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Portland police union president Officer Daryl Turner blamed the 'media, politicians, community activists' for fueling anti-police hatred and Saturday's shooting of two New York Police officers.

(Helen Jung/The Oregonian)

Many readers responded to a statement issued by the president of the Portland police union, which blamed "the media, politicians and community activists'' for fueling a "culture of hatred'' toward law enforcement.

Officer Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, wrote in the statement that he believed the anti-police hatred helped lead to Saturday's cold-blooded killing of two New York police officers.

He called on officers, ranking police brass, politicians, pastors and educators to have conversations in their communities to support law enforcement and the work they do.

He started a brief conversation on Tuesday with leaders of Don't Shoot Portland, when Teressa Raiford came to protest Turner's statements at the police union office in Northwest Portland.

Raiford told The Oregonian that she was somewhat surprised when Turner invited her and other demonstrators into the union offices as they staged a hastily organized rally outside Tuesday afternoon to protest his remarks.

Raiford called Turner's written statement "irresponsible'' and harmful. Yet she was pleased they had an "unexpected dialogue'' and called it a good first step. She said she hopes that Turner will join the mayor in another meeting on Jan. 10 with the "Don't Shoot Portland'' group.

Here's a sampling of how readers reacted to Turner's written statement:

chiselbit This letter is classic police mentality. They demand trust and respect. They call on community leaders to compel the public to trust and respect them. Why don't they try earning our trust and respect like everybody else?









BRIGHT EYES The Portland police are correct on this. Those people with the attitude that just want to do their own and no one going to tell them what to do would not agree with the police unless they were the victim damaged by a crime. willmc4 Officer Turner ought to tend to his business at hand here in Portland and stop the media grandstanding for his own gratification. There is plenty of work to do here and does not take long to review a few years of incredible incompetence here in Portland. By and large Portland Police are good people, but there are several examples to point out that included unnecessary deaths.

Turner's opinion piece would be funny if it wasn't so sad and so utterly cynical: the single biggest obstacle to the "respectful, yet tough conversation" he claims to want is the police unions themselves, specifically the outrageous rhetoric of the union presidents who are unwilling to enter into the "tough" discussion of accountability and oversight of police actions. When he is willing to say that sometimes police make mistakes that result in deaths, that some cops act based on racial stereotype, that some cops are unfit for the job, that the system is flawed and needs more objective oversight, then we can have that conversation. Until then he is FOS.

BulldogLizzy We are not going to be able to stop angry, violent people from inflicting senseless violence unless the people around them pay attention and intervene. There have been cases of white, anti-government terrorists shooting police officers, park rangers and other law enforcement personnel way before this revenge killing. Government officials and taxpayers demanding accountability from officers when carrying out their duties does not constitute a call for vengeance.

Michael Fischer My heart goes out to the families of the NYPD officers. Unfortunately for the premise of this letter the shooting of the officers is not related to the peaceful protests or outrage over police brutality.



The people deserve a police force that protects us all equally. When a young black man is 21 times more likely to be shot in an encounter with the police than a young white man we can say this is definitely not happening.



To be clear, this is not happening because the police are racist but rather because our society harbors deep racist tendencies. We all need to look in the mirror and make some change.

Others in the community issued statements in response to Turner's.

The Rev. Chuck Currie wrote this:

As I said over the weekend , the murders of those two public servants were an attack on all Americans. PBA president Daryl Turner's rhetoric is reckless. The PBA has been a long-time opponent of reform. The union has protected officers who have dishonored the Portland Police Bureau. There are too many examples of the PBA putting the union before the city of Portland and the civil rights of our citizens. Officer Turner is free to express his opinions as a union representative. But we need leaders in Portland right now who respect civil rights, respect the citizens of this city, and are willing to begin the hard work of starting a process to bring reconciliation between police and the citizens they are swore to protect. I think all Portlanders recognize the sacrifice made by the Portland Police and we honor that. At the same time, we should not be disrespected as a city by the PBA president who is willing to tear Portland further apart when we need to be brought together to fix seriously issues that imped justice in Portland. Rev. Chuck Currie

And, Dan Handelman, of Portland Copwatch, responded with this statement:

Officer Turner, like the NYPD's police union, is missing the entire point

of the protests. The protests are not encouraging people to hate police,

they are responding to the unwarranted violence used by police and the

system's inablity/unwillingness to hold those officers accountable. It was

the same police violence which apparently triggered this distrubed

individual to commit his own act of unwarranted violence against the cops.

But in the same way that the cops are trying to blame the people they

shoot/choke/kill for their own injuries/deaths, they are trying to blame

the community for the backlash from those police actions.

