences"
then Solution = Enforce_Consequences
Else Solution = Free_Whackamole_Fridays

-Jo