Productive Meeting with the Police
Posted by: KarlNov 21 2007, 8:41 am
Yesterday morning I met with Captain Vince Jarmer, Commander of the Traffic Division of the Portland Police Bureau, to discuss a number of issues that we are concerned about and would like to work with the police to address. We agreed to the following:
- We will work with the police and the City to develop a Community Policing Agreement that will outline agreed enforcement practices. This agreement will be developed with participation from the cycling community, PDOT, the Police Bureau, the District Attorneys office, and the City Council.
- We will assist the police in identifying high-risk traffic locations for enforcement.
- The Police Bureau will provide us with their monthly report on citations and investigations. We will work with them to identify areas where the report could provide additional information for the purpose of tracking safety issues throughout the City.
- We will advocate for a change to the policy on when an investigation is conducted and citation issued. We want the City to allocate more resources to the Traffic Division to allow them to investigate all crashes involving vulnerable roadway users.
- We will work with the Police to advocate for a reduction in the delays to investigations caused by the State Police Crime Lab. Further, the Police will notify us when investigations are complete and reports are available for review.
- We will work with the Police to educate officers as the unique vulnerability situations regularly faced by cyclists.
We also discussed the idea of conducting sting operations with undercover officers or volunteers on bikes to catch motorists engaged in road rage behavior.
Captain Jarmer was frank in his concerns about difficulties hiring new officers to fill existing positions. He would like to see a Traffic Officer investigate all crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians but the personnel to do so are not available at this time.
I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with Captain Jarmer on these and a number of other issues. We committed to meeting regularly to air concerns and possible solutions. Captain Jarmer assured me that the Portland Police Bureau recognize the mistakes that have been made in the past and are dedicated to improving safety for the cycling community. I have every confidence that working together, we can make Portland a lot safer.
Nice work – this could be a big step forward. Safety issues of critical concern to the bike community may finally be recognized by the Police. The BTA has a key role in assuring that actions follow the words.
Thanks for the report Scott. That is encouraging. One thing I find frustrating when I hear about these meetings is that no one seems willing to mention the "K" word. Yeah, I'm talking about Kruger, the single biggest pain in the collective cycling rear in this city. I certainly understand the police not wanting to let the public dictate their hiring/firing policy, but the total lack of willingness to openly deal with the problem he represents (whether that means sensitivity training, transfer etc) is maddening.
karl, this is wonderful news. How do I get a hold of you? I have more questions about these enforcements policies and have some concerns too.
Great work. What I would really like to see is a summary of the citations issued for 2005, 2006 and 2007 to date for failure to yield to a cyclist and bike lane violations. I have a feeling this number is very, very low. Would like to be wrong but by guess is the number is very close to zero.
Very interesting… as always! Cheers from -Switzerland-.