Hoping to defuse what some commissioners called a “crisis situation” between protesters and the Eugene Police Department, the Eugene Police Commission met Thursday evening to review city crowd control policies and plan an increase in dialogue between the two groups.
Eugene Police Chief Jim Hill said that the police department “really wants the community’s involvement in this issue” and called for community leaders and human rights commissions to step forward and get involved in communication with activist groups.
Following a number of protests in the Eugene area that have resulted in altercations between protesters and the police, the City Council sent a letter to the commission instructing it to look at the level of escalating confrontation between them.
“I am very concerned about the ratcheting up of demonstrations from certain portions of the community,” said Hill, who expressed concern on behalf of his officers who he said felt threatened by increasingly violent protesters.
However, Hill said that the police department is responsible to a certain extent for its actions.
“I hold officers accountable and myself accountable,” he said.
Greg Rikhoff, a member of the Eugene Human Rights Commission, asked the commission for its assistance in developing “interim tools to help deal with this rapidly escalating situation.”
Rikhoff specified that he wanted two representatives from the commission to meet with two members of the Human Rights Commission on a weekly basis to work with community leaders in devising a strategy to involve all the members of the controversy.
Commissioner Carla Newbre said that in her work as a crisis counselor, she could identify crisis situations and that this issue was in need of a “crisis intervention.”
“I want [the commission] to look at this as a sacred duty, because the future of our city is at stake,” Newbre said.
Commissioner Maurice Denner called for the members of the Eugene Police Employees Union to be included in any discussion, saying that officers’ safety when responding to protests was a critical issue.
The commission did not address the issue of direct activist involvement until the end, when Commissioner Tim Laue said that “we need to include those who are protesting … everyone should be represented in a real discussion.”
Tapes of protesters and police clashing at a recent march celebrating the birthday of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Pennsylvania death-row inmate convicted of killing a police officer, were distributed to commission members with the warning that the footage was evidence in the criminal trial of eight protesters arrested at the march.
Activists at the University of Oregon Survival Center expressed disbelief that the commission would accomplish any of their goals.
“Obviously, this meeting is only for the part of the public that buys [the police department’s] line,” Randy Newnham said.
“I don’t trust police to do anything but public relations,” Madison LeBlanc said. “They’re just a bunch of thugs. They literally tackled people just for jaywalking. There was no order to disperse until the police started shooting rubber bullets and beating people.”
LeBlanc cited the Mumia march as one of the bigger examples of why protesters eye police with distrust, calling the officers’ reaction one of “unprovoked violence.”
Newnham said that “if we had been out there talking about Mumia frying, we would have been paraded through town.”
The commission voted to hold future meetings on May 22 and June 1 in order to meet its July 1 City Council deadline to draft a working proposal to deal with the issue.