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Mayor Ted Wheeler on Friday said in a statement that the investigation would “review the existence of bias in the actions of the PPB leading up to and during demonstrations involving alt-right and anti-fascist protesters.”
The announcement came one day after Willamette Week, a local newspaper, reported on the text messages that had been exchanged between Lt. Jeffrey Niiya and the right-wing activist, Joey Gibson. Police ultimately released a transcript of the text messages, which had been sent from May 2017 to October 2018.
The texts suggested a cordial relationship between Niiya, a commanding officer for the bureau’s Rapid Response Team, which patrols protests, and Gibson, the leader of Patriot Prayer, a pro-Trump group whose events have attracted white nationalists and far-right extremists. The group has a history of clashing with anti-fascist protesters, known as antifa.
The city commissioner, Jo Ann Hardesty, said in a statement that “this story, like many that have come before it, simply confirms what many in the community have already known — there are members of the Portland police force who work in collusion with right-wing extremists.”
In a response to the recent attention from the news media, Gibson said in a Facebook video that his communications with Niiya were similar to those he engaged in with police officers in other cities where he organized rallies.
“Most of the police officers I talk to are very respectful,” Gibson said. “It doesn’t mean that they like me. It doesn’t mean that they back me. But they’re very professional and they want to basically do everything they can to de-escalate things whenever possible.”
Niiya did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
After the texts with Gibson were disclosed, Police Chief Danielle Outlaw said in a statement Thursday that she had called for an internal investigation of their content and context.
On Friday, Wheeler said that he and Outlaw were going to implement training for Portland police “around how to identify white supremacy.”