Chief Chuck Lovell: Hi, everybody. Good to be here with you today. I just want to just talk about a few things that have happened since I've been gone. First, I want to thank Deputy Chief Davis for his leadership and his hard work over the last couple of weeks while I've been gone. We've had a couple challenging situations that he was able to work through and provide good leadership to the organization. I want to just thank him for his efforts publicly first. And to the men and women of the police bureau too, who show up every day and serve, do exemplary work. They've managed through these tough incidents, and I just wanted to thank them for their hard work and their efforts as well. Chief Chuck Lovell: I've had a couple of questions about my reaction to the Chauvin verdict. And personally, I feel that the jury got it right. I've said from the outset how troubling it was to watch that video of George Floyd being killed. And I think we come to this work with a servant's heart and it should be done with compassion. And I think that was not what was displayed there. And I think even though we have a verdict now, there's still a sentencing piece. But I just want to highlight that there are no winners in this. There's a family that's hurting. They've lost a loved one who's not coming back. The city of Minneapolis... ripple effects through everyone from the witnesses to that event, to people in the city, their law enforcement agency, and law enforcement agency and people throughout the country have really felt the impact of what happened to George Floyd. At this point, I think the best we can hope for is that some positive change will come out of this and keep that from happening to someone else. Chief Chuck Lovell: We also had an officer-involved shooting here in Portland on the 16th too. Whenever a life is lost, it's a tragic thing. It impacts a family, community, loved ones, the people within the police bureau and the city. Right now I can't say a whole bunch on specifics, but there are multiple investigations and reviews going on regarding that at the DA's office, internal affairs here, and our training division. In this instance we were able to release more information sooner than I think we ever have before. So I'm really happy about that. And I think for us, it's always a balance of getting information out and the public need, versus the integrity of the investigation. So we always try to balance those two things to really try to meet the public's need and desire to know what happened, but also allow the investigators to do their work and not impede their job in some way too. We've seen some direct action events and we continue to see those throughout the city. Chief Chuck Lovell: That remains a point of frustration for me and a lot of people in the community. We've seen direct action events that have damaged organizations like churches, Boys & Girls Club, and organizations that do a really good job of serving people in the community... not to mention businesses who are already hurting from the pandemic. So we here at Portland Police, we're going to do our best to respond to those. We've made key arrests. We'll continue to make key arrests in those instances, and we'll manage our resources as best we can to respond to them. But when we do respond to them too, they're also people who are victims of other crimes who have to wait to get service while we deal with those as well. Chief Chuck Lovell: May Day's coming up. May Day traditionally here in Portland has been a day of free speech events, protests, demonstrations. We're used to that. We fully support people's right to go out and exercise their free speech. We just ask that they do it in a manner that doesn't include destruction and violence, or any criminal acts. The District Attorney has come out, and he's been clear that he will look to prosecute cases where there are people committing crimes like arsons, assaults, and criminal mischief, damages to businesses and things of that nature. So we appreciate that. Chief Chuck Lovell: And gun violence... big topic... It continues to be a real problem here in Portland and the Metro area. I know there was a shooting last night in Gresham where several people were injured. Another shooting here in Portland. We have members of our Enhanced Community Safety Team who are investigating and helping with those investigations. It's really for us... troubling. We're trying to do everything we can with our resources to output the resources that we have available towards gun violence, and do it in a way where it doesn't too negatively impact the other work that we have to do here at the police bureau. Chief Chuck Lovell: I think the last thing I want to touch on is traffic fatalities. We've had 23... I think was the last number I saw for the year so far. Last year at this time we had 13. And last year we had the highest number of traffic fatalities we've had in 30 years. And we're on a pace now to outpace that. That's troubling. We're doing what we can do to put resources towards the safety aspect of traffic enforcement. And I just want to