To those of my readers who aren’t from Portland, this blog entry is in response to the Aaron Campbell shooting, and the investigation that followed it. Aaron Campbell was an un-armed man who was shot by a Portland Police officer, due to poor communication between the police on the scene and those negotiating with Campbell. I do want to say though, that I fully support Police officers, and all others who work to protect our communities. This was an unfortunate incident, and is a reflection of individual failures, and not complete system failure. I completely support and appreciate the men and women who risk their lives for our safety daily.
It is in my opinion that the city of Portland has failed to properly handle the Aaron Campbell shooting case.
This is an unfortunate, and horrible situation that never should have happened. As many other people have said, including our city leaders. However, a persisting issue with this case is our leader’s failure to make the correct decisions first. Instead, what we have seen has been a string of poorly thought-out decisions, that have led to anger and frustration from the community. In turn, the city leaders have then made strides towards appropriate decisions and investigative measures.
The issue though, is that these people in power failed to make the correct choices initially. Instead, the “easy” way out was taken. Simply put, they chose “quick-fixes” over truly addressing the situation.
The fact is, the men on the scene the day of the shooting failed to properly follow the guidelines they were expected to abide by. Primarily, ensuring proper communication between all of those involved on the scene and in communication with the person in question, in this case Aaron.
As a result, Aaron was fatally shot. Had there been proper communication, and had all the police involved communicated as they were expected to do, this wouldn’t have happened.
From the very beginning, Sam Adams and others should have stepped forward and acknowledged the issues at hand, and then initiated a proper investigation that wasn’t rushed or poorly conducted.
It’s becoming a pattern in Portland City government, to apply a quick fix to issues like this. Then when our leaders are confronted with disappointment ( as Adams was confronted by protestors at his office), they suddenly agree with those who are disappointed and commit to handling it properly. But why wasn’t it done in the first place?
It’s in my opinion that leaders, like Sam Adams and others I won‘t name, will try repeatedly to brush issues aside and not deal with them. Unless people stand up and say “No”. Then, he gravels and agrees there was an error. The fact is though, yet again he should have made the right decisions the first time.
Beau E Breedlove 
Love you Beau. More than ever and we’ve never even met.