Portland Police Lie About City Commissioner and Call it “A Mistake”

[Revnak]

Portland Police Association President Brian Hunzeker Resigns After “Serious, Isolated Mistake” Related to Hardesty Hit-and-Run Allegation

www.wweek.com

So the PPA president (who has only held that role for around four or five months) has resigned following the leaking of an inaccurate police report to right-wing groups accusing City Commissioner and police reform advocate Jo Ann Hardesty of committing a hit and run. It’s not mentioned here but I believe Hardesty was actually in a meeting when the event occurred, and it seems quite likely that she was accused because she was the only local black woman the victim knew the name of. Quite notably, the Police Union and its president had been extremely defensive about the whole situation up until this resignation. Neither the PPB investigation on the hit and run itself, the PPB’s internal investigation, or the external investigation ordered by Oregon’s most hatable timber heir, Mayor Ted, have gotten much of anywhere yet or released basically any public information. Given that the PPA is the ur-Police Union when it comes to cops getting away with racist crimes, this resignation seems either very premature or a sign that the leak was extremely intentional and extremely political. In any case, Portland police are absolutely garbage and I pray for the immediate destruction of the PPA every night.
Edit: Did a search for another article and found one that gives a better accounting of events. Also, I was wrong in a couple places. It wasn’t that Hardesty was at a meeting, it’s that her car was totally inoperable. Also, the PPB have released information on another actual suspect, whereas I had thought they’d yet to (officially) release any information on the case.

Portland police union president resigns over ‘serious’ mistake related to hit-run report that named Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty in error

"When we make mistakes, we must hold ourselves to account. That is what the public expects of us," the union's executive board stated. "That is what we expect of ourselves. ... We apologize to Commissioner Hardesty for that mistake and will be reaching out to meet with her personally."

www.google.com

Edit2: Spelling

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Ah, the good old fashion "resign to avoid consequences while keeping juicy pension payouts." It's extremely insidious for what he was even doing with that misrepresentative info, like how is that not confronted in the "apology"? It belies their intentions so openly.

Maybe they're in competition with this NYPD racist?

NYPD discrimination boss used work laptop to post racist messages

Disgraced former NYPD harassment czar James Kobel, 50, claimed he had been hacked after posting hundreds of racist remarks on cop message board 'Rant' under the pseudonym of 'Clouseau'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

(Sorry for source, it's just the most recent update could find)

The former head of New York Police Department's workplace harassment office repeatedly lied to investigators about using his work-issued laptop and iPad to pen hundreds of racist attacks on black, Jewish and LGBTQ public figures, a disciplinary report shows.

Disgraced former Deputy Inspector James Kobel's attempts to cover up his racist rants, for which he was fired in February, were revealed in a new NYPD database which details officers' disciplinary records.

The shocking posts include racist jibes at former president Barack Obama, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's mixed race son Dante and Rep. Ilhan Omar. He even mocked the death of Eric Garner, a black man who died after police put him in a chokehold, who he labeled a 'fat b*stard' and claimed he died due to his 'poor dietary choices'.

Despite his sickening racist attacks, Kobel will be allowed to keep his generous retirement package due to union rules.

A decision posted on the database, which was launched in March after a lengthy legal battle between New York state legislators and police unions, disclosed that Kobel lied about using police-issued equipment to make the racist rants, in three separate interviews.

Kobel claimed he had been hacked, and that he was 'completely blown away by these posts', the New York Daily News reported.

Administrative law judge Jeff Adler was not buying it, and said Kobel had betrayed his oath.

Kobel's role as head of the NYPD's Equal Employment Opportunity Division (EEOD) was singled out as being an aggravating factor by the internal judiciary.

'Where the source of these abhorrent posts was the commanding officer of EEOD, this shocking rhetoric is even more reprehensible,' Adler said.

The disciplinary tribunal also found Kobel had disclosed confidential NYPD information, including arrests and suspect information, and the disciplinary history of another officer.

Neither Kobel nor his lawyer attended the two-day hearings in January.

When Kobel's postings first came to light last year, he denied he had written attacks under the pseudonym 'Clouseau' was a reference to the bumbling French detective in the 'Pink Panther' films, played by Peter Sellers.

The nearly 500 offending posts on black, Jewish people, women, and members of the LGBTQ community were discovered on an anonymous message board called 'Law Enforcement Rant', where police officers would go to air grievances.

Among the litany of offensive posts, Kobel predicted the first homicide to occur in Brooklyn would be 'a gunshot wound in the 4-7 (47th precinct in the Bronx) over the last piece of jerk chicken in the buffet.'

He also referred to 'urban ghetto types'. '25,000 years of evolution continues to elude these poor unfortunate creatures,' Kobel wrote.

'If they can't smoke it, drink it, f**k it or steal it, these savages destroy it.'

Kobel also called President Barack Obama a 'Muslim Savage', and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's Dante, a 'brillohead'.

He described Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark as a 'gap-tooth wildebeest' and made fun of Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for having Tourette's syndrome.

He also ridiculed Eric Garner, the black man whose 2014 chokehold death in police custody helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement, as 'a morbidly obese, diabetes havin', high blood pressure ignorin', asthma havin', chicken wing eatin', grape soda drinkin', loosie sellin' fat b*stard' who died of his 'poor dietary choices'.

Kobel also called Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a Somali-American Democrat, a 'filthy animal'.

And he also took aim at NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who is white and gay, when he asked for an investigation into the department's use of pedestrian stops.

'Perhaps we should all take a step back from Stop, Question, and Maybe Frisk, until dear old Corey ends up the victim of a crime in one of the local bathhouses,' Kobel wrote.

He was fired in February, about about three weeks after he submitted retirement paperwork in an attempt to avoid a departmental disciplinary proceeding.

...

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

(Not sure why it won't let me post in one, as the character count isn't close to 10000?)

...

The allegations against Kobel were initially detailed in a report by a City Council oversight panel.

City Council investigators linked the 'Clouseau' messages to Kobel by matching information in them to Kobel's life and career.

The panel discovered that more than 500 posts under the 'Clouseau' handle were made on 'Rant' between June 2019 and September 2020.

Investigators matched a few hints that 'Clouseau' left online with his career in the NYPD.

On July 1, 2019, 'Clouseau' described how he joined the department on June 30, 1992. Investigators were able to use payroll records to determine that Kobel had joined the force on that same date, according to the New York Times.

In another example, 'Clouseau' wrote that he had once worked 'in Housing' under 'JJ,' whom he referred to with an obscene slur for women.

Kobel also served in the department's Housing Bureau when it was run by chief, Joanne Jaffe.

Investigators had also considered the possibility that Kobel had been framed by someone else.

But they eventually found that Kobel lied during an interview last week in which he denied again that he was 'Clouseau'.

Kobel was the second-in-command in the Equal Employment Opportunity office for four years before being elevated to commanding officer in May.

The NYPD's Equal Employment Opportunity office is responsible for preventing and investigating employment and harassment claims and has implemented policy changes in recent years providing for lactation rooms, enabling officers to wear religious head coverings and making accommodations for transgender officers.

In New York State, police officers can retain their pension benefits regardless of whether they are terminated voluntarily or involuntarily.

New York's powerful police unions have stopped state lawmakers in Albany from passing legislation that would strip cops of their pensions in case of misconduct.

The state legislature, which has a Democratic majority, passed a series of police reforms that include accountability measures in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May of last year.

But attempts by legislators to pass pension forfeiture laws have so far been unsuccessful.

According to a 2018 report by the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission, NYPD officers typically retire after 22 years of service and receive half their annual pay as pension for the rest of their lives.

Retired NYPD officers receive an average annual pension of $74,500 while still young enough to pursue another career, usually in security.

Starting annual pay for an NYPD officer is just $42,000, but in less than six years that sum can balloon to $85,000.

An NYPD officer's annual income can easily exceed $100,000 per year once overtime is factored in.

By the time officers retire in the early-to-mid 40s, they will have earned roughly $2million in total income.

If retired cops live into their 80s, they can make close to the same amount.

As of 2019, the NYPD reported 36,038 active officers on payroll plus another 53,441 retirees and beneficiaries.

Seriously, the head of workplace diversity. What a depressing joke. And these people lie like anything, cause why not when the system they thrive in has been expected to reward such behaviour for those with the "right" status. Also, this "Law Enforcement Rant" platform sounds like a place in dire need of extreme analysis and oversight as duty for public safety and transparency, do not take eyes off these duplicitous bastards.

 

[Revnak]

Ah, the good old fashion "resign to avoid consequences while keeping juicy pension payouts." It's extremely insidious for what he was even doing with that misrepresentative info, like how is that not confronted in the "apology"? It belies their intentions so openly.

Maybe they're in competition with this NYPD racist?

NYPD discrimination boss used work laptop to post racist messages

Disgraced former NYPD harassment czar James Kobel, 50, claimed he had been hacked after posting hundreds of racist remarks on cop message board 'Rant' under the pseudonym of 'Clouseau'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

(Sorry for source, it's just the most recent update could find)

Actually he’s just resigning from the role of PPA president. He’s not resigning as a police officer, he’ll be reassigned.

 

[Buyetyen]

Actually he’s just resigning from the role of PPA president. He’s not resigning as a police officer, he’ll be reassigned.

Catholics, Baptists, cops... they all follow the same pattern of protecting abusers within their ranks and giving them new assignments as if nothing ever happened. It's the number one symptom of a broken system.

 

[SilentPony]

The concept of police went to shit when police were given unqualified immunity from any fuck up or illegal action. There is no incentive for them to do an honest job because the law will always back them.
This whole thing in the UK is evidence. Protests over more police to patrol neighborhoods where the police themselves are kidnapping and killing people.