highlight to folks to be mindful on the road. Be careful, watch your speed, be mindful of pedestrians and people crossing at crosswalks and things of that nature. And that's about all I have. I'll leave plenty of time for questions. Speaker 2: Okay. So first person in line looks like it's Shane Kavanaugh from the Oregonian. Shane, you can go ahead and unmute and ask your question. Shane Kavanaugh: Hi there, Chief Lovell. Can you hear me okay? Chief Chuck Lovell: Yep. We're turning up the volume here. Shane Kavanaugh: Okay, wonderful. So I wanted to ask about... on the topic of gun violence, the creation of this upcoming Focused Intervention Team... was hoping to get a better idea of where things are in that process. And when at the earliest do you think the Focused Intervention Team could be on the ground and running? Chief Chuck Lovell: That's a good question. We're in the process of figuring out where we're going to get the resources for that team. As you know, our requests for funding for it did not go through. So we have to take those resources internally. So we want to be mindful of how we build that team though. We want there to be the appropriate amount of community input and things of that nature too. So the best thing I can tell you is we realized our urgency and having it up and running as soon as possible, but we want to be really mindful about how we do the selection, who we include in that process, and giving those officers who are going to be doing that important work all the time, tools, and things they're going to need to be successful. Speaker 2: Okay- Shane Kavanaugh: Can I ask a follow-up? Speaker 2: Yes, go ahead. Shane Kavanaugh: Are we looking at weeks here? Months? Will the Focused Intervention Team be up and running by the summer, do you think? Or are there still too many unknown factors at this time? Chief Chuck Lovell: No, I think it would be up and running by the summer. It's just a matter of figuring out the way to do the selections that's really meaningful and includes community, and setting it up in a way where we kind of avoid some of the pitfalls of our previous efforts around gun violence reduction. Speaker 2: Okay. Thanks, Shane. Wright Gazaway, you're up next. Go ahead and unmute. Wright Gazaway: Thanks Chief, for taking some time. My question is related to the officer-involved shooting. I spoke with a witness who said he did not see a gun in Mr. Delgado's hand. And I'm wondering if you've gotten any clarity on what led officer DeLong to fire at Mr. Delgado. Did he see a gun? Have you gotten any clarity on what led to the shooting? Chief Chuck Lovell: I don't. I can't really talk about specifics of that case. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment on that. I can't give you any more clarity on that. Speaker 2: Okay, Wright. You have a follow-up question? Wright Gazaway: Yeah, just want to follow-up. The video that I've seen is from a bystander. If there were body camera video, it does seem like that would give a little more clarity to what happened. As the chief, I know it's not entirely your decision, but do you support body cameras? And could that provide more clarity in a situation like this? Chief Chuck Lovell: I'll just tell you from my perspective, I am a fan of body cameras. There's a lot of agencies that have them and they help them in situations like this. And also just call taking, even crowd control, public order type events. I see a lot of value in that. I do realize there's a heavy cost to managing those programs, but I think body cameras are a good tool. Speaker 2: Okay. Next up, Maxine Bernstein. Go ahead, Max. Maxine Bernstein: Thank you, Chief. The family of Mr. Delgado held a news conference while you were away, calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the police shooting and I wondered if you support that? Chief Chuck Lovell: That decisions probably will get made above me, but I feel like I don't want my opinion to influence that decision. I just feel like me, personally, as a leader of an organization, I would never stand in the way of an independent look at an incident or the organization. But I want to just be real mindful about my comments and opinions on it, but if that were to come to pass, we would cooperate and participate in that investigation as appropriate. Speaker 2: Okay. Sarah Hurwitz is next in line. Go ahead, Sarah. Sarah Hurwitz: Hey Chief, thanks so much. Chief Chuck Lovell: Sure. Sarah Hurwitz: My question has to do with all of the gun violence efforts right now. So I just wanted to clarify, from what I understand there are four different teams or groups that the bureau has been directed to use or to create with focusing on the gun violence issue. So I just want to clarify, so we have the Metro Safe Streets Task Force, right? And that's obviously several organizations that are involved. We have the FIT team, we have the ECST, and then we have one other team that was a part of that city agreement? Is that accurate, first off? I just wanted to clarify that. Chief Chuck Lovell: Which city agreement? Sarah Hurwitz: Sorry. It was the gun