Portland police make some progress helping undocumented crime victims

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A report released by the Portland City Auditor's Office on Wednesday, found the Portland Police Bureau has started to implement recommendations to improve its visa program for undocumented crime victims after a previous report found the bureau had a "serious misunderstanding of the law."

The report, sent to PPB Chief Bob Day and Mayor Ted Wheeler's Director of Community Safety, is a follow-up to a 2023 report on the bureau's U visa program, which encouraged undocumented crime victims to cooperate with law enforcement for the opportunity to apply for legal status in the United States.

According to the city auditor, the police bureau -- once a leader among Oregon law enforcement agencies -- dropped below the state average under its U visa program.

The report found that over an 18-month period beginning in 2021, PPB’s certification rate for U visa applications dropped from nearly 90% to below 50%.

The city auditor highlighted several areas of concern, including cases in which officials misunderstood and misapplied the law when reviewing applications, and misstated facts while drafting denial letters.

The initial report also found insufficient policies and training to ensure consistency in the review of certification requests. The office said possible contributing factors include high turnover, inconsistent approach to using qualified interpreters, and the potential need for more training on helping victims of domestic violence, according to the report.

Four recommendations made

The report included four recommendations to ensure PPB handled U visa applications per federal, state, and city policy and to fix the “harmful impact” the bureau’s handling of applications had on dozens of potentially eligible crime victims who were denied certification.

The city auditor waited several months after releasing their initial review to give PPB a chance to implement the fixes.

“It is worth noting that the Bureau’s certification rate rebounded in mid-2022 after a personnel change and has been at 83% in the 20 months since then,” Deputy Ombudsman Tony Green said in the report.

One of the auditor’s recommendations were implemented and three are in progress.

The first recommendation is to review and take appropriate action on more than four dozen applications the ombudsman identified as potentially eligible for certification.

Officials said this recommendation has been partly implemented.

Before releasing their 2023 report, the auditor gave the bureau a list of 53 certification requests that were initially denied, but the office believed warranted further review.

In response to the report, PPB said a lieutenant reviewed the applications and reached out to all attorneys of record. As a result, three previously declined applications were certified.

Earlier in 2024, the city auditor reviewed the remaining 50 applications – discovering 16 have been certified, and another 12 applications should be reconsidered.

Among the recommendations in progress, the auditor says PPB should revise its procedure to include the purpose of the federal program along with statutory deadlines for processing applications, and the requirement that crime victims be given “the benefit of the doubt for being helpful.”

According to the report, PPB initially declined to update its procedure, but earlier in 2024, the police commander overseeing the certification process said the bureau committed to re-writing it and expects a completed procedure by early fall.

Next, the city auditor recommended the bureau to consider aligning initial review responsibility to a long-term staffer who has a background in victim advocacy to ensure consistency, compliance, and a victim-centered approach.

This recommendation is also in progress, according to the city auditor.

PPB’s bureau commander reported funding was not available to fully implement the recommendation, but the bureau did agree to the recommendation, including a requirement to seek a second opinion from the Oregon Department of Justice Immigrant Crime Victims’ Rights Subcommittee for any applications the bureau plans to decline.

The last recommendation in progress is for the bureau to offer training that includes information on how victims of domestic violence and sexual assault may respond to trauma. That training should include a legal explanation of which state and local crimes could fall into the general U visa categories, the report said.

So far, the bureau has conducted a one-day regional training for law enforcement officials in 2023 that covered the recommended topics.