Portland council committee presses PPB for clearer JTTF reporting; public urges tighter oversight

Portland police leaders and members of the Community and Public Safety Committee met Aug. 12 to review the annual Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) report and discuss how the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) should convey information about joint federal investigations to the city and the public.

Chief of Police Bob Day and Sergeant Mark Friedman told councilors that the bureau is in ongoing communication with the FBI and that, since the February council briefing, there have been no significant changes to the PPB’s methods for capturing and reporting JTTF-related information. At the same time, the committee and public speakers pushed for clearer post-investigation reporting and stronger guardrails on federal collaboration.

“We are in communication with the FBI,” Chief Bob Day said, noting recent discussions with the FBI’s special agent in charge about improving the annual product presented to council. Sergeant Mark Friedman described the PPB’s current role as limited and said the bureau now works “under a very… narrow scope of cases” with federal partners, focused on terrorism and imminent threats to life.

Councilors asked for improvements to the written annual report and for a…