violence agreement that city commissioners had agreed on it several weeks ago. This would add six additional assault investigative detectives, and one sergeant to coordinate on gun violence related investigations. Speaker 7: Is it ECST, she's talking about? Chief Chuck Lovell: This is separate- Sarah Hurwitz: Yeah, my question just really is, we have so many different teams that I'm like, "Okay, where is this overlap?" Obviously there's a main focus with all of this, but it seems like because you're already short-staffed, you're pulling all these different things for all these different focuses. So I'm just trying to understand. Chief Chuck Lovell: Yeah, no, I hear where you're coming from. Sarah Hurwitz: Yeah. Chief Chuck Lovell: For us, we want to make sure we're doing everything possible to stop and reduce gun violence in the city. I mean, it's some of the most important work we can be doing because people are getting injured and killed. So we want to make sure that we are being as proactive as possible, but we're in a situation too where resources are limited and we're pulling from already strained resources to try to bolster that effort. And we'll have to figure out where the officers for the FIT team will come from, and that's probably going to impact other important work that really needs to be done in the city too. And I think some of the officers from ECST and with the other partnerships that we have going on now... being able to pull them to do that gun violence work has impacted some other areas as well. So I definitely appreciate your question. Speaker 7: I should probably help clarify Sarah, that the officers and investigators that'll be part of the Metro Safe Streets Task Force will be from ECST. So those are the same- Sarah Hurwitz: Got it. Speaker 7: ... actual staff. The FIT will come from a different pool- Chief Chuck Lovell: Of resources. Speaker 7: ... of resources. Right. Chief Chuck Lovell: Got it. Thank you. Speaker 7: And I know that's confusing. There's a lot going on. Sarah Hurwitz: No, but that's helpful at least to understand where everything's coming from. I did have one follow-up question in the same vein of just short-staffing. And I know you've been talking about this for months now. Are you guys in any active recruitment for officers? I know you've also talked about the process that it takes. It's a long time to get people up and running and trained, but I'm curious if the bureau is in that process at all. Chief Chuck Lovell: We had opened up our application for a period of time and we got over 400 people who applied. So that's very positive. There are people who are still interested in doing this work, and working for the Portland Police Bureau, and serving the Portland community. It is a long process to get that person through application and then through all the steps to where you can actually hire them. But our hope is to be able to hire again soon. It takes about six months to get someone through the hiring process. And there's an 18 month probation after that as well. So your lead time to have a fully functioning, able to work the street by themself police officer's about two years. So that lead time is really important to factor in. When you have pockets where you are unable to hire... that just kind of stretches out your timeline. Speaker 2: Okay. The next question in line is Amanda Arden. Go ahead, Amanda, with your question. Amanda Arden: Hi Chief Lovell. This is Amanda Arden from KOIN news. My question is back related to the Robert Delgado shooting. We're wondering... Has Portland Police Bureau considered having the Portland Street Response Team or any other mental health support responding to incidents like this alongside police officers, even when the subject is holding a weapon? Chief Chuck Lovell: I'm a believer in co-responder models, or even models where maybe the police aren't the best ones to show up. I think in this case, depending on the level of threat, you don't want to put people in harm's way. I think Street Response is probably more geared to lower threat type calls, but we have our behavioral health unit that does a lot of follow-up with folks who are experiencing mental health crisis. And we do have a large cadre of enhance CIT, Crisis Intervention Trained officers, who go on these types of calls. I do think there is room for co-responder models, but I think we just have to implement it in a safe manner... One that doesn't put people in unnecessary harm, but I think that's probably a conversation. That's a Fire Bureau program, but we think we have a good working relationship with Street Response at this point. Speaker 2: Okay. Back to Shane Kavanaugh. Shane, if you'd like to ask another question, go ahead. Shane Kavanaugh: Yeah. Hi Chief. Back to the Focused Intervention Team and gun violence reduction... So for this team of 12 officers and two sergeants, you've mentioned that you'll have to reassign folks from other assignments to fill that... Has the bureau started doing that process yet? Have you begun looking for those individuals, and where are you at in sort of