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NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY TO BE HELD IN PORTLAND, OR
Portland State University, October 15-17, 2004

Please mark your calendar and come to a National Conference on Police
Accountability in Portland, Oregon, Friday October 15 to Sunday October 17,
2004. It will be held at the Native American Student and Community Center,
SW Jackson and Broadway. Pre-registration of $50 is required by September
30 (deadline has been extended for Portland area residents and those who do
not need discount hotel reservations). It's a conference that's encouraging
solutions, education, action, organizing, and solidarity. This conference
will be similar to conferences held from 1991-1997 by the National
Coalition on Police Accountability (NCOPA). It will broadly address issues
involving police abuse of power and how communities are organizing for change.

Workshops (list in development):
1--Police shootings: laws, alternatives, community response
2--Racial profiling: defining, exposing, and preventing
3--Law enforcement attacks on immigrants
4--Law enforcement attacks on activists
5--Police violence against women of color and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender individuals
6--Police and homeless communities
7--Increasing police powers
8--Case-based work (intake lines, lawyers' responses)
9--Copwatch organizing
10--"Lessons from the front lines": Organizing strategies
11--Police review boards
12--Dealing with police unions
13--Less lethal weapons (so-called)
14--Academic response to police violence
15--Police torture and its ties to international affairs
16--Restorative justice/Mediation

The conference is expected to draw grassroots activists, review board
participants, academics, and police officers from around the country who
advocate for police accountability. Participants are coming from all over
the country, including New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Indianapolis,
Oakland, Los Angeles, and Dallas.

It will be hosted locally by Portland Copwatch, the Portland State
University (PSU) Community for Justice, and is supported by at least a
dozen other organizations. The conference will take place on the PSU
campus at the Native American Student and Community Center with the
assistance from faculty, staff and students there.

Registration and much of the organizing will take place through NCOPA
(http://www.nationalcoalitiononpoliceaccountability.org, 312-663-5392 ).
Limited scholarships are available to assist with the $50 registration.
Five meals (dinner Friday-breakfast Sunday) will be available for an
additional $20.

Cosponsors include: National Coalition on Police Accountability, Portland
Copwatch, PSU Community for Justice, Citizens Alert (Chicago), Communities
United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB/Minneapolis), Mothers for Police
Accountability (Seattle), Church Action for Safe and Just Communities
(Indianapolis) and the American Friends Service Committee (Portland).

Endorsers include the Albina Ministerial Alliance, Urban League of
Portland, Portland Peaceful Response Coalition, Portland Jobs with Justice,
and the Alliance for Police and Community Accountability and Incite! Women
of Color Against Violence.

For more information or to get involved, contact Portland Copwatch at (503)
236-3065 or nationalconference [at] portlandcopwatch.org.