City's split: fear for safety vs. fear for rights

Dan Handelman never did like the idea that the local police department would join hands with the FBI's office here in Portland to take part in a "joint terrorism task force."

To him, it amounted to "federalization of the police." And who, exactly, would be considered a terrorist, he wondered.

But if Mr. Handelman, a self-appointed crusader for police accountability and founder of Portland Copwatch, had hoped to persuade the City Council to drop out of the pact, he would have stood a far better chance if the vote had come before Sept. 11.

But it didn't. It came Oct. 3, and with cities across the US trying to ensure they will not be the next New York, Portland's decision to renew its participation in the joint terrorism task force (JTTF) was all but assured. A vote today is expected to make the decision final.

Though the question is resolved for another year, the issue is by no means settled in the minds of many here. As the US moves to expand the program beyond the 34 cities that now belong to JTTFs, the debate between those who fear for their safety and those who fear for their rights is likely to be repeated in cities far from Portland. Soon, every federal district will have one.

The program, ironically, has its genesis in New York. A task force was created there in 1979 between police and the FBI, later growing to include other organizations. A key feature of these task forces is that they pave the way for local police officers to be deputized as FBI agents to investigate acts of criminal terrorism.

Portland's own JTTF was formed in 1997 and includes, in addition to Portland police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, US Customs, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and other agencies.

In Portland, a city big enough to hold both Western-style libertarians and bona fide liberals, the debate has been spirited - on both sides. Testimony consumed two hearings spread over six hours.

One of those testifying for staying in the JTTF was Terry Daley, a small, bespectacled woman who looks more like a librarian than someone who would be in a sniper's scope. But Ms. Daley, a counselor at the Downtown Women's Center, which provides abortions, has had bullets pierce her workplace windows. At the hearing, she told the City Council that the JTTF has made the clinic safer by teaching staff members the difference between legitimate protesters and dangerous ones. The center now receives alerts when high-profile leaders come to town, and it has a list of emergency contacts.

Others who spoke in favor of JTTF participation included medical-research facilities and timber-industry representatives who've been threatened with violence or had property damaged by hard-core animal-rights and environmental groups.

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