identifying who might fill out that team? Chief Chuck Lovell: I know we've had some conversations with officers who might be interested. It's interesting because we're looking for people who are in the rank of officer. So if you have to fill from a specific rank, that eliminates detectives and sergeants. So you have to look for places where you can spare officers or move officers to do this work. So we haven't really done that yet. And like I said, we really want to be mindful in its creation. We really want to have the right community involvement in the selection process as well. So it hasn't started yet in that regard, but we have started to kind of figure out who and how many might be interested in doing this work again. Shane Kavanaugh: And one follow-up on that, Chief. What have officers... It sounds like you have started putting out your feelers a little bit. What has been sort of the response from your rank and file officers about... Are there sufficient number of people interested in filling this role? Do you feel like you'll be able to get volunteers or will you have to actually get people onto this team who might not have put their hands up to begin with? Chief Chuck Lovell: No, I'm confident we'll have enough volunteers to fill this team. This is difficult work. Now, I think this work is probably more dangerous than it's ever been. There's a lot of guns on the street. There's a lot of shootings. And like I said, we want to be really mindful of who we select, but we also want to give folks the opportunity to be successful. And if we have, for instance, officers who haven't done this type of work before... We want to make sure we give them some time to work together, to make sure they have their equity training and all these other things done prior to doing this work so they're set up to do this work in a fashion that's going to be consistent with what the community expects. Speaker 2: All right. Back to Wright Gazaway. Go ahead, Wright, with your next question. Wright Gazaway: I want to stick on the Focused Intervention Team. For someone who might not understand policing, can you just explain how that work will be different than what a regular patrol officer does? I mean, are regular patrol officers only answering 9-1-1 calls, are they not doing any proactive work? How would that work look different than what your patrol officers are doing right now? Chief Chuck Lovell: That work would be focused more on gun violence. So right now officers respond to calls for service and there's a variety of calls that could come in. These officers would be more focused on gun violence and gun-related calls. And I think that's really the big discern. And I think there would be opportunities for these officers to work closely with some of our other partners in DCJ, Department of Criminal Justice, our community justice, parole and probation, some of our other partners at the county and things of that nature. So it'd be just a more focused effort on gun violence. Speaker 2: Okay. Max Bernstein- Shane Kavanaugh: Can I ask just one follow-up on that? Speaker 2: Oh, sure. Go ahead. Shane Kavanaugh: But if they weren't... say... responding to a shooting scene... They would just be going back to patrol, or would these officers not be doing patrol at all? I'm just trying to figure out what role they would have. Chief Chuck Lovell: They would be able to cover on calls and do other things. Our main focus would be gun violence type work, but they would be in a patrol car, mobile in the city. So they would be able to respond to things that they felt that they needed to go to, like to cover another officer on a call or something like that. Speaker 2: All right. Max Bernstein, you're up. Go ahead. Maxine Bernstein: Just following up on the FIT. So the last time you had the press availability, you also said then you weren't sure where these officers would come from. I think that was about a week and a half or so ago. I just wonder what's been done in the interim, and also what the process is for this community oversight group for the FIT team. Who is putting that together? How's it being determined? Who's going to sit on that, et cetera. Chief Chuck Lovell: That's a fair question. For us, we're not really involved necessarily in the process. I think we've been working really closely with the mayor's office. I think the mayor's office has been working with other city commissioners. And then once this group has identified who will participate, I think we'll have a fair amount of interaction with them. I think one of the things that was missing in some of our previous attempts of gun violence reduction is it didn't really have the transparency. There wasn't really a lot of understanding on how that work was being done, who was doing the work, what that work really looked like. Chief Chuck Lovell: A lot of that story was told in stops data and numbers, and the amount of guns taken off the street. But I think that's just a quantitative story. I think the qualitative story is really the one that's important when it comes to that work. And I think having the community oversight piece and the interaction with them, being able to meet with them, talk with them about the work with them, understand kind of what's happening, and who's doing the work is going to be really important to its success. Speaker 2: Okay. I want to get a few more questions in before our time runs out so [Tes Rizky 00:22:09], you're up with your question. Tes Rizky: Hi Chief. I just wanted to check in on the situation with Officer Hunzeker. I wanted to ask is that investigation still ongoing, is Officer Hunzeker still working patrol in the East Precinct, and do you personally know what exactly led to his resignation last month? Chief Chuck Lovell: I don't. I do know that is currently still ongoing. It is with our internal affairs. And I think right now there's 60 something investigations that they're doing that are assigned to eight investigators. So they have a pretty heavy workload, but I haven't had any update on that one since my time back yesterday. But I do know that investigation is still currently ongoing. And I think until we're able to really get some interviews and some more clarity, I won't know exactly specifically why he resigned other than what he stated in his initial comments when he resigned. Speaker 2: Okay. Thanks for the question. Amanda Arden, go ahead. Amanda Arden: Hey Chief, again. Wondering... Has the Enhanced Community Safety Team knowingly prevented any shootings from occurring since it started last month? Chief Chuck Lovell: It's hard to say if they prevented any shootings. I know they've done a lot of good investigative work. I think they made an arrest yesterday on a suspect from a shooting in the Brentwood-Darlington area. There's a lot of good investigative work that's being done, but it's hard to say definitively that they've prevented something from happening. I believe in my heart of hearts that their work is contributing to prevention of shootings. Speaker 2: Okay. And then probably do two more questions. So Wright Gazaway, go ahead with your last question. Wright Gazaway: Chief, that shooting last night in Gresham... I know it wasn't in Portland, but only by a handful of blocks. It seems like there have been several shootings at vigils like that. Have you had a conversation with the chief or officers in Gresham about that? Are you concerned about the shootings that have happened at vigils, and what can be done to prevent those? Are you willing to patrol them, or to provide security for these families that want vigils? Chief Chuck Lovell: Yeah, we have done that in the past. I know we work closely with the Office of Violence Prevention and some other outreach workers here in Portland. And we've provided officers for vigils and for funerals when resources were permitting. But I think it's really important to do that work just for the community safety and the peace of mind aspect. I believe we did send officers to Gresham last night to assist them. I'm not sure if they all went to the scene, or if they were taking calls to allow Gresham to investigate and do what they needed to at the scene. But that's something that we do on a regular basis and I think it's important. And anytime there's a shooting or a gathering where people could potentially be in harm's way, I think it's definitely something that law enforcement should be aware of or concerned about. Speaker 2: Okay. Our last question is Jonathan Levinson. Go ahead, Jonathan. Jonathan Levinson: Hey Chief. Do you think it's problematic at all that an officer, Hunzeker, who made such a serious mistake that he felt he had to resign from his position as union president, that that officer's still working and you don't know why... You don't know the details? That seems like it might be a problem for you. Chief Chuck Lovell: I think we have a process set up to figure all that out. And I think whatever happened with him was... He serves two different roles as union president, but also a police officer within the organization. So the union piece too... I think it's important for people to know that those activities are separate in some way and protected from the police bureau as well. There's a reason to have those two with a bright line between the two. So I'm confident we'll find out exactly what happened as our investigation progresses, and then we'll make the decisions necessary once we have the information. Jonathan Levinson: But, a quick follow-up, you know he said that his mistake was in relation to an investigation, and he is still in a position with access to investigative material and confidential material. That doesn't concern you? Chief Chuck Lovell: Like I said, I think we'll find out what we need to know during the course of the investigation. We do look at these on the front end to see if there's a reason for someone to be able to still work, versus off on admin leave or things of that nature. And I think in this case, we're comfortable having him continue his duties as an officer until the investigation is complete. Speaker 2: Okay. That is the time we have. So I'm going to go ahead and end it here. Thank you again, all.