Tom Potter
From dKosopedia
Tom Potter is the current mayor of the City of Portland, Oregon and has served the city for 38 years - as its police chief, a community leader and civil rights activist.
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Education
- Hosford Grade School
- Cleveland High School
- University of Portland
Background
Tom was born in Bend – but only after his mother, Frances, insisted that her fifth child be born in a hospital. His father, Fred, struggled to keep a job, and when Tom was born the family lived in a tent in a small town outside of Bend. When Tom was six, his father died and the family moved to Portland. Tom graduated from Cleveland High School. (He would graduate again – from the University of Portland with a degree in Police Administration – 13 years after he joined the Portland Police.)
Tom has four children and fourteen grandchildren who gather regularly at Tom's house where he cooks gumbo for his large family. His daughter, Katie, is Portland's first openly gay police officer. Tom and his wife, Karin Hansen, a former Portland high school teacher, live with their cat Spike in the Woodstock neighborhood.
His hobbies include archaeology, hiking, camping and bicycling.
Career Background-Police Department
Tom’s public service began in the summer of 1966, when as a new cop walking the beat in the Sellwood and Brooklyn neighborhoods he learned that the community around him had important lessons to teach to anyone willing to listen.
Over the next 27 years of service, Tom took that simple idea and put it into practice everyday. As a young patrolman, he was the first Portland officer to join a neighborhood association. As a Lieutenant, he was nationally recognized for leading the best Crime Prevention program in the country. He also helped develop the first police trading card program, which helped kids see the neighborhood cop as a real person – and someone they could trust.
In 1986, Tom was promoted to Captain in the North Precinct. Local motel owners and neighbors were having trouble with prostitution and drug dealing along Interstate Avenue. Tom knew he could assign more officers to the street but instead lead the devlopement and implmentation of "Community Policing" which brought long-term solutions – by bringing neighbors together and help them figure out what worked best.
Four years later, Portland’s Police Chief job opened up again. Popular Mayor Bud Clark tapped Tom to take over the city’s largest bureau. With crime rising and a lack of trust between the bureau’s 1,300 officers and the city they served, Clark's choice was a successful one as potter had established a solid connection with the community.
Tom created the Chief’s Forum, which brought together neighborhoods, police officers and the business community to solve common problems. He then worked with citizens to start citizens’ foot patrols to walk their neighborhoods, and invited citizens to help change the bureau to make its work more responsive to their needs. A Family Services Division was formed to work with high schools to develop anti-crime and child-protection programs, and better protect victims of domestic violence.
When he first became chief, the bureau's 23 African-American officers were meeting regularly to formulate plans for a lawsuit against the city. Tom listened to the concerns of the diverse communities he served. He started a “Bias Crimes” unit to investigate crimes where prejudice played a part, and ended the bureau’s involvement in INS raids and deportation arrests aimed at Latinos.
He aggressively recruited more women and minorities to the bureau, saying citizens must see themselves in the faces of the officers in their neighborhoods. He made sure new officers received the training they would need to rise through the ranks. Two would eventually become Chief themselves. Later, at a gathering of Oregon Black Law Enforcement United, Tom appeared and was given a standing ovation. The idea of a lawsuit was dropped.
Potter became the first Chief to march in uniform in Portland’s Gay PRIDE Day parade, Tom’s resignation was demanded by the Oregon Citizens Alliance, and even some of his own officers. But Tom refused, and groups ranging from the Urban League of Portland to the Citizens Crime Commission rallied to his support. He marched in every parade as Chief – even delaying his retirement so he could march in uniform one last time.
The Willamette Week editorialized: “In just 12 months, he’s managed to restore public trust in the Police Bureau, take a gutsy stand on gay rights and spread the gospel of community policing from St. John’s to east county.”
When Tom finally stepped down as Chief, major crime had declined despite the city’s growth. Rigorous officer training – cancelled by the previous Chief – had been reinstituted and the training budget doubled. City surveys showed citizen satisfaction growing dramatically.
Post Police Service
After leaving the bureau, Tom was asked by police organizations across the country to consult on community safety issues, affirmative action and community involvement. He was the top choice to lead the Clinton Administration’s new Community Oriented Policing Service, which promised to put 100,000 new officers on the nation’s streets committed to community policing. There was just one hitch – Washington was uncomfortable with Tom’s strong advocacy for the rights of gays and lesbians. Again, Tom lead by example by refusing to back away from doing what he knew was right. Tom said no thanks.
In 1997, Tom became the Interim Executive Director of the Oregon Public Safety Training and Standards, the state academy which trains every police officer, firefighter and dispatcher except the state police. The academy was reeling from charges of anti-Semitism and gender bias after a Jewish corrections recruit charged that three instructors harassed him. An academy investigation substantiated the recruit's charges. Tom succeffully brought academy procedures back into compliance and improved the academy's performance and record.
A year later, Tom served as Executive Director of New Avenues for Youth, which helps homeless children get off the streets. Tom is credited with helping bring together the various agencies serving homeless youths in Portland.
Tom continues his weekly rounds as a volunteer driver for the Loaves and Fishes Meals on Wheels program delivering hot meals to housebound elderly people in southeast Portland.
Community Service
Portland Police Sunshine Division; Parents Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG); Shepherd Legal Scholarship Fund Committee; Portland Citizens Crime Commission; Multnomah County Commission on Children and Families; Driver, Meals On Wheels - Loaves and Fishes (Global Visions, ACLU, Jefferson High School mentoring program, Friends of Trees)
FBI Infiltration
On May 24, 2006, Mayor Potter posted an open letter to the city, claiming that an FBI agent had tried to recruit an informant within the city government.
Affiliations
Contact
Mayor Tom Potter
City Hall
1221 SW 4th, Room 340
Phone: (503) 823-4120
Fax: (503) 823-3588
Email: Contact Tom
Related articles
External links
- Mayor Tom Potter - Official website
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