The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, based their findings on more than a year of investigation, and sought injunctive and declaratory relief.

[2] In a widely publicized press conference June 8, 2011, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas E. Perez announced the launch of an investigation to determine whether the Portland Police Bureau engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive or unnecessary use-of-force in their interactions with persons in a protected class, people with actual or perceived mental health disabilities, and whether such conduct deprived individuals of their rights secured by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S.

[4] That same day, DOJ and the City of Portland released a joint statement declaring the parties' mutual intent to reach a negotiated settlement agreement to resolve these issues.

The City of Portland has been represented by Mark Amberg, David Landrum, Ellen Osoinach, Judy Prosper, Tracy Reeve, James Van Dyke, Denis Vannier, Heidi Brown, Robert Taylor, and Bridget Donegan.

Intervener Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform has been represented by Ashlee Albies, Shauna Curphey, and Kristen Chambers.

One item is the defendant (The City of Portland) must hire a compliance officer-community liaison (COCL) and form a Community Oversight Advisory Board (COAB).

After soliciting only three eligible applicants for the $315,000 per year position, on November 8, 2014 Portland City Council selected a team of academics led by Dennis Rosenbaum of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

During community meetings Rosenbaum's team received the lowest rating, but boosted their viability to Mayor Charlie Hales by agreeing to hire former Oregon state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul De Muniz.

City Council, led by Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Amanda Fritz, with support from the police union, appealed Simon's decision on October 22, 2014.

After months of talks between city and federal officials, they reached an agreement that the sessions won't be called "evidentiary hearings" but instead "status conferences," and the appeal was withdrawn in August 2015.

[17] Community oversight of the Agreement was stymied by hostility and poor facilitation by the Rosenbaum team causing the DOJ to allow city attorney Tracy Reeve to adjourn COAB meetings for 60 days on August 19.

[18] Mayor Ted Wheeler disbanded the COAB on February 1, 2017[19] and after months of meetings with the DOJ, proffered an amended plan, stripped of independent community assessment of the implementation of the settlement agreement.