[pjw] ACTION: Joint Terrorism Task Force withdrawal vote at Council Wed 2 PM

[Peace and Justice Works]

Peace and Justice Works and Portland Copwatch supporters and allies:

The City Council agenda for next Wednesday, February 13 has been posted,
and Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty's proposal to withdraw Portland Police
from the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) is set for a time certain at
2 PM.

  134 TIME CERTAIN: 2:00 PM Authorize withdrawal of Portland
  Police Bureau Officers from the Federal Joint Terrorism Task Force and
  establish protocols for cooperating with the FBI on terrorism
  investigations on a case-by-case basis (Resolution introduced by
  Commissioner Hardesty) 3 hours requested

  https://www.portlandoregon.gov/auditor/article/712064

The relevant part states:

  NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of Portland and the PPB
  hereby are withdrawing from participation in the JTTF. Withdrawal must
  be completed within 90 days of this Resolution's passage.

  BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Mayor and Commissioner Hardesty, after
  consultation with PPB Chief Outlaw, will return to Council within 55
  days of this Resolution's passage with another Resolution detailing how
  the City of Portland and PPB will handle information coming from
  federal investigators and under what circumstances PPB will provide
  information to and cooperate with ongoing terrorist and threat
  investigations being conducted by federal agencies within Portland.

PJW / PCW are lining up a few dozen speakers from among the nearly 50
organizations signed onto the community letter to City Council.

  http://www.portlandcopwatch.org/JTTF_community_statementV1.pdf

The hearing is open to the public and we expect a huge turnout, in part
because Commissioner Hardesty is planning a rally at 1 PM prior to the
vote.

  https://www.facebook.com/events/359261878137406/

Portland's Resistance is also hosting a rally tonight at 6 PM at City
Hall.

  https://m.facebook.com/events/263773497906713/?ti=as

We still really need people to write in to say how YOU feel about
Portland Police participating in a Task Force in which the FBI and ICE
are able to team up to deport people who have not been charged or
convicted of any terrorism crimes.

  https://www.opb.org/news/article/fbi-portland-jttf-terrorism-task-force-immigration

One reason it's important to write in is that Mayor Wheeler and Nick
Fish have introduced a competing resolution to keep Portland in the
JTTF.

  135 Reaffirm the City of Portland as a full partner in the Joint
  Terrorism Task Force, enter into an amended Memorandum of Understanding
  in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Ordinance
  introduced by Mayor Wheeler and Commissioner Fish)

  https://www.portlandoregon.gov/auditor/article/712065

It does just that, reaffirms the City's participation while noting:

"The City successfully participates in other task forces including:
Child Exploitation Task Force, Innocent Images, Regional Computer
Forensic Lab, Bank Robbery Task Force, and Metro Gang Task Force."

It authorizes the Mayor to amend the current Memorandum of
Understanding, which was signed in 2015 when Portland re-joined.

Likely Fish will be introducing amendments that he hinted at in his
op-ed in the Oregonian from Wednesday:

  https://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2019/02/opinion-portland-is-safer-in-the-joint-terrorism-task-force.html

Those are: (1) to wall off the PPB from any immigration issues at the
JTTF-- HIGHLY unlikely that can be done successfully or be supervised
properly, (2) to require the Chief to seek "Secret" security clearance,
which is already in the existing City resolution, in fact it calls for
"Top Secret" clearance:

  https://www.portlandoregon.gov/citycode/article/522896

...and (3) to require "more substantive" annual reports on what the JTTF
is doing. Annual reports were required from 2011-2015 and were almost
useless, none have been produced since then as they are not currently
required.

Contact information is below, or you can use the ACLU's action alert
site to fill in a pre-written email:
  http://www.aclu-or.org/JTTF

  Mayor Ted Wheeler mayorwheeler at portlandoregon.gov 503-823-4120
  Commissioner Chloe Eudaly chloe at portlandoregon.gov 503-823-4682
  Commissioner Nick Fish nick at portlandoregon.gov 503-823-3589
  Commissioner Amanda Fritz amanda at portlandoregon.gov 503-823-3008
  Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty joann at portlandoregon.gov 503-823-4151

Also, FYI, at this time we are hoping to have two experts fly in to
testify both at the hearing and at a "Work Session" that is scheduled
for Tuesday from 9:30 to 11:30 AM at City Council:

  https://www.portlandoregon.gov/auditor/article/378306

The Work Session is open to the public but nobody can speak except
invited persons, which include Kayse Jama of Unite Oregon and the two
guests, Michael German (the former FBI agent who now works at the
Brennan Center and spoke at our community forum in April 2018) and Zahra
Billoo (of Council on American Islamic Relations in the Bay Area, who
helped San Francisco get out of their JTTF).

A lot of this information and more, including links to the video of the
forum, a video from 2001 about the JTTF including then-activist Jo Ann
Bowman (now Hardesty), and more can be found at:

  http://portlandcopwatch.org/pjttf.html

One last note, all of this is subject to change due to the alleged
snowstorms that are predicted. Please put out positive energy into the
world hoping that the weather will allow for our guests to arrive safely
and that we will have the chance to improve the civil liberties of our
community by voting to get out of the JTTF on Wednesday!

--dan handelman
peace and justice works / portland copwatch

PS sorry for any duplication if you receive this more than once