Joke of the Month
Portland's "unique" mayor has been "negotiating" with federal law enforcement for months now about whether and how the city would rejoin the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force. The "discussions" have gone nowhere, and so now he's decided to take the issues public. He's posted his "proposal" to the FBI here.
The FBI often says it doesn't bargain with terrorists. One wonders what its policy is toward clowns.
| Posted at 9:12 AM | Permalink |
|
Comments (10)
I am always amused by watching Sam try to deal with people outside of the Portland bubble, even in Salem.
With our Rose-City colored glasses, we seem to be the only ones who don't get what a light-weight this guy is.
Posted by Snards | April 20, 2011 11:01 AM
1. Why change things when the last scenario went so well. The FBI got onto a would be terrorist, notified PPB, both did their part, and the bad guy went to jail.
2. It is likely federal policy dictating the Feds to reach out to the cities. Truth is, the real Feebs doing the work on the ground likely do not want to have to clue PPB in any sooner than need be.
3. Local pressure is likely driving the effort to get a resistant Portland involved. Truth is, why lose good local street cops for the long term to an FBI mandated assignment. If the FBI needs PPB, call them. It seems to work best that way.
Posted by Gibby | April 20, 2011 11:18 AM
The FBI and the local cops always clash on the TV crime shows.
Posted by Allan L. | April 20, 2011 11:25 AM
Good one, Jack: "Clowns and Terrorists".
So Sam claims the JTTF Agreement is "overly complex". It's interesting that all the other cities of the nation somehow figured it out. Could it have anything to do with Sam's comprehension? Or we don't have any lawyers able to grasp it? Or Sam's 30 staff members have no abilities?
Posted by lw | April 20, 2011 11:37 AM
"With our Rose-City colored glasses, we seem to be the only ones who don't get what a light-weight this guy is."
The rose-city colored glasses are because nothing truly challenging has ever really happened to Portland... no military invasions or occupations, no civil wars, no mass epidemics or starvations, no mass civil unrest, no tsunamis, no devastating volcanic eruptions or floods, no really big earthquakes (yet), though I fear the hammer of fate will fall heavy on the City of Lotus Eaters by way of the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
The light-weight is because people around here have the bar set embarassingly low...
Posted by Mr. Grumpy | April 20, 2011 11:55 AM
"Today, I'm releasing my draft JTTF proposal. I'd like your input."
Pardon me, but for some reason the mayor's headline for such a major announcement sounded more like the school lunch lady releasing the lunch menu for next week.
Posted by SKA | April 20, 2011 1:22 PM
"The FBI often says it doesn't bargain with terrorists. One wonders what its policy is toward clowns."
Perhaps the greatest BoJack line ever. +100.
Posted by RJBob | April 20, 2011 4:04 PM
What an insult to clowns . . .
Posted by umpire | April 20, 2011 4:41 PM
Sam's current proposal doesn't really offer the FBI much. His proposal prohibits PPB officers from getting involved in anything other than "full investigations" as defined by the US Attorney General in this document.
If I'm interpreting the legalese correctly, by the time they have enough to reach "full investigation" status most of the heavy lifting has been done already. If anything having PPB officers around, under this proposal, would just add unnecessary layers of complexity by requiring the FBI to constantly determine whether or not it's appropriate for them to participate in parts of the investigation. Add to that all the required briefings and legal opinions from the city attorney and it adds up to a lot of hoops to jump through.
It sounds like an awful lot of trouble to go through in exchange for having a couple of beat cops at your disposal.
Posted by Pragmatic Portlander | April 20, 2011 7:04 PM
And so it goes.
Posted by Mojo | April 20, 2011 8:39 PM