Neighboring police agencies are rethinking helping Portland police except in major emergencies in the wake of a million-dollar judgment against Washington County and Hillsboro awarded after their officers wounded a man while helping Portland police with a search warrant.

Washington County Sheriff Pat Garrett has ordered his deputies not to take any enforcement action in Portland unless there’s a direct tie to their casework in Washington County.

Clackamas County is thinking of following suit. Vancouver police plan to review the department’s mutual aid agreements this year.

Washington County’s move came on the advice of its senior assistant counsel, Elmer M. Dickens, who doubles as the attorney for the Oregon State Sheriffs Association.

Dickens made the recommendation to avoid potential risks from costly judgements in civil lawsuits over use of force, findings by Multnomah County grand juries reviewing police shootings or scrutiny by Portland-hired consultants who also review officer-involved shootings in the city.

In a Feb. 14 memo to the sheriff, Dickens described Portland police as a “fantastic partner’’ for many years, “but these issues are much larger than PPB and beyond their control.’’

For 23 years, under a mutual aid agreement Portland had with Washington County and continues to have with other police agencies, each city or county agrees to be responsible for the acts of its employees when they’re assisting another agency.

But a federal jury’s $7 million judgment for battery and negligence against two Washington County tactical officers last year spurred the county’s reassessment. Members of Washington County’s Tactical Negotiations Team wounded a North Portland man, Adalberto Flores-Haro, in 2012 while helping Portland police serve a search warrant at a nearby home. A judge this year reduced the award to $1 million, and the amount now is under appeal.

Dickens also cited particular concern about how Portland represents its officers. He said in some cases the city has reserved its right not to pay for an attorney or a court judgment against an officer.

That characterization has left Portland city attorneys scratching their heads.

State law says the city requesting help should represent and defend an employee who responds from an outside agency, but that a mutual aid agreement can shift that representation to the city or county of the responding officer.

That’s what happened in 1996 when Portland signed a mutual aid agreement with Washington, Clackamas, Columbia and Clark county sheriff’s offices, Oregon State Police, the Washington State Patrol, FBI and neighboring cities, according to Portland city attorneys.

Portland sought the agreement because it doesn’t have control over how officers from an outside agency are trained or hired, according to the City Attorney’s Office.

“We do not think anything has changed legally,’’ City Attorney Tracy Reeve said Friday.

And Dickens’ reference to Portland reserving the right not to cover an officer’s lawyer or a judgment against an officer is restricted to cases when a Portland officer isn’t acting in the course of their job, such as driving drunk while off-duty, a Portland risk management spokeswoman said.

Regardless, Garrett ordered Washington County deputies assigned to the county’s tactical squad, TriMet and crowd control mobile field forces not to be sent to Portland except in cases of an “extreme risk to life and safety’’ and Portland police are overwhelmed.

Washington County deputies assigned to the multi-agency Transit Division, which provides law enforcement for TriMet, will work out of Hillsboro or Clackamas County instead, said Washington County Sheriff’s Sgt. David Thompson.

Seven days after Washington County pulled out, Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts asked his county’s counsel to weigh in with a written opinion.

In a Feb. 21 email to his staff, Roberts said he was seeking the opinion “because of the litigation many of us find our agencies in after rendering aid to PPB, often regarding crowd control matters.’’

“I want all of you to know if a fellow law enforcement officer is in need of assistance in a life-threatening situation we will respond,’’ Roberts wrote. “That being said, I will not place our staff at unnecessary personal risk when acting under law and authority as a police officer.”

As of Friday, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office hadn’t made any changes and was operating under the status quo, said spokesman Sgt. Nate Thompson. The Clackamas County counsel opinion informed the sheriff its the county’s obligation to defend its employees, no matter where the deputy is taking law enforcement action, as long as the deputy is acting within his or her role as a sheriff’s office employee.

Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts told staff he asked the county counsel for a written opinion in the wake of the decision by Washington County sheriff to pull out of its mutual aid pact with Portland.

Vancouver Police Department this year plans to examine its mutual aid agreements with nearby police agencies "to ensure that we have written agreements that accurately reflect the roles and responsibilities currently anticipated'' by the department and its neighboring partners, said Kim Kapp, Vancouver police spokeswoman.

Washington County’s move, first reported by KPTV, concerns Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw and Mayor Ted Wheeler, who serves as the city’s police commissioner. It also has pushed the City Attorney’s Office and Portland police to reexamine its long-standing mutual aid agreements.

The city is in talks with Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, working to address their concerns and preserve Portland’s partnership with them, according to Wheeler’s spokeswoman, Eileen Park.

The city, for instance, is examining if there are officers from another police agency it would agree to indemnify. Although the city has historically not accepted liability for officers it doesn’t train or supervise, it might in some cases – perhaps ““when the need for outside resources to protect public safety outweighed the liability concerns,” said Reeve, the city attorney.

“The city approaches these issues carefully and tries to strike the right balance between protecting public safety and reducing the risk to public funds resulting from the conduct of other agencies,’’ Reeve said.

Portland police spokeswoman Lt. Tina Jones said the bureau “values cross-agency collaboration.”

“We will continue to be good regional partners with all agencies regardless of legal decisions that may impact long standing mutual aid agreements,’’ she said.

Officer Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, said the city’s elected officials need to figure out how to correct this problem because he fears the loss of help from Washington County will have significant repercussions.

He noted that multiple agencies, including Portland police, raced to the shooting at Clackamas Town Center in 2012 and the Reynolds High School shooting in Troutdale in 2014.

“Can you imagine someone delaying their response’’ to those shootings because of mutual aid disputes, Turner said.

“The people it hurts the most is the community and the officers who have a long history of working together,’’ Turner said.

Yet, the Washington County sheriff was clear that his deputies would still roll out in extreme emergencies.

“Very important, we will still send help during a significant life-threatening emergency such as a Code 0 or active shooter. Our friends and colleagues at the Portland Police Bureau are terrific partners, great professionals and we care about them and their safety as we do our other partners,’’ Garrett wrote to his staff.

“Unfortunately, the current political climate forces us to make this difficult decision, but one I truly believe is in the best interest of those on our WCSO team who would respond into the City.’’

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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