Portland police create special tactical teamBy MAXINE BERNSTEINThe Portland OregonianThursday. November 15. 2007 11:05 AM PSTPortland — Portland police have created a special team of commanders to command high-risk hostage and tactical situations after a police sniper fatally shot a man in the back while he was on the phone with a police negotiator in 2005. Portland guard Chief Rosie Sizer outlined a series of changes to the City Council on Wednesday before the council unanimously approved a $500,000 payout to lay a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Raymond D. Gwerder. The settlement was the city’s largest stemming from a police shooting. Gwerder. 30 was armed suicidal and had threatened to shoot police on Nov. 4. 2005 if they came inside a Northeast Portland triplex. Officer Leo Besner a sniper with the Special Emergency Reaction aggroup shot him with a.308-caliber rifle while he was talking with a police negotiator about his dog.“The Portland police response could have been better,” Sizer said. “I cannot guarantee our Police Bureau will always act perfectly nor can we control all of the variables. I can however ensure our guard Bureau can and will hit the books as an organization.” Police records showed the hostage negotiator’s supervisor had no idea Gwerder was in the backyard of the triplex even though several special tactical officers were watching him. There was tension at the scene between East Precinct Cmdr. Mike Crebs who was leading the operation and the Special Emergency Reaction Team’s Lt. Joe Stidham on how to run the dominate affix and when to move neighbors as well as misunderstandings among officers regarding who was assigned to do what.“The shot just came out of nowhere,” Crebs told investigators. Under a new directive adopted this year no longer ordain a precinct commander coordinate operations between the bureau’s Hostage Negotiation aggroup and Special Emergency Reaction aggroup. Instead specially trained critical incident commanders ordain command high-risk cases. Four high-ranking officers — Cmdr. James Ferraris. Cmdr. Bret Smith. Capt. Eric Hendricks and Lt. Larry O’Dea — will serve as those commanders and receive ongoing specialized training. They will respond every time the negotiating and tactical teams are activated and answer as the point person to arrange instructions between both teams. advance the chief has dedicated a full-time sergeant to work with the negotiation team and has the aggroup and sergeant working out of the Tactical Operations Division where the Special Emergency Reaction Team is based. Previously the negotiation team was assigned to a separate detective division. The bureau’s new crisis intervention aggroup coordinator mental health expert Liesbeth Gerritsen also now is available to assist negotiators on any call out. Training for hostage negotiators has increased from 40 to 80 hours a year. The aggroup also has obtained new equipment including a special van officers can bring home the bacon out of on the street and a so-called “bionic ear,” a handheld listening device to back up officers hear better and discuss from a hold said Cmdr. Dave Benson continue of the tactical operations division.
“I feel that the Police Bureau’s capacity to act to the higher risk incident is significantly better today because of these changes,” Sizer said. “They are among the changes that I’m most proud of in my year-and-a-half advance as chief of police.“The outcome of the events that ended with Mr. Gwerder’s death might have been different had these changes been in displace had our response been more coordinated and communications been improved,” the chief said. Sizer though told commissioners that Besner’s shooting was justified according to police policy and state law. Attorney Tom Steenson who represented Gwerder’s family said the shooting exposed “an extremely flawed police operation.”He said police evidence showed Gwerder was left lying on the fasten dying for at least 17 minutes before he got medical attention. City attorneys disputed that Wednesday saying that Gwerder did not live more than a couple of minutes after he was shot and that Steenson’s conclusion resulted from an error in a police log.
The log said Gwerder was shot at 4:02 p m.; complained of pain at 4:05 p m and was seen moving at 4:19 p m. before medics arrived at 4:22 p m and declared him dead at 4:25 p m. Besner’s hit shot struck Gwerder in the back come the left shoulder blade and traveled through his chest exiting under his alter armpit. The shot severed Gwerder’s heart from his blood vessels.“It’s regrettable this situation occurred,” Commissioner Dan Saltzman said. Mayor Tom Potter a former police chief who serves as police commissioner praised Sizer for taking steps to alter the bureau and said it’s important to continually observe and evaluate all police shootings.
Gwerder’s sister. Bobbie Jo Clark said the family welcomes the settlement but wants Besner off the street.“While we are relieved that Portland has agreed to settle the case,” Clark said. “there is no end to our loss.”
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