Content Warning: Intense Islamophobia and anti-immigrant statements. This report references over 19,000 pages received via public records request. Due to the hateful content and to avoid the amplification of this rhetoric, we have not released the full file. If researchers or journalists would like access to the documents for review please email us at pradapdx@gmail.com
In 2005, Portland withdrew from the Joint Terrorism Taskforce — a partnership between local law enforcement agencies and the FBI — due to its lack of transparency and targeting of Muslim and Middle Eastern people based on their religious or political activity. Then PPB rejoined in 2015 but left once again in 2019 for the same reasons with the added distrust of an openly Islamaphobic president. However, as this investigation reveals, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) remains entangled with ideologies that perpetuate this culture of harm and foster prejudice against Muslims.
At the center of inquiry is Colby Panter, a veteran officer within the PPB, hired in 1997. Panter’s professional and personal affiliations provide insight into the ideological undercurrents shaping law enforcement practices. Panter’s involvement as the Vice President of the Northwest Gangs Investigator Association, an organization providing gang training, highlights his influence on Pacific Northwest policing. The Portland Police Bureau considers NWGIA an “affiliated organization” and plans to provide training from NWGIA in 2024 (see page 37). One of the group’s logos is highly reminiscent of a crusader knight, famous for the destruction of Muslims and Islamic sites, against a Thin Blue Line flag. It also quotes Christian scripture, Proverbs 27:17.
Instead of the usual headshot, Panter’s LinkedIn avatar displays a symbol mourning the disbanded Gun Violence Reduction Team and the Gang Enforcement Team, an initiative criticized for racial profiling and ineffective policing.
Additionally, Panter’s affiliation via his wife and Voices Behind The Badge, a police booster group known for its derogatory posts targeting Commissioner JoAnn Hardesty and others, shows the hostility and divisiveness within law enforcement circles (Twitter thