As many know, my mother is a former law enforcement officer - over 30 years in various roles from beat cop to chief of police of two different departments. She retired in January and now works for the Center for Policing Equity (CPE), a nonprofit dedicated to police reform. 1/

Good timing on her job change, right? While her move to CPE has been amazing - it’s a great org and she’s doing work there that will be farther reaching than anything she could have achieved in LE - I want to share her full story, because it’s important, especially now. 2/

Earlier this week, my mom testified in front of the Oregon State Senate Joint Committee on Transparent Policing and Use of Force Reform. She told about the struggles she faced w/bad officers in her department, and how the city mishandled these issues, allowing bad cops to stay 3/

You can hear her testimony here, starting around 1:30:00. Please listen to her stories about how police accountability can be a failure even when the CHIEF is trying to uphold it. 4/

http://oregon.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?clip_id=28319

Chiefs of Police often serve at the pleasure of unelected City Managers. My mother’s City Manager treated her poorly due to her sex and reprimanded her for punishing officers who were doing things like watching Netflix during night shifts (instead of patrolling) 5/

And even a captain who was calling her “mom” around the department behind her back and advising other officers below him not to report to her because she was “too emotional,” being a woman and all.

(FYI, this captain came to her dept from another dept, where...
6/

Where years prior he had been demoted THERE and had an Internal Affairs investigation against him for sex discrimation... yet here he was still serving as an officer, just a new department)

My mom’s City Manager dismissed her issues with this captain and
7/

Told her he didn’t approve of her decision to demote him and that she should have “mentored” this officer more.

Another officer my mom tried to have investigated internally was an officer who failed to investigate 11 cases of child pornography for TWO AND A HALF YEARS. 8/

That’s right... just failed to investigate it. Kept the files in his desk, not even logged into evidence properly.

As my mom tried to open an investigation on this officer for possible criminal charges (failure to perform duties of an officer), he went to the City Manager and
9/

Logged a complaint against HER. Her City Manager used this as ammunition to try to force my mother out of her Chief’s position.

Because why want a Chief of Police who is actually going to hold your department to standards, I guess, right?
10/

That officer who failed to investigate the child pornography? He promptly resigned before any investigation into his failures could happen. And his certification has since been picked up by another law enforcement agency in a different county.
11/

Side note: this same officer was one of two who also made jokes around the department after my mom came forward publicly in 2016 to detail how she was raped as a child.

But yet even with all that, he’s still serving as law enforcement in Oregon.
12/

In any case, the City Manager worked to have my mother removed, and she chose to retire.

An upstanding 32-year LE veteran, graduate of the FBI National Academy, author of domestic violence investigation protocols, and leader dedicated to SERVING & PROTECTING was forced out. 13/

This is not just a story of failures of the City of Forest Grove, Oregon, but more widely a story of the failures in our current policing system and police accountability. What happened to my mom is shocking and horrible, but it happens to GOOD officers & GOOD leaders often. 14/

I’m proud of my mom for not only her years in law enforcement, always putting her community first, but of coming forward with her full story and standing up for the changes that now need to happen with LE across the country. 15/

Here’s a link to a written piece about Forest Grove mismanagement and misconduct:
https://pamplinmedia.com/fgnt/36-news/473938-383071-former-forest-grove-police-chief-alleges-city-misconduct

16/16.