The Portland City Council voted 3-2 Wednesday to withdraw the city from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s anti-terrorism task force, citing a deep distrust in the program’s ability to root out terrorism while upholding residents’ civil rights.

Wednesday’s vote also represents the first major policy victory for Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, a long-time criminal justice reform advocate who was sworn onto the council in January. She had pledged a withdrawal from the task force would be among her first priorities in office.

“When we talk about one Portland, a Portland where everyone is respected, we cannot in good conscience continue our engagement with the Joint Terrorism Task Force,” Hardesty said.

The decision to withdraw was close, with Commissioners Amanda Fritz, Chloe Eudaly and Hardesty voting in support and Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Nick Fish opposed.

"I cannot support a policy that appears to value politics and ideology over the safety of Portland," Wheeler said. He called Wednesday’s in-or-out decision a “false choice” that did not take into account commissioners’ ability to modify the city’s agreement with the FBI to add new oversight measures and allay concerns of misconduct.

“If working alongside our intelligence and law enforcement partners is no longer the plan, what is the plan?” Wheeler said.

Fritz, Eudaly and Hardesty said they were not convinced city membership in the task force was to Portlanders’ benefit.

“There is no evidence that participation has made Portland safer,” Fritz said.

“Do you feel safer today than you did five years ago?” Eudaly asked the audience at City Hall. “I don’t.”

Membership in the Joint Terrorism Task Force gives select Portland law enforcement officials access to federal agencies’ information about potential terrorist activities in the area. The officials review hundreds of tips each year, assess threats and open investigations that occasionally lead to prosecutions. The group’s most high-profile case during Portland’s membership involved the 2002 arrests of the Portland Seven, a group of locals who attempted to join an al Qaeda cell.

But with Wednesday’s vote, Portland now has 90 days to leave the task force. That means two Portland Police Bureau officers within the bureau’s Criminal Intelligence Unit who are assigned to the task force will be given other work.

The pull-out is the latest twist in Portland’s on-again, off-again relationship with the FBI group, which the city joined in 1997, left in 2005, rejoined partly in 2011 and fully rejoined in 2015.

Law enforcement officials have said Portland’s membership in the task force is an essential component in the local fight against terrorism. Renn Cannon, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Portland field office, and U.S. Attorney Billy Williams in recent weeks pleaded with the mayor and commissioners to stay in the program.

In a statement issued Thursday, Williams called the decision to withdraw “a mistake that defies logic" and “a politically-expedient broadside against the federal government over the safety and well-being” of Portlanders.

In a pre-recorded video message to the city council, Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw said leaving the task force was “not in the best interest of our city’s public safety” and that she feared Portland police officers would become “walled off” from valuable information about terror plots.

A driving force behind the city’s decision to withdraw once again was testimony from residents and civil rights activists who said the Joint Terrorism Task Force unlawfully targeted Muslims and people of color for surveillance and immigrants for deportation – actions they say spurred members of those groups to become fearful of law enforcement and view the FBI in an irredeemable light.

Members of the city council also expressed skepticism the task force was acting within the bounds of state and local laws. They said occasional reports from the FBI about task force work were threadbare, and lacked the transparency officials need to feel comfortable with the arrangement.

That doubt was brought into full view Tuesday, when the mayor and commissioners held a public briefing with Cannon, Williams and other officials.

In a remarkable exchange during that meeting, Hardesty asked Williams if he believes in Oregon’s sanctuary law, which bans local law enforcement agencies from assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents if a suspect's only offense is residing in the country illegally.

Williams responded that federal officials are “not required to follow Oregon law.” When Hardesty said Williams could not selectively support some Oregon laws and not others, he retorted, “That’s your opinion, commissioner.” Hardesty responded, “And I’m entitled to have one, I guess.”

During Wednesday evening’s vote, a majority of the commissioners said they remained unconvinced to put their faith in the local-federal partnership.

“Trust is not earned by saying ‘You can trust me,’” Fritz said.

Wheeler said he accepts that the city will withdraw from the task force and pledged the city will “rise to the occasion” to protect Portlanders in what ways it can, even if it must do so “from the sidelines.”

-- Gordon R. Friedman

GFriedman@Oregonian.com