City officials have walked back an employment offer for the Portland Police Bureau’s new director of training — after an unspecified problem arose during a background check of the veteran Los Angeles police officer who was primed to take the job.
Bureau officials announced Wednesday they had rescinded the conditional offer of employment made to Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Tom Datro, who had hoped to hang up his badge in order to take on the civilian position as the bureau’s academic training director.
A police spokesperson declined to comment on the take-back, calling it a “personnel matter.”
“All I can tell you is that as a result of the background check, the city withdrew the conditional offer of employment,” said Cody Bowman, a spokesperson for Mayor Ted Wheeler, who oversees the police bureau. “We intend to restart the process and move forward as quickly as possible.”
Datro, 51, didn’t immediately respond to a phone call or text message seeking comment.
In an interview conducted when the job offer was still in hand, Datro told The Oregonian/OregonLive he would be able to serve as a community representative and “speak to all sides” despite his nearly two decades of experience in law enforcement.
“But I also see the barriers, the traditions from the inside,” he said. “I see the things police get stuck on.”
Activists, however, had zeroed in on some of Datro’s social media accounts, which indicated he was a fan of organizations including Fox News, the Cato Institute and Canadian provocateur Jordan Peterson.
Datro has also published podcasts skeptical of the phrase “police reform” and mass incarceration.
“Why can’t we say police improvement?” asked Datro in one podcast episode. “I understand that there are problems in policing, but I don’t think we need to start over. We need to recalibrate in the air.”
The U.S. Department of Justice has required the city police force hire a civilian head of training as part of a settlement agreement following a 2012 federal investigation that found Portland officers used excessive force against people with mental illness.
Last April, the DOJ formally warned the city it had failed to accomplish many of the key reforms required by the deal, citing inappropriate use of force during protests, inadequate training and subpar supervision by higher-ups.
It’s unclear when city leaders will select a new training chief, but they should have plenty of choices. Datro was one of 18 applicants who sought the $205,000 a year job.
— Zane Sparling; zsparling@oregonian.com; 503-319-7083; @pdxzane
