It took more than a month for Portland City Council candidate Eli Arnold to agree to an interview. When most candidates contact me and ask for an interview, I respond much sooner and like to connect, whether it's by recording a conversation or appearing on Bike Girl Happy Girl Hour.
But Arnold was different. Because he's an officer with the Portland Police Department.
Ten years ago, I would not have thought twice about interviewing him or helping him connect with our community. Personally, I have always had very strong and mixed feelings about the police in our city, but I have also maintained a working relationship with them. Here are some examples. In 2005, BikePortland's first year, I spoke with the commander of the transportation division. I rode with him twice. The first time was in a police car, and the second time was on a bicycle. I have been advocating for more police officers on bicycles. We've published a guest article by a former officer (Hi, Robert!). And in 2015, I worked closely with the Portland Police Bureau to launch the (now defunct) Bicycle Theft Task Force.
But in recent years, my opinion of the police, especially the PPB, has deteriorated. I participated in several Black Lives Matter protests from June 2020 to April 2021, both as a Portlander and as a journalist, but I currently have no contact with the department or its executives.
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That's why I've been following Eli Arnold's candidacy for City Council District 4 (Sellwood, Eastmoreland, and all of the area west of the Willamette River) with interest. When he asked me for an interview last month, I thought for a long time before saying yes.
I understand the risks of entertaining police officers in the current political climate. However, as I reflected on my decision, nothing came up that would disqualify me from my own thoughts or from what I had seen, heard, and researched about Arnold. Please note: These two sentences do not sum up all of my thoughts about Arnold or this interview. I'd be happy to talk about them directly, in the comments below, or elsewhere. In the end, my intuition said I should talk to him and share the conversation with you.
We covered a lot of ground in the interview. I wanted it to be relevant and valuable on the big issues while also touching on Arnold's cycling perspective and giving us a sense of who he is beyond the uniform.
Here's a quick list of what we talked about:
- Arnold's experience with the cycling team.
- Why Arnold started a community garden in his Savannah, Georgia, neighborhood in 2014.
- I am skeptical as to why he can be trusted to lead a city with only military and police experience.
- The 2014 murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, inspired Arnold to become a police officer.
- What does he think about former City Council member Jo Ann Hardesty's violence prevention strategy?
- Portland's police force and Arnold's ideas for improving it.
- What's that big tattoo on his arm (it's related to his love of science fiction)?
- Why does he think we need more police when the problems we have on our streets are mental health, addiction, and other issues that police are not suited to deal with?
- How he approaches road safety and shares his ideas for saving lives.
- etc.
Listen in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
Below are some important exchanges.
(Currently updating. Please update after 9am on Tuesday to get the latest version.)
