brain dead judge brissenden

I hypothesize that I am not going to be very successful motivating masses of people to read and reflect on the 60-page 2008 Annual Report of The City of Eugene’s Civilian Oversight System: The Office of the Police Auditor (OPA) & the Civilian Review Board (CRB), prepared by Interim Eugene Police Auditor Dawn Marie Reynolds and Eugene Civilian Review Board Chair (Cottage Grove/Florence Municipal Court Judge) Richard Brissenden.

But the cost-effectiveness of trying doesn’t just depend on the total number of people influenced, it also depends on the value associated with communicating with the tiny subset that is. And I am 100% sure that anything I write about the report will motivate EPD Chief Kerns to go to his copy of the report which is already smeared in his fingerprints and see what I’m referring to. Since it’s cost-effective to increase the extent to which Pete is evidence-based, this is cost-effective behavior.

How can I be so sure that Chief Kerns is a total 2008 Annual Report OPA/CRB geek? Good question. Over the last 27 months, I’ve attended at least a dozen of the monthly meetings of the Eugene Police Commission. Former EPD Chief Robert Lehner (who has an MBA from the University of Arizona and now is Chief of Police in Elk Grove, CA) and Chief Pete Kerns understand that my primary purpose is to have 180 seconds to communicate with them. Until Thursday, every time I spoke during the public comments at an EPC meeting, Robbie, I mean Bob and Pete would look at me and remain silent and engage in other non-verbal behaviors communicating “I am listening.”

For the first few months, I really thought that Mr. Lehner was listening to me. Then one day, an alternative hypothesis occurred to me. “I have a Glock in my pocket. I can shoot her any time I want. The reason I am not shooting is not because I don’t want to but because I choose not to because this will be over in 47 seconds, I mean 46, 45, 44….”

But Thursday, Pete did not even pretend to listen to me, even though what I was saying would have been very interesting to him. I provided a list of a half-dozen as-yet-unindicted criminals who also happen to be sworn officers of the Eugene Police Department, some misdemeanorers (Warden, Solesbee) and some felons (McBride, Gilbert, Thompson). I provided a do-it-yourself kit for how their victims could file civil suits against them and the city of Eugene and Lane County in United States District Court.

Interim Chief Kerns did not even pretend to listen to me. Interim Police Auditor Reynolds had just handed him a copy of the 2008 Annual Report and he was flipping through it, pencil in hand just like I’d done ten minutes earlier when PA Reynolds gave me a copy. The point is that I hope and predict that Pete’s copy of Dawn’s report is going to get even more covered in his fingerprints than it already is.

In order to encourage class participation, here’s a little quiz. If Chief Kerns or Eugene Police Commissioner Ahlen, Valle, Miller or Dodge or City Councilor Clark or PAORC member Syrett or EPD Planner Phelps or EPC Coordinator Zimmer or Deputy PA Southworth of PA Office Assistant Cox anyone else at the meeting knows the answer, please reply to all.

1. The only place I’ve written f-curse you on the report so far is in response to a sentence on page 25. What is the sentence?

2. On page 5, CRB Chair Brissenden reveals that he discriminates on the basis of a feature that is deemed an illegal basis for discrimination by the United States government and other jurisdictions. This faux pas calls into question the claim that CRB members are “free from bias (p. 10)” as well as the claim that Mr. Brissenden is fit to be a migrant Lane County municipal court judge. What is the fax pas?

3. On page 3, Mr. Brissenden writes “In 2008 the cases the CRB reviewed focused on issues relating to the Fourth Amendment of the United States which prohibits unlawful searches and seizures of persons within the United States…In the cases we have reviewed we have seen we have seen [sic] a noticeable number of instances in which EPD officers should have sought a warrant before searching and in which the consent to search was either denied or was the result of undue pressure on the part of the officers. Examples of cases and OPA’s recommendations to EPD are detailed within this report.”

If City Attorney Glenn Klein had proofread this section, he would have suggested that CRB Chair Brissenden delete the extra “we have seen.” Mr. Klein also might have suggested deleting the whole paragraph. Why?

4. On page 3, Mr. Brissenden writes “We have also looked at three cases [in] which the civilians were minors and expressed our concern that EPD might want to reexamine its current practice of questioning children without their parent’s consent or permission [or presence]….In one case the board reviewed a minor was struck in the head by a flashlight and required treatment in a hospital. While there was disagreement as to whether the blow was intentional or not, the questioning of the minor (without the presence of an attorney or parent and while he was lying in a hospital bed) seemed inappropriate. As a result of the study of this case, the CRB recommended to the Police Commission, that they look into the use of metal flashlights. These flashlights are being abandoned by other police departments as they are too frequently used as impact weapons and can cause serious injury.”

It appears that the ambiguously described head injury to a minor caused by “a flashlight” was actually in instance of either assault or negligence by a Eugene Police Department officer. But migrant Judge Brissenden thinks it’s an issue about metal vs. plastic flashlights.

Why the heck is Mr. Brissenden a Municipal Court Judge in Cottage Grove and Florence? Have all of the residents of Cottage Grove and Florence who elected him been the victims of head injuries caused by flashlight-wielding Cottage Grove (such as former officer/Eugene resident Scott Graham, who was investigated by the FBI by not indicted by Assistant US Attorney Sean Hoar or LCDA Alex Gardner for publishing pornographic images of male minors on Flickr) and Florence police officers?