Public records lead to more questions with watch list

Criteria for inclusion on watch list still unknown; reports conflict on who authorized release

By Robert Plain
Ashland Daily Tidings

Despite documents made public by the city on Friday, there are still unanswered questions as to what criteria Ashland Police used in creating a watch list and who authorized the list to be shared with the Ashland Chamber of Commerce.

The watch list is a sheet that contains the names, pictures and dates of birth of 24 people APD Sgt. Teresa Selby said, in an internal memo, police are having “constant problems with in the downtown area.”

Selby shared the list with the Ashland Chamber of Commerce at a meeting the chamber held on April 17. Since then the watch list has caused a stir in the community and instigated the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, in a letter, to implore the city to investigate the matter because of its potential civil liberties violations.

In an e-mail sent to Master Sgt. Bob Smith on May 23, disclosed as a result of a public records request, Selby said she explained to City Attorney Mike Franell “the criteria I used to put the photos on the list.”

However, Franell said the substance of his conversation with Selby does not have to be shared with the public because of the attorney/client privilege provision of the law that protects information that a client, in this case an employee of the city, shares with legal counsel.

“The conversation I had with Teresa is protected,” he said. “Public meetings and record laws don’t require conversations to be disclosed.”

He added that he did not take notes during their conversation. Handwritten notes are subject to public records laws in Oregon.

In a separate memo to Smith, dated May 10, Selby said, “The pictures on the sheet are not of the one-time offender but of those people who are creating a chronic nuisance or who have committed a serious crime.” At another point in the memo, she said the mug shots are of people the police have had “continuous problems with.”

In a memo to Interim APD Chief Ron Goodpaster, Selby said, “The intent of the Watch Sheet was to familiarize officers with the faces of subjects we are having constant problems with in the downtown area.”

The ACLU letter, penned by Ralph Temple, an Ashland resident who is on the Board of Directors of the Southern Oregon Chapter of the ACLU, says the criteria is important to determining the constitutionality of the list.

“It is unclear if there is any objective criteria for listing, or any due process procedures for challenging a listing,” the letter says, noting terms like “nuisance” and “problem people” are not defined under law. “These characterizations are unduly vague and subjective. They do not provide an adequate legal basis to subject people to special observation or enforcement action by the police.”

In contrast to Selby’s characterization of some on the list, the ACLU letter says, “Some of those on the list have not been convicted of any violations of the law, and others may have convictions of only one or two minor offenses.”

Of the 24 people listed, court records show 10 of them have not been convicted of crimes in Oregon. Out-of-state court records weren’t immediately available.

The information revealed from the public records turned over by the city also does not clear up who authorized the list to be shared with the chamber of commerce. In a memo from Selby to Goodpaster, dated May 28, she said former APD Chief Mike Bianca had knowledge of the fact that she planned to share the list with the chamber of commerce.

In a review of the watch list, Goodpaster said for this reason there would be no disciplinary action taken.

“Since the list was reviewed by [then Chief Bianca] without comment and he was aware it was going to be released to the Chamber ... I do not find any cause for disciplinary action on the Sergeant that released it to the Chamber,” he said in a memo to City Administrator Martha Bennett. “She was acting with what she thought was the consent/approval of the Chief.”

However, Mike Bianca, who this spring was asked by Mayor John Morrison to resign from APD, denied knowing the list was to be turned over to the chamber of commerce.

“I had no conversation with her,” Bianca said. “This is her baby. I didn’t even know she was going to the chamber.”

Goodpaster said he did not ask Bianca to corroborate the information Selby told him in the memo.

Bianca said the original idea for a watch sheet was his three years ago. He created it so officers would have a tool to use in determining who, among the people that congregate downtown, were also breaking the law.

Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x. 226 or bplain@dailytidings.com.

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