FILE - A Portland Police Bureau vehicle in a Dec. 8, 2025, file photo.
Eli Imadali / OPB
The director of Portland’s police oversight agency is resigning amid a department overhaul.
Ross Caldwell has led the Independent Police Review office since 2019.
IPR reviews complaints made by members of the public or officers who believe a Portland officer violated police bureau policy — allegations that include everything from profanity to unjustified use of force. The office hears around 200 complaints annually.
Many of those complaints are reviewed by the volunteer Citizen Review Committee.
In a Jan. 2 letter sent to that committee, Caldwell said he had taken another job and his last day would be Jan. 16.
His resignation comes as the office tasked with overseeing police misconduct allegations remains in a bureaucratic limbo set in motion years earlier.
In 2020, Portlanders overwhelmingly voted to establish a new system to handle these complaints, one that would replace the IPR office — and have more power to investigate and penalize officers. That transition to the new Office of Community-based Police Accountability is still in the works, after legal and policy delays.
The office still has no staff, and the volunteer board meant to oversee this new office has not met. The city has not yet scheduled its first meeting.
In the meantime, IPR staff have continued to assess police misconduct cases and suggest disciplinary actions. But the uncertainty around their office’s future has led to frustration.
In November, IPR staff went on strike after a breakdown in union negotiations over whether or not their jobs were guaranteed once the new accountability office was in place. Managers and staff eventually reached a tentative agreement that would guarantee all IPR staff be granted interviews for positions in the new office.
Caldwell has expressed concern with the office’s future. In 2024, he submitted a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon, who oversees the yearslong settlement agreement between the federal government and Portland police regarding police oversight.
In the letter, Caldwell said he had turned down outside job offers, “because some IPR staff have shared that if I were to leave, they would also leave.”
“I doubt there are qualified people who would want my position with the uncertainty attached to it,” he wrote.
In his letter to the Citizen Review Committee last week, Caldwell told the volunteer board that “we still don’t have a transition plan for the work you all do.”
Caldwell did not immediately respond to OPB’s request for comment on his resignation.
Yume Delegato, chair of the Citizen Review Committee, called Caldwell’s departure “a tremendous loss for Portland’s police oversight system.” But he said he wasn’t surprised that Caldwell needed a change.
“Everyone in IPR has had to live with this uncertainty about their livelihoods for more than half a decade,” he said in an email to OPB. “I don’t think you can reasonably ask someone to do that indefinitely.”
Delegato said the uncertainty surrounding the IPR and his committee has been challenging for morale.
“I’m not sure how much longer I can ask our existing volunteers to keep bearing this responsibility with dwindling staff and resources,” he said.
It’s not immediately clear who will step in to fill Caldwell’s position. In a statement emailed with OPB, a city spokesperson said they are “developing a plan that will ensure continued support for IPR staff and the community as we move forward with the transition to the new oversight system.”
