US Atty General Loretta Lynch in Oregon

We Will Protest!Wednesday, March 1st, 2016, in response to the impending arrival of U.S. Attorney General, Loretta Lynch. Lynch is coming to town to highlight Portland as one of six cities that her office has chosen as “public safety role models” for "successful policing" and  'innovative community policing programs." While protesters acknowledge the work being done by Community Policing Partners as critical to the successful reformation of the Portland Police Bureau, they insist more pressure should be exerted upon the City of Portland to abide by the terms of the Department of Justice(DOJ) settlement to a lawsuit brought to bear against the City in 2012 (United States vs. City of Portland), terms in which many find the City and it's Community Policing Partners to be unnecessarily slow in implementing. Not addressing existing problems in a timely manner has resulted in persistent and alarming policing disparities against people of color in Portland. According to the ACLU, Black people in Multnomah County are 320% more likely to be charged with a crime than whites, 500% more likely to spend time in jail than whites, and 600% more likely to be sentenced to prison than whites. "U.S. Attorney General Lynch also needs to acknowledge the importance of Community Policing Partners being held to the same degree of accountability to public oversight and regular audits in order to maintain the integrity and veracity of their individual relationships with the Portland Police Bureau and the City of Portland. The Civil Liberties they are tasked with overseeing on behalf of the Community should be of paramount importance in the process because rampant and ongoing systemic profiling and violations of Constitutional rights to privacy and Human Rights in our City are deplorable and completely unacceptable," emphasizes Teressa Raiford, Founder and Lead Organizer of Don't Shoot Portland.