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09-22-2024 8:15 pm • PDX and SEA Weather
MLK Breakfast
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland police officers could receive between a 13% to 20% pay raise under a tentative four-year contract, including retention bonuses, increases for completing required crisis intervention training and earning higher education degrees and cost of living adjustments.
The contract doesn’t include a policy on body-worn cameras, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. It does include a new guide governing police discipline and allows for the expansion of the Portland Street Response program, which dispatches a mental health worker and fire paramedic to crisis calls.
The city and the Portland Police Association remain at odds over whether officers should be allowed to view body-camera footage before they’re interviewed or write police reports.
The contract, to run from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2025, must be approved by the City Council and a majority of the Portland Police Association, which represents 881 officers, detectives, forensic criminalists and sergeants.
The negotiated contract also allows for officers who retire to be rehired for one year, with a one-year renewal option at the police chief’s discretion. Those rehired also would obtain a $5,000 recruitment bonus.
In the event the city’s financial position worsens and revenue dwindles, the contract calls for the council and union to meet and “discuss the economic impact and by mutual agreement” and find “alternatives to a reduction in the work force,” the contract says.
The discipline segment of the contract still holds that the city should reprimand or discipline an officer in a manner “that is least likely to embarrass the officer,” but adds that the city may publicly provide procedural updates on the status of an investigation.
A new discipline guide, or so-called “corrective action” guide, includes education-based remedies for policy violations and categories of offenses.
“I want to thank both sides of this labor negotiation for the difficult work they put in to bring this contract to a close. It is important to me that we are able to attract and keep quality police officers and that we have a discipline guide that ensures our officers are held accountable for their actions,” Mayor and Police Commissioner Ted Wheeler said in a statement.
Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said she made a made a promise to Portland residents that they would do this contract differently and that she was proud that her office's deep engagement led to a better process and outcomes.
“Over the last 3 years, we took in significant community input, provided as much transparency as labor law allowed, hired outside legal counsel with expertise in police union contracts, and now we have real change,” she said in a statement.
The City Council will take public testimony on the contract on Feb. 17 and vote the following week.
The union held informational sessions for its members on Sunday and Monday. The union will send out ballots to its members on Wednesday and count votes on Feb. 15.
