dviss1
Emcee Referee
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2011
- Messages
- 29,712
- Likes
- 27,712
- Points
- 113
BBQ Bettys and Permit Pattys beware!
We need this law for the Jussie Smollets of the world!
Lawmakers consider measure that would allow lawsuits over frivolous calls to police.
SALEM – A person who has the police called on them for the “crime” of being a person of color could sue the person who summoned law enforcement, under a bill introduced by three African American state lawmakers.
One of the sponsors, Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Clackamas, experienced such a call when she was canvassing for votes in her suburban Portland district last summer. The summoning of police on a lawmaker “campaigning while black” drew national attention.”
Black Oregon legislator says campaigning in own district triggered 911 call
“I remember thinking I’ve done everything that I could possibly do to not have this happen,” she said. “I was very intentional about the things that I wore, intentional about my behaviors, always going from the house and taking my notes on the street in clear view, doing it the same way every time.”
“Why those actions would stir someone’s curiosity was beyond me,” said Bynum.
The Clackamas County deputy who responded immediately realized nothing was wrong, and at Bynum’s request, arranged for the state representative to speak with her constituent who had regarded her behavior as suspicious.
“I wonder, though, if things would have been different if I had had my 15-year-old son with me, who’s taller than me, darker than me,” she said. “I don’t know what would have happened.”
Bynum isn’t the only African American politician who’s been the subject of a 911 call while asking for votes. A state senator named Jesse Hamilton experienced the same thing while talking to potential voters on a New York City sidewalk last August.
Several other highly publicized incidents have involved non-politicians. A security guard called the police on an African American man from Kent, Washington who was making a phone call in the lobby of the Double Tree hotel in Portland in December.
And a white student at Yale called police on her African American classmate when the young woman was taking a nap in their dorm’s common area.
That incident in particular caught the attention of Erious Johnson, an Oregon civil rights attorney. He and his wife, Nkenge Harmon Johnson, who is the president of the Urban League of Portland, jointly wrote an opinion piece in the Oregonian calling for the creation of a new crime called “malicious summoning.”
Their idea was that someone who calls the police as a way to harass someone who is minding their own business could then be charged themselves with violating the victim’s constitutional rights.
“When they have police called on them for no reason, people are hurt,” Johnson testified Wednesday to lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee. “It’s an element of segregation.”
The opinion piece served as part of the inspiration for the bill currently before lawmakers.
House Bill 3216 does not include the possibility of criminal charges. Instead, it creates a path for people to file a suit in small claims court for damages of up to $250.
The House Judiciary Committee could vote as soon as Thursday to advance the measure. An earlier version of the bill would have allowed people to be charged with a Class D violation for “unlawfully summoning” police, but that provision will likely be dropped if the bill moves forward, according to Bynum. Filing a false police report is already a Class A misdemeanor in Oregon.
Bynum said the goal of the legislation is not to harshly punish those who call the police for frivolous reasons. Instead, it’s about providing people who have been hurt by such calls an opportunity for restoration.
“There’s a certain amount of your dignity that is stripped when you are stopped by the police for doing nothing but existing,” she said.
We need this law for the Jussie Smollets of the world!
Lawmakers consider measure that would allow lawsuits over frivolous calls to police.
SALEM – A person who has the police called on them for the “crime” of being a person of color could sue the person who summoned law enforcement, under a bill introduced by three African American state lawmakers.
One of the sponsors, Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Clackamas, experienced such a call when she was canvassing for votes in her suburban Portland district last summer. The summoning of police on a lawmaker “campaigning while black” drew national attention.”
Black Oregon legislator says campaigning in own district triggered 911 call
“I remember thinking I’ve done everything that I could possibly do to not have this happen,” she said. “I was very intentional about the things that I wore, intentional about my behaviors, always going from the house and taking my notes on the street in clear view, doing it the same way every time.”
“Why those actions would stir someone’s curiosity was beyond me,” said Bynum.
The Clackamas County deputy who responded immediately realized nothing was wrong, and at Bynum’s request, arranged for the state representative to speak with her constituent who had regarded her behavior as suspicious.
“I wonder, though, if things would have been different if I had had my 15-year-old son with me, who’s taller than me, darker than me,” she said. “I don’t know what would have happened.”
Bynum isn’t the only African American politician who’s been the subject of a 911 call while asking for votes. A state senator named Jesse Hamilton experienced the same thing while talking to potential voters on a New York City sidewalk last August.
Several other highly publicized incidents have involved non-politicians. A security guard called the police on an African American man from Kent, Washington who was making a phone call in the lobby of the Double Tree hotel in Portland in December.
And a white student at Yale called police on her African American classmate when the young woman was taking a nap in their dorm’s common area.
That incident in particular caught the attention of Erious Johnson, an Oregon civil rights attorney. He and his wife, Nkenge Harmon Johnson, who is the president of the Urban League of Portland, jointly wrote an opinion piece in the Oregonian calling for the creation of a new crime called “malicious summoning.”
Their idea was that someone who calls the police as a way to harass someone who is minding their own business could then be charged themselves with violating the victim’s constitutional rights.
“When they have police called on them for no reason, people are hurt,” Johnson testified Wednesday to lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee. “It’s an element of segregation.”
The opinion piece served as part of the inspiration for the bill currently before lawmakers.
House Bill 3216 does not include the possibility of criminal charges. Instead, it creates a path for people to file a suit in small claims court for damages of up to $250.
The House Judiciary Committee could vote as soon as Thursday to advance the measure. An earlier version of the bill would have allowed people to be charged with a Class D violation for “unlawfully summoning” police, but that provision will likely be dropped if the bill moves forward, according to Bynum. Filing a false police report is already a Class A misdemeanor in Oregon.
Bynum said the goal of the legislation is not to harshly punish those who call the police for frivolous reasons. Instead, it’s about providing people who have been hurt by such calls an opportunity for restoration.
“There’s a certain amount of your dignity that is stripped when you are stopped by the police for doing nothing but existing,” she said.
