At this point in the year, it’s safe to say the weather is not the only thing that’s boiling hot. Politics have hit a fever pitch, and that temperature extends across numerous branches of government. Failed Bend-La Pine school board candidates who didn’t bother to speak to anyone but Fox News during their candidacy are now speaking out and packing school board meetings, causing a ruckus over masks in schools and the fear that a more accurate portrayal of American history might land rent-free in their kids’ heads. Meanwhile, the Deschutes County District Attorney is at odds with Bend cops over flimsy arrests made during the clearing of a local houseless camp.
The spat between DA John Hummel and Police Chief Mike Krantz is pushing the political temperature up at the moment. Bend Police sought charges of trespassing against several protesters and a houseless individual while clearing the encampment at NE Second and Emerson Avenue on June 23. As is the case in any of these situations, the Bend Police tasked the DA to file the charges against individuals they arrested in course of those duties. In this case, DA Hummel didn’t file those charges.
The houseless person on the scene had asked to use the port-a-pottie, and when officers refused, the man ran toward the bathroom, a letter from Hummel to Krantz detailed. Cops then tackled him and took him into custody, allegedly fearing there was a weapon inside the port-a-pottie. Hummel declined to charge the man, saying “fear-based policing prevailed over common-sense and humane policing.”
In the case of the protesters, Hummel’s letter alleges that only members of one group of protesters were targeted for arrest and/or surveillance, while those not known to be associated with the group were not cited or arrested.
“A 62-page detailed report for what amounts to allegations of trespassing, is shockingly long,” Hummel wrote in his July 16 note to Krantz, obtained by OPB. “I venture to say it’s the longest trespassing report in the history of the City of Bend. I would love to see domestic violence allegations receive the level of investigation and documentation that these trespassing allegations received.”
The six-page letter goes on to describe Hummel’s justification for declining to charge each of the individuals targeted by Bend Police. At the end of the letter, Hummel invites Krantz to work “with your critics to make the Bend Police Department the most ethical, just, and effective police department in the country,” and invites Krantz to work with him to make that happen.
Transparency and accountability are buzzwords that most of us have heard a time or two over the past several years. They are words to live by, to be sure. In a very public way, Hummel is holding the local police department to a higher standard. The local DA, elected by the public to uphold the law and to evaluate not just the actions of alleged criminals but also the people who arrest them, is, in this instance, defining the rules of engagement around the increased activism we are seeing in this community. That’s appropriate, but to be fair to Krantz, the letter is hyperbolic and tinged with shades of grandstanding.
Our current DA has been outspoken about being a criminal justice reformer, committed to reducing recidivism among those in the criminal justice system. Local law enforcement will need to conform to the DA’s style of management. Hopefully Krantz and Hummel can have a less-public conversation about policing so activists don’t needlessly get arrested, and we can all feel confident were making progress on the kind of reforms our community wishes to see. We expect to see more activists pushing back against actions they disagree with. That’s their role. Our police chief is new to this community and is, with incidents like this, being taught the role of his department. Our hope for the future is that the teaching is done in a more collegial manner.
Related
Listen: Criminal Justice Reform with John Hummel 🎧
These times we find ourselves in are hot across all levels of the political spectrum, to be sure, and with that comes a feeling of instability. We’d prefer to see less instability, however, from the two entities tasked with managing criminal—or not-so-criminal—activity in the community. The community deserves better policy and better communication from both sides.
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This article appears in Aug 4-11, 2021.
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We need a DA who’s NOT pushing the Sorros/Labor Union/ BLM/Leftist agenda, and will stand up and do his job by putting MORE “activists” in jail.
mudbath: Our country is based on the right to protest & speak freely without prosecution. I would like to understand why you prefer Fascism over peoples’ constitutional rights?
I’m so disgusted by the way our houseless community was treated and basically thrown away like garbage, with the Emersoncamp removal, City council, Eric King and the Bend Police, you should be ashamed, I don’t know how you all sleep at night, and to the peacekeepers and the other activist who continue to fight for our houseless neighbors, I say thank you, if it wasn’t for you guys we would have lost more than two lives, thank you for your continued support and standing up and fighting for our houseless community.
I am so sad and disappointed over the extreme division of our nation, states, cities and towns. Please, let us come together and get on the same page for the sake of our children. It is so overwhelming these days. With all going on in our world in regards to climate change causing extreme weather issues and the pandemic and all of it’s unknowns, one would think we would be helping each other and building bridges instead of fighting and demanding our civil liberties. And at the very least trying to prioritize respect, unity and science. Our last president created this huge division or maybe just made it more apparent. I am questioning this. I grew up in a Republican family and if my parents were alive today, I think they would not recognize their political party and the extreme behaviors of not believing in science and not communicating with human dignity and respect. We are supposed to be the United States of America, not the Divided Nation. We should all be working towards respecting one another, equity and justice and subscribing to science and not FACEBOOK and social media. I truly believe social media has caused a Civil War, just as the software developers from this said company stated in the documentary “The Social Dilemma”. We need to take a step back and think about what we are teaching our children with all of this fighting, division and negatively. Don’t we all want the children in our community to be safe? Then please let us wear masks until we get through this. Listen to your superintendent and support him and the board. The board is doing service work and we should have respect for them, not storm their board meetings. Children need consistency and if we are consistent with our messaging, they will get through this school year without missing out. I am vaccinated and I still wear a mask everywhere because there are children among us who can not get vaccinated yet. If one child has a peanut allergy in a classroom, we don’t pack our kids any kind of nut products. And although it may be inconvenient for many of us, it keeps that child safe. Can we not think of the pandemic as a political issue but as a health issue like it is. And the police and DA should be working together. I am sure most homeless people are dealing with mental health crisis and we need to help them, not cause them more trauma. Our police should not be dealing with homeless populations but social workers and the city should be managing this instead. Our world is getting crazier by the day, and I so wish we could navigate this together; put ourselves in each other’s shoes before speaking and acting out and do good things for humanity which in turn teaches our children to do the same. They are the future here people. Our children are watching and learning.
A nice bit of pro-“peacekeeper” / DA Hummel propaganda with clearly no research done as to the content of the report and the ongoing favoritism – much hawked about on the “peacekeeper” FB pages – as to the overall situation and why this incident was treated by BPD as it was.
Much like the case in Sisters recently as investigated by DCSO and additional agencies – which Hummel tossed along with a kettleful of conflicting statements as to why.
That’s okay. The momentum is beginning to move in the opposite direction as not only America at large, but Oregonians, push back and say “enough is enough”.
DA Hummel was forced to take the investigation of a small business owner in Sisters abusing his female clients’ trust seriously when the Sheriff’s Office and other agencies involved refuted his dismissal of any charges with a pithy comment.
https://nuggetnews.com/Content/Current-New…
The record shows Mr. Hummel routinely shuffles those cases away from himself / his office that he feels he can’t “win” hands down in court – the “homeless” man’s arrest in the “potty” incident simply the DA’s way of cultivating his “peacekeeper” pals’ not doxxing him on Facebook.
With John Hummel moving on we can expect to see professionalism and a return to sanity at the DA’s Office…which will go along way in mending the fences with local law enforcement in Deschutes County.
And the “peacekeepers” held accountable for their words and actions – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/peacekeeper…