Presumed Guilty on 82nd Avenue
According to a recent news story in the Oregonian, a 36-year-old PCC writing instructor, Ann Marie Selby, was detained by police for suspicion of prostitution. She has claimed that she was on the street, well known as a place to pick up a street walker, because she was catching a bus. She was booked by police, but prosecutors quickly dropped the case. Selby sued the city, and last week she settled after the city agreed to pay her $5,000.
While there certainly are prostitutes all over the place on 82nd Avenue, and it certainly is the place of the Police Bureau to keep this from happening, I have recently observed that police seem to be approaching people first and asking questions later. It seems apparent that they are stopping not only those actually plying the trade of the “world’s oldest profession”, but are also questioning a great many folks who happen to be present on the street at the wrong time.
According to the facts presented in the article, Ms Selby’s crimes seems to include wearing of a hooded sweatshirt, standing near a bus stop on 82nd Avenue, and looking at cars as they go by, coming from the same direction that her bus would be coming from. Selby indicated that she had just come from a trip to a spa, and was on her way home by bus. Evidence she held that corroborated her version of events was taken by the officer and destroyed. In other words, if the police officer thinks you look like a whore, then they will treat you like a whore.
No, I am not in favor of allowing people to openly sell sex on our city’s thoroughfares. I would hope that our police can take the time to keep some of our society’s more unseemly participants out of sight and under control. I simply hope that this can be accomplished without accusing every woman who chooses to walk down the street with a crime.
It would be nice if this area could be made so that all could feel safe walking down its streets. One way to do that would indeed be to challenge those who are observed participating openly in the drug trade and in selling sex openly on the street. On the other hand, I fail to see where we can feel safe when we are stopping people for the crime of being a woman wearing a sweatshirt and standing in the wrong place. Yes, I don’t know this particular woman from anyone else. But who is to say that one of our daughters will not be the next to be stopped by law enforcement. I don’t wish this type of treatment on anyone.
I have seen several instances of police making their stops on 82nd Avenue to question people who are walking there. In some cases, the manner of their stopping and questioning have appeared to be something less than polite. No, I don’t know the circumstances of every police stop that I see. But in what I have seen, I do not doubt the harshness with which Ms Selby might have been treated.
It seems that some people see a woman walking down 82nd Avenue and can only see a prostitute. Yes, you can find prostitution on that street. You will also find the Tri-Met “frequent service” bus route with the greatest number of daily passengers of any route in the Portland area. I would like to see a person walking down the street and presume that they are simply living their daily life. At the very least, I would like to see them presumed to be innocent until they are actually observed to be committing a crime.
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