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Portland Police Officer James Escobar (right) helps collect guns during a firearms turn-in for Ceasefire Oregon in 2011. (Oregonian/file photo)
(The Oregonian)
A law enforcement panel has recommended that the state revoke for life the police certification of a former Portland police officer who resigned after an inquiry found he tried to skirt parking fees by covering the VIN number on his personal car and driving without license plates.
The police policy committee of the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training on Thursday voted to recommend the department's board revoke James Escobar's certification because of his misconduct and dishonesty.
"He's been violating the law while he's been out enforcing the law,'' said Deschutes County Sheriff Larry Blanton, a committee member.
Escobar resigned in lieu of termination, effective last Nov. 13.
Portland Police Assistant Chief Mike Crebs recused himself from the vote because he was familiar with the case and internal affairs investigation.
Escobar was caught 10 times illicitly parking his car near Central Precinct during a roughly five-month period in a gambit "intentionally calculated to avoid paying for parking in the city of Portland, Multnomah County Chief Deputy District Attorney Don Rees wrote in a decline-to-prosecute memo.
Because Escobar committed the acts while off-duty and because he eventually paid the more than $1,000 in fines and fees he amassed, the District Attorney's Office declined to bring criminal charges against him.
However, Rees wrote that his office found Escobar's conduct "quite troubling.''
Members of the police policy committee were most disturbed that the misconduct was not a one-time incident, but a continued pattern to evade parking fees. Further, they found Escobar tried to downplay the misconduct when asked about it. According to committee's discussion, a Clackamas County sheriff's deputy had stopped Escobar for driving without license plates and Escobar claimed he was concerned his plates would be stolen.
The department's public safety certification unit sent Escobar a copy of its staff summary and recommendations in the case but received no response from him.
The recommendation now goes to the Board of Public Safety Standards and Training for a final vote in July.
--Maxine Bernstein
mbernstein@oregonian.com
503-221-8212; @maxoregonian