by Andrew Kramer, Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Portland city commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to renew the city police’s contribution to an FBI terrorism task force, although the city has no oversight over the combined federal and local law enforcement team.
Mayor Vera Katz said during the annual review she had a “responsibility to the citizens of Portland,” to ensure their safety.
The City Police Bureau contributes eight officer to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, a group coordinating federal and local law enforcement work in the metropolitan area.
Similar arrangements exist in 55 large cities, according to Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker.
“The joint terrorism task forces are an integral part of the FBI mission in terrorism prevention,” said Charles Matthew’s, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon.
But in Portland’s case, a state law against wide-ranging police surveillance raises concerns about whether the city is contributing officers without ensuring that they uphold state civil liberties guarantees.
The 1981 law restricts police from gathering information about individuals or groups unless there is reasonable cause to suspect them of specific crimes.
The same law brought Portland national attention last fall when City Attorney Jeff Rogers instructed police not to question 23 Middle Eastern immigrants on a list provided by the U.S. Justice Department. Portland was the first city to opt out of the national dragnet.
In the case of the terrorism task force, the city pays $497,965 in salary and administrative costs for the eight employees, who work in the FBI office in Portland, Kroeker said.
Because they work with classified FBI documents, city auditors who review other police work do not have a right to look at files collected by these officers.
Katz said the files with secret surveillance are available to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Portland and the state’s congressional delegation.
David F. Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, told commissioners at the hearing he doubted federal officials or congressional staff are inclined to review the files for compliance with Oregon law.
“You should not be allowing Portland police to keep files you do not have access to,” he said.
Representatives from the American Forest Resource Council and the National Abortion Federation spoke in favor of the task force’s work investigating radical environmental and right to life groups.
As an example of the team’s work Kroeker cited the arrest of Ali Steitiye on weapons and other charges and Sheik Mohamed Kariye, the imam of a southwest Portland mosque. Neither has been charged with terrorism- related crimes.
Also an issue at the meeting Thursday was the Portland Police Bureau’s Criminal Intelligence Division history of collecting files on environmentalists and peace groups in past decades.
Files dating from the 1960s to the early 1980s from the division were taken illegally by former officer Winfield Falk, who died in 1987, and stored in a barn. The files were obtained by the Portland Tribune newspaper and details were published this week.
The files included surveillance on 576 groups and more than 3,000 individuals, the Tribune reported. One file held a picture of a young Vera Katz speaking at a grape boycott rally.