Portland Police Use of Force Settlement Conference Heads Before Judge

 Accusations continue in a case against Portland Police and their use of force.   A long running case goes before a federal judge today.

In U.S. Department of Justice V. the City of Portland, the D.O.J said Portland Police had a pattern of unconstitutional use of force against people with actual or perceived mental illness.  The lawsuit was originally filed in 2012.  Since then, there have been numerous mediation sessions. 

Juan Chavez is with Mental Health Alliance which is representing the interests of people with mental illness. “Based on our review of Portland Police data, it demonstrates to us that force has not decreased against persons with mental illness.  People are still being hurt egregiously,  and many people are still losing their lives.”

He says they’ll have a settlement conference today in the court of Judge Michael Simon.  The original case looked at a number of deaths involving officers and people with mental illness.  The D.O.J. says the officers used too much force, and used tasers when it wasn’t warranted.