http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/inde ... purge.htmlBy Maxine Bernstein: Portland police next month will end their more than 20-year-old practice of designating people as gang members or gang associates in response to strong community concerns about the labels that have disproportionately affected minorities.
The Police Bureau recognizes that the gang designations have led to "unintended consequences'' and served as lifelong barriers for those who have shunned the gang lifestyle and tried to get jobs, said Acting Tactical Operations Capt. Andy Shearer.
A review by Oregonian/OregonLive reporter Carli Brosseau last year found that of the 359 "criminal gang affiliates'' flagged in Portland's database as of last summer, 81 percent were part of a racial or ethnic minority. She obtained the list, names removed, only after appealing the city's attempt to keep it from public view.
Leaders from Black Male Achievement, former police Assistant Chief Kevin Modica and others have lobbied to end the designations.
In Clown World, willful ignorance is the latest law enforcement tool. Very European.
