Oregon Legislature Tackles Equity in Policing

Program Date: April 23, 2021

Air Date: April 26, 2021

In the wake of the demonstrations demanding critical examination of criminal justice systems and more even-handed enforcement of laws, the Oregon legislature is considering 21 bills to begin the work of improvement. The Committee on Equitable Policing (a subcommittee of the House Committee on Judiciary) is deliberating over these bills.  Rep. Marty Wilde will review the content of the bills and give an update on their status as of mid-April. Sean Shivers and Michael Hames-Garcia will discuss the extent to which the bills address the problems of greatest concern.

Speakers:

Marty Wilde is a member of the Committee on Equitable Policing and was first elected to represent HD 11 in 2018. An Oregon native, he has 25 years’ experience as a lawyer, including in private practice, as a prosecutor, and in the Air Force Reserve. He has worked on and taught rule of law policies internationally. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Universities of Maryland, Oregon, and Houston. Marty served as president of City Club for two years.

Sean Shivers has served on the police commission since 2017 and has been chair since 2018. He has worked with diverse community stakeholders, including the business community, the homeless community, unions, and multiple local campaigns. His priorities on the police commission are to increase public participation and promote broad understanding of the present system of police accountability, as well as to contribute to the improvements in policing on which Eugene continues to lead the way. He graduated from the University of Colorado with majors in political science and philosophy.

Michael Hames-García studies and teaches about inequalities in the criminal justice system, based on race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability. His current research examines community oversight of law enforcement in Eugene, Los Angeles County, and British Columbia. He is a Eugene police commissioner and a member of the city’s civilian review board. He earned a PhD from Cornell University and taught at the University of Oregon from 2005 to 2021. In the fall he will join the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin.