Portland City Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade has announced plans to hire a nationally-recognized expert to evaluate how the Portland Police Bureau handled the internal investigation of the 2006 in-custody death of James Chasse, including why it took nearly three years to complete.
Chasse, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was beaten and hog-tied by police in downtown Portland after allegedly urinating on the street.
After Chasse's arrest the officers put him, still hog-tied, into the back of their cruiser, to the Justice Center, where they were turned away by jail personnel who demanded that the officers take Chasse to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Auditor's Independent Police Review Division has the authority to contract for expert reviews of closed internal investigations of in-custody deaths or officer-involved shootings and will oversee the expert review of the Chasse case.
"The death of James Chasse while in police custody is a matter of ongoing concern for the community and for the Auditor's Independent Police Review Division. Now that the investigation is closed, I want to move forward with an expert evaluation as soon as possible," said Griffin-Valade. "It is the role and responsibility of my office to ensure an independent review of the Bureau's investigation."
The outside expert has yet to be selected, but officials said the review will not be a re-investigation of the officers' conduct or the facts surrounding Chasse's death. Rather, the expert will evaluate the quality of the internal investigation, as well as the adequacy of the police policies that affected the actions of the officers.
The Auditor's Independent Police Review Division will release the final report to the public, elected officials, and the Chief of Police. The report will comment on improvements made by the Bureau since 2006 and will make any recommendations that emerge from the expert evaluation.