Decades ago the Portland, OR PD was the most lethal police department in the world per capita, and I was trying to raise a family there. I was selected for Grand Jury duty for the purpose of inspecting Multnomah County jails and we were availed counsel from the District Attorney's office.
I ascertained during that stint that 1/4 of the jury had been beaten by PDX cops (including myself), yet due to the control effected by the counsel on the jury by their sole option to draft subpoenas, the report of the jury, and control of the itinerary of the jury, including witnesses to be interviewed, security of the jury during inspections, and more, it was impossible to pursue any investigation into police brutality, training, corruption, or, indeed, into any actual problem we were confronted with or suspected. There was actually an escape during our service, and all the report mentioned was that the facility had acted according to policy. That jail later closed, but we had nothing to do with it.
At one point an inmate volunteered to testify to the jury, and indicated a guard in the room providing the security to the jury, and stated 'That guy is sexually abusing me.', whereupon the guard stated 'I'm going to get you for that.' Because the counsel did not enable the jury to file any subpoena, to include any reference to the testimony or the identity of the people involved in our report, and the jury was not empowered to institute pro se actions, all I could do was tell the captive that he should take care to guard his security because we could not avail him of any help whatsoever. We couldn't even call the cops.
His reply was 'I don't care. I just want someone to know.'
I hope things get better in Louisville, but as I was compelled to leave PDX as a result of threats against my children and family from the judicial and police institutions in PDX as a result of my participation on that jury, and in view of the serial degradation of PDX thereafter, I can offer little in the way of practical solutions to the problems you face there. I can assure you that federal involvement is bringing in foxes to improve chicken coop security, so don't hold your breath on that account.
Thanks!
Your grand jury experience sounds similar to the grand jury 'investigation' that the state attorney general choreographed for the cops that shot Breonna Taylor. Just a charade to create the appearance of doing something. It's funny you mention an escape, the night of my last drink of alcohol (12/12/2010) I managed to escape from the jail here. That'll make you popular with the cops, or at least make sure they know who you are. Pretty sure they papered over that in similar fashion, were embarrassed and didn't want people asking questions about how I'd managed to pull that off.
Don't worry, I don't have much in the way of expectations in terms of what the consent decree will actually accomplish, it's still cops watching cops and we already know how good they are at that. One of the things that the protests here in 2020 drove home was that 'we take care of us.' The community organizing and mutual aid stuff that grew out of that is still going strong, I am a bit hopeful that having LMPD on a shorter leash will give that more room to grow and flourish. We shall see.
Thanks for dropping by!