Portland police are now banning officers from carrying open knives in their outside ballistic vests, noting that they are “easily accessible by suspects.’’

The new rule comes in the wake of the Jan. 6 fatal police shooting of Andre Gladen, a 36-year-old legally blind man who ran inside a stranger’s home. Gladen was found holding a dagger-type knife that he had grabbed from the vest of the officer who ended up killing him, several law enforcement sources said.

The rule, signed last week by Police Chief Danielle Outlaw, was distributed to officers on Monday.

“It was created after proactively identifying a shortcoming in policy,’’ Outlaw told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Tuesday.

The Portland Police Bureau has declined repeatedly to acknowledge that the knife Gladen dropped after he was shot belonged to Officer Consider Vosu. Outlaw and Mayor Ted Wheeler didn’t share any information about the knife with Gladen’s parents and siblings, who met with them last Friday – a day after the rule went into effect.

Outlaw said the bureau still awaits the grand jury transcripts related to the Gladen shooting and that the police administrative investigation into the shooting hasn’t concluded.

Police released a photo of the knife two days after the deadly encounter. It shows a double-sided 3 1/2-inch blade with finger rings. It costs about $100, according to retail postings.

The new ban followed a review by the bureau’s Training Division of equipment and pouches officers carry in their outside vests. Lead instructors from firearms, patrol procedures and control tactics participated in the review.

A Multnomah County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing by the officer involved in the shooting. The grand jury transcripts are expected to be made public in two to three weeks, and the bureau’s investigative reports will be released by March 8, according to the bureau.

Police instructors on control tactics noticed that knives placed on the outside vests are generally exposed and visible. Police typically carry them to cut clothing, ropes or seat belts on emergency calls.

But now, officers no longer can carry knives, scissors, trauma shears or seat-belt cutters on their outside vests, unless they’re concealed inside a pouch. The body of the knife or sheath shouldn’t be exposed or visible, according to the memo signed by the chief.

The bureau also said officers no longer can carry extra magazines of ammunition for handguns or AR-15 rifles on the outside vests, with the exception of officers from the Special Emergency Reaction Team and traffic officers who ride motorcycles.

The outside vests should be reserved for holding handcuffs, police radios, phones, hobble restraints and tourniquets, according to the three-page training memo that went to officers.

The memo also described some drawbacks of the outside vests in potentially interfering with an officer’s ability to draw a weapon effectively. Police firearms instructors noticed during annual review training that officers sometimes had to modify their movement to draw their guns to accommodate the gear and pouches placed on the vests.

Yet the trainers also said they recognized the benefits of an outer vest, which is much cooler to wear during hot weather, compared to wearing the vest beneath an officer’s shirt. The bureau is continuing to allow officers to choose whether they wear their ballistic vest in or outside their shirt.

“Our Training Division looks at best practices and certain times we have to adjust based on certain events,’’ said Officer Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, the union for the rank-and-file officers. He declined comment on the Gladen case.

The Jan. 6 shooting occurred after Southeast Portland resident Desmond Pescaia called 911 about a stranger sleeping on his front stoop. Gladen told Pescaia that he had been released from a hospital and someone was after him, trying to kill him. It looked like Gladen had a hospital-type gown sticking out of his shirt or pants and he had no shoes on, Pescaia said.

Pescaia offered to help Gladen, but he wouldn’t leave and fell asleep on the porch of the home in the 9600 block of Southeast Market Street.

When the officer arrived, Gladen burst into Pescaia’s home through the open front door, Pescaia said. According to Pescaia, Vosu followed and struggled to handcuff Gladen, who had slipped on the living room floor. Gladen then kicked the officer off him and into a rear bedroom.

The officer first fired his Taser at Gladen, who stood in the entry to the bedroom. Gladen fell but got back up, and after several orders to stand down, the officer fired multiple shots from his handgun, Pescaia said.

Pescaia saw a knife fall from Gladen’s right hand and land beside Gladen, he said.

Gladen, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, had been at Portland Adventist Medical Center less than half a mile away before he showed up on Pescaia’s doorstep, his family said.

His family has retained a local lawyer and a Chicago-based civil rights lawyer, who are evaluating whether to file a lawsuit in the case.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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