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Why we document you: Recording the city’s oversight failure

COMMENTARY | Many Portlanders who are vulnerable to police harm are scrutinizing officials with cellphone cameras It seems like a million years ago, but there was a time when the testament to a fine performance or thrilling speech was a standing ovation ...

23 Jun 2016 - Jason Renaud an...
Stop using the term ‘substance abuse’

COMMENTARY | Tagging something 'abusive' implies wrongfulness and willfulness "What’s in a name?” Juliet muses from the balcony. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Shakespeare raises a good point: Most things are not fundament ...

26 May 2016 - Jason Renaud an...
Police accountability starts with a new police union contract

COMMENTARY | Ron Frashour case points to double standard, need for reform Former Mayor Sam Adams wanted Ron Frashour fired. So did the current mayor, Charlie Hales. So did former Chief of Police Michael Reese. So did the city attorney. So did a majority o ...

7 Jan 2016 - Jason Renaud an...
Advocacy by and for people with mental illness: The DIY Guide

COMMENTARY | What you can do to make a difference When we are out and about, meeting and tweeting, connecting with people in their first years of recovery from mental illness, invariably they want to do something. Something big! Something political and ar ...

12 Dec 2015 - Jason Renaud an...
Ignore the gunman behind UCC shootings? Just the opposite

COMMENTARY | Let's get the uncomfortable facts on the table In the days since the Umpqua Community College mass murder, communities grieve, mourners weep, survivors twist in anguish, and we — all of us — grope for answers. “How will we get through to ...

15 Oct 2015 - Jason Renaud an...
Cops’ use of force: Why so few charges?

Oregon police officers are rarely held accountable for undue violence. Here are six possible reasons. Whenever police officers use lethal force, they well know there could be consequences, including being charged and prosecuted by the district attorney. C ...

9 Jun 2015 - Jason Renaud an...
Death by cop: Who’s at risk?

For more than 40 years in Portland, it has been people with mental illness For years, our organization, the Mental Health Association of Portland, has chronicled, eulogized and remembered persons who have been on the receiving end of Portland-area police ...

15 May 2015 - Jason Renaud an...
Portland, the DOJ and the slow moving gears of mental health services

In 2013, the city agreed to create a mental health center in its settlement with the Department of Justice over police use of force. Two years later, what that would look like is all still a matter of perspective. Local hospitals are going full steam ahea ...

7 May 2015 - Christen McCurdy
Portland police training audit fails basic task on truth

Jenny Westberg and Jason Renaud from the Mental Health Association of Portland talk about the City Auditor's appraisal of the Portland Police Training Division The city auditor’s March 2015 appraisal of the Portland Police Training Division is devast ...

19 Mar 2015 - Jason Renaud an...
Our newest, not-so-new police directive: Just walk away

The Portland Police Bureau recently made a stunning and unprecedented discovery — but, sadly, no one noticed. Probably because most of us knew it all along. Their non-breakthrough was this: Sometimes, the right police action is no action at all. After a d ...

19 Jan 2015 - Jason Renaud an...