Cover Story by Shawn McAniff ...Demands for Chief Kroeker's resignation besieged Mayor Katz.

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Cover Stories | Send mail to The Voice Police Chief's comments create concern Taped comments Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker made 11 years ago at a Christian meeting have surfaced, igniting outrage and concern over the chief's ability to serve Portland's progressive community. The Portland Alliance, a monthly alternative newspaper, purchased the tapes from an Internet site and played them at an Oct. 29 press conference. In the lectures, Chief Kroeker, then a Los Angeles Police Department veteran officer, linked the AIDS epi-demic to the "terrible issue of homosexuality," called wives to be "submissive" to husbands and endorsed spanking disobedient children with a boat oar and then hugging them. Within days of the tapes' release, demands for Chief Kroeker's resignation besieged Mayor Katz, the police commissioner. Portland Alliance editor Dave Mazza published the statements as part of an article calling for sweeping police reform and said the remarks were highly objectionable. "He has a right to those opinions," Mr. Mazza said. "On the other hand, he never had a right to say them as Commander Kroeker of the LAPD." The Rev. Roy Cole, senior pastor of Metropolitan Community Church and a gay Christian, initially asked Mayor Katz to reconsider discontinuing Chief Kroeker's service. "I was quite shocked," the Rev. Cole said. He questioned whether or not Chief Kroeker could separate his religious beliefs from his civic duties. In a flurry of meetings, Mayor Vera Katz weighed whether or not she should release Chief Kroeker. Then in a Nov. 9 press conference, Mayor Katz said Chief Kroeker "has my strong support to continue." Mayor Katz apologized for hurt Chief Kroeker caused and said he had a lot of work to bring healing to the offended communities. But she was also confident that Chief Kroeker "has managed his duties without bias and will continue to do so." Three days earlier at morning roll call, Chief Kroeker clarified his position to his police officers, noting that the taped statements were made in a religious context, and his views have evolved over the last decade. Chief Kroeker said: He is governed by "profound love and respect for humanity." "AIDS is not a gay disease. It affects all people." "Gays are simply people. They are sometimes victims, police officers, ...friends, neighbors, family." Chief Kroeker also defended his record of actively working with women and the gay community. Since the mayor's decision, Chief Kroeker has actively worked to bring restoration to hurt communities. The Rev. Cole said he supports Mayor Katz's decision and wants to help Chief Kroeker bring healing. Chief Kroeker's taped comments, released without his permission, raise another concern: Can Christians in public office share their faith--especially when it goes against the society they serve? They released the tapes, Mr. Mazza said, because Chief Kroeker "allowed his personal beliefs to become intermingled with his public beliefs." Mr. Mazza contends that, as a high-ranking public official in the LAPD, [Chief] Kroeker didn't have the "luxury" to share private beliefs. "When you reach certain levels of leadership," he said, "you forgo the ability to say, 'I'm no longer speaking officially.' Whether they have the uniform on or not, they're speaking on behalf of that organization." Dr. Wayne Strickland, who teaches ethics at Multnomah Bible College, takes a different stance. "It's not an issue of rights. It's an issue of wisdom," Dr. Strickland said. "The wise thing is to always think about your ministry--how you can serve people and what will be reflected." Citing Billy Graham's success, Dr. Strickland said, "We need to emphasize the essence of the Gospel. The essence of the Gospel isn't, 'you're going to burn in hell homosexual.'" The essence of the Gospel is that God's righteousness holds all sinners accountable for sin, he said. "Why introduce a certain segment of the population and single them out? We win people to the Gospel by building relationships with them and by the Spirit preparing [their] heart for the receptivity of the Gospel." Dr. Strickland also exhorts Christians to try to be submissive rather than demand their rights. "No job can keep us from sharing our faith," he said. "We have rights. But sometimes [forcing] those rights, we lose our audience, and we end up looking like the people that we are trying to change for the sake of the Gospel. Dr. Strickland said his wife, a public school teacher, was asked by the school's principal to remove her Bible from her desk. She knew she had the legal right to keep the Bible visible, Dr. Strickland said, but she chose to be submissive, remove it and trust God for other chances to witness. "I think most of the time," Dr. Strickland said, "there are other ways to accomplish what we want to accomplish without inflaming consternation and dissention." Dr. Strickland acknowledged Chief Kroeker never intended his comments to be for public consumption. "I realize Chief Kroeker didn't plan for this to happen. We can learn from him how careful we need to be," he said. Chief Kroeker declined an interview with The Voice, and the mayor's office was unavailable for comment. Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Cover Stories | Top Of Page Send mail to The Voice| Journalism department website © 2001 The Voice. No part of this publication may be reproduced in written or electronic form without prior written consent from the journalism adviser of Multnomah Bible College. All rights reserved.