Portland police should compel officers who use deadly force to speak to internal affairs investigators within 48 hours and not wait for approval from the district attorney, the City Council decided in an unanimous vote Wednesday.

But the council will spend another week working on the precise language for a revised police directive to reflect the decision. The proposed policy will come back before the mayor and city commissioners for a separate vote later this month or in early September.

Mayor Ted Wheeler, crediting community input and legal advice from many attorneys, backed away from his initial plan.

It would have granted authority to the Multnomah County district attorney to dictate when police internal affairs investigators could interview officers involved in fatal shootings. But at the same time, the city would have sought a court ruling on the legality of internal affairs forcing statements from officers as quickly as possible.

District Attorney Rod Underhill had advised police in March to hold off on internal affairs interviews until completion of criminal investigations in deadly force cases. He was concerned that compelled statements could violate an officer's due process rights and make an officer immune from prosecution. That led the Police Bureau to wait six weeks after one shooting this year to have an officer give an interview to internal affairs investigators for a standard administrative review.

Underhill's memo followed the hard-fought and successful elimination last year of the controversial "48-hour rule" in the police contract that allowed the officers to wait at least two days before making a statement to internal affairs.

"I believe the principle of eliminating the 48-hour rule ... is worth the risk, and that we stand on strong legal ground,'' Wheeler said Wednesday.

Wheeler and Commissioner Nick Fish worked on the substitute proposal in the last week.

"Our goal is to go back and affirm a national best practice and assure these interviews occur in a timely manner,'' Fish said. "We are not picking a fight with the DA. Reasonable people can disagree.''

In reversing course, Wheeler said he now doesn't want to wait until a court ruling. But he said he's still is interested in somehow obtaining judicial review on the policy.

"I believe absolutely we would seek that judicial clarity,'' he said.

In the meantime, the council directed the city attorney to work with lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice to draft a new police directive on "post deadly-force procedures.''

It should direct the Police Bureau to maintain a strict wall between simultaneous police criminal investigations of deadly force and the internal affairs investigations and require that officers promptly give statements to internal affairs within 48 hours absent extenuating circumstances. It also should give authority to the police commissioner and police chief to defer the internal affairs interview if warranted.

Representatives from the National Lawyers Guild, Portland Copwatch and the Albina Ministerial Alliance's Coalition for Justice and Police Reform commended the mayor and council for listening to community concerns aired at a hearing last week.

They then urged the council to continue to seek a court ruling validating a timely internal affairs interview after a deadly shooting or death in custody. They also urged the council to require officers to give statements to internal affairs even sooner -- by the end of their shift or within 24 hours of an encounter.

Lindsey Burrows, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild, requested the council remove the proposed clause permitting the police commissioner and chief to make exceptions, saying it's "overbroad and vague.''

The mayor said he "won't fall on his sword'' over the clause. Wheeler said it was included because of the immunity concern.

"I would obviously use that exception extremely judiciously,'' said Wheeler, who also acts as the city's police commissioner. Yet Wheeler said he understood the community's fear that the power could be abused.

City Attorney Tracy Reeve said other police agencies that take immediate statements from officers who use deadly force, including Seattle police, have that "escape hatch'' in their policies should authorities get an "initial gut check'' that a particular shooting is likely a "bad shooting.''

Since 2010, Portland has had 32 officer-involved shootings. Twenty were fatal. One officer, Dane Reister, was indicted on criminal charges during that time after firing a bean-bag shotgun mistakenly loaded with live rounds and seriously wounding a man. Reister had pleaded not guilty to assault charges in the case and was challenging a negligent wounding charge when he killed himself in 2015.

A rewritten police directive is expected to return to council by Aug. 24 for review. Until then, police internal affairs will be directed to interview officers who use deadly force as soon as practical within 48 hours of the encounter.

In the next week, the council and city attorney's office will consider adding back language that would give the city attorney the right to seek a court review of the policy, consider placing restrictions on when a chief and police commissioner could grant an exception and discuss if compelled statements should occur more quickly than 48 hours, Fish said.

"It needed a little more polishing,'' Fish said. " We want to get it right.''

The mayor's proposal to create a new Portland Commission on Community-Engaged Policing has been tabled for two more weeks so it can be reworked to consider changes urged by the public.

Community members also complained last week that the new group would meet behind closed doors twice a month and wouldn't have any oversight of federally mandated police reforms stemming from a settlement agreement the city reached with the U.S. Department of Justice over using force against people with mental illness.

"I believe it can be significantly improved,'' Wheeler. "I want you to know that I heard you.''

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian