HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States
Portland:

Civil Lawsuits
Previous Page   Next Page


CONTENTS

OVERVIEW

RECOMMENDATIONS

DOWNLOAD

WHAT YOU CAN DO

ORDER THIS REPORT

HRW HOME



ATLANTA

BOSTON

CHICAGO

DETROIT

INDIANAPOLIS

LOS ANGELES

MINNEAPOLIS

NEW ORLEANS

NEW YORK

PHILADELPHIA

PORTLAND

PROVIDENCE

SAN FRANCISCO

WASH., D.C.




According to the city's Office of Risk Management, the city pays approximately $500,000 each year in police misconduct cases through settlements or jury awards.46 According to press reports, twenty-five to thirty excessive force claims are filed each year.47 The risk management office representative states that his office does not notify PIIAC when a lawsuit is filed, but does send copies of claims about the police to IAD, but he did not know what IAD does with the claims.48

For the city to defend the individual officers named in lawsuits, officers need to have engaged in alleged misconduct in the "course and scope of duty" and abuse cannot be "willful, wanton neglect of duty" or "outrageous." The office will defend some off-duty behavior, but only if it is connected to off-hours work.



46 Telephone interview, Mark Stairiker, January 28, 1997. According to the police bureau's Capt. Bill Bennington, lawsuits against the police are not paid from the police budget. Telephone interview, January 23, 1998.

47 See, for example, O'Hagan, "Good cops, bad cop," Willamette Week.

48 Telephone interview, Mark Stairiker, January 28, 1997.

Top Of Page

Previous Page   Next Page

© June 1998
Human Rights Watch