The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office says the Professional Standards Unit was “not able to confirm” what an abbreviation on a sheriff’s office-specific challenge coin stood for.
The coin, first reported on by Street Roots in April, featured an illustration of a burning Multnomah County Justice Center, references to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and a secretive abbreviation: NPNBW. After Street Roots approached the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office about the coin and included photos, the contents of the coin were referred to the Professional Standards Unit for review to determine if the content violated sheriff’s office standards or policy.
The photos provided to MCSO for comment by Street Roots originated from a Facebook account appearing to belong to a Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office corrections deputy.
Challenge coins are commemorative medallions popular among law enforcement, often referencing particular events, agencies or units within agencies. While some agencies issue them in an official capacity, including the MCSO, private retailers also make coins at the request of individuals independent of an agency. The sheriff’s office denies commissioning the coin.
Beyond saying the Professional Standards Unit was unable to confirm what NPNBW stood for, Chris Liedle, public information officer, said he was unable to disclose information about the review process or subsequent findings, citing a public records exemption. Street Roots has filed a formal public records request in accordance with Oregon law and will exhaust all avenues of appeal in an effort to obtain the deliberations and findings of the review.
STREET ROOTS NEWS: Challenge coin under review
“However, independent of the (Professional Standards Unit), as an agency, we have identified the use of the Sheriff’s Office’s name, logo and property, for use outside the course of regular duties, to be a gap in our policy,” Liedle said in a May 12 email. “Based on the recommendation by the Professional Standards Unit, MCSO will develop a new policy to address the gap.”
The challenge coin was brought to Street Roots’ attention after several 2020 Portland protest challenge coins were located in a law enforcement challenge coin Facebook group infiltrated by a group of local activists. The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office-specific coin design can be sourced to Daniel Szarowski, a corrections deputy for MCSO, activists believe.
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has not disclosed if the Professional Standards Unit was able to confirm Szarowski’s role in the design and production of the coin.
Facebook messages obtained by Street Roots show a Facebook account that appears to belong to Szarowski communicating with an activist posing as a potential trade partner. In the correspondence, the account that appears to belong to Szarowski takes credit for the design and says he is with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. While the account has pictures of Szarowski and the first name listed on the profile is “Daniel,” the displayed last name is not Szarowski. However, the displayed last name is consistent with the first name of another member of Szarowski’s family, a Street Roots investigation found.
Additionally, at least one photo posted to the account had comments from multiple people with the last name Szarowski.
Szarowski declined to comment on the coin prior to publishing the initial story on April 13, via Liedle. The photos provided to MCSO for comment were initially sent from the Facebook account appearing to belong to Szarowski to the local activist posing as a potential trade partner.
Challenge coins, while a longstanding tradition in law enforcement, have faced scrutiny in recent years by critics who say the coins often glorify police brutality and a warrior mentality.
The coin in question is emblazoned with an illustration of the Justice Center engulfed in flames on one side, encircled by the phrases “this we’ll defend,” and “remember the Alamo.”
On the reverse side, the coin includes an insignia of an eagle over a stylized American flag bearing a “thin blue line” with a lightning bolt reading “CERT,” a reference to the Corrections Emergency Response Team which engaged in crowd control during the 2020 racial justice protests at the Justice Center. Around the eagle insignia are the words “Multnomah County Sheriff,” and a Latin phrase translating to “always ready.” The center image is surrounded by the abbreviation for the Multnomah County Detention Center and the date May 29, 2020 — the day protesters broke into the Justice Center and set several fires in an office.
The coin also includes the inscribed abbreviation “NPNBW.” Street Roots obtained copies of communications between an activist posing as an interested trader, and someone offering the MCSO Justice Center coin online for trade. In the message, the person with the coins, whose display name appears to be a pseudonym, said “NPNBW” stands for a phrase containing profanity.
Street Roots found the abbreviation was previously published in “Meditations on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training and Real World Violence,” a book written by former Multnomah County corrections sergeant turned writer and martial arts instructor, Rory Miller. Miller’s author biography on Amazon says he was a CERT leader for six years.
When reached by phone in March, Miller told Street Roots he came up with the abbreviated phrase for CERT members, but said the abbreviation does not stand for anything profane. Miller declined to say what it stood for, as only people who complete a mission with CERT are allowed to know, but said the phrase has a positive meaning and promotes team building.
M Quinn, a self-described transparency researcher with the group of activists that infiltrated the Facebook group, said the coins exemplify a feeling of impunity among law enforcement.
“The law enforcement response to protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death was nothing short of controversial, with blatantly excessive use of force and misconduct,” Quinn told Street Roots in April. “These challenge coins are souvenirs for those who were involved, and as we can see, they’re proud to show them off among one another. These officers clearly don’t feel remorse or fear oversight and the coins are a prime example of that. How should someone expect law enforcement to ‘protect and serve’ when they’ve essentially made themselves trophies for misconduct?”
When first contacted in March, Liedle said MCSO does not endorse any challenge coins produced independently by employees, though there are no rules against personnel creating their own coins. Current rules only determine the appearance of coins commissioned by the sheriff’s office for the purpose of awarding personnel.
MCSO regulations state: “The Sheriff may authorize awarding a commemorative coin as part of any current award or may award a coin for a specific reason not related to a current award. Commemorative coins are gold in color with a green enamel border on both sides of the coin. Commemorative coins shall be engraved with the Sheriff’s star and motto on one side and shall have a blank reverse side that shall be engraved with the members name, date and award for which it is presented.”
While MCSO does not currently have any rules against personnel creating their own challenge coins, Liedle said new rules were in the works when contacted by Street Roots in April.
“The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has concern for any products containing vulgar, offensive, and inappropriate language or images,” Liedle told Street Roots on April 13. “The Sheriff’s Office is developing a policy to address production of any items containing references to Multnomah County property, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, the position of the Sheriff, etc. The policy will address that any such item shall be reviewed and approved by the Sheriff.”
Regardless of current rules, Liedle said the coin may not align with the values of the sheriff’s office.
“Specifically, to this coin, if this challenge coin contains vulgar, offensive, and inappropriate language or images, it does not align with the mission, vision, or values of the Sheriff’s Office,” Liedle said in April. “The executive office was not aware of the language on the coin. We are also interested in what the abbreviation (NPNBW) means and have referred the content of the coin to the Professional Standards Unit, which will determine if any violations to policy exist.”
Liedle gave no indication if the Professional Standards Unit did, in fact, determine the contents of the coin violated policy or was found to meet professional standards on May 5.