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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Gregory McKelvey

October 10, 2016

(503)459-1930
gregmckelvey@lclark.edu

Protest Against The PPA Contract


Tomorrow (10/11/16), Dont Shoot Portland along with many groups will be holding a
protest at Portland City Hall. We plan to begin at 3 PM and then stay throughout the entire
night so that we can fight against the contract on Wednesday during City Council. The
mayors office has gotten word of our protest and has begun the usual tactic of silencing
black and brown voices in regards to policing. Last week, the mayor excluded many
community members from city council and there were two arrests. The meeting was then
moved to the following day where public access was limited. Members of our group are in
the process of filing a lawsuit against the mayors office and the city for this disgusting abuse
of power. Today, city employees received an email stating:
You have probably heard that a protest is planned at City Hall from 3 pm tomorrow through
Wednesday. It is the Citys intent to conduct business as usual. Unless something changes,
City Hall will remain open. However, we do ask that, beginning at noon tomorrow, City Hall
office doors should be locked until otherwise advised.
We at Dont Shoot Portland believe that locking the public out of our own building and then
calling it business is usual is outrageous. This is especially true during a pivotal moment for
our city. This move signals the troubling trend from Charlie Hales of attempting to silence
the people. Unfortunately, this is business as usual. We support the opinions of the citys
elected Auditor, Mary Hull Caballero, and Independent Police Review Director Constantin
Severe in condemning the current contract. The contract lacks in accountability, it leans
consistently in favor of the police instead of the people, gives too much leeway to cops in
terms of body camera footage, hampers IPA oversight, and was fast tracked in an unethical
manner. Furthermore, the entire argument for Hales pushing this contract forward is that we
have a shortage of police officers. However, crime is down across the board. The loss of
officers in Portland has not led to an increase in crime. This is hardly a crisis. Our group has
laid out many issues with the contract in previous releases. Another release will occur
tomorrow after we see the cities response to our peaceful protests. As always, we instruct our
members to be non-violent, non-destructive and respectful to our city and community
members. Unfortunately, this is more than our city government can say. We believe we will
stop the police contract from going through. We believe the public is on our side. We believe
we are on the right side of history. Tomorrow, this battle will begin to come to an end. It is
our duty to fight. It is our duty to win. We have nothing to lose but our chains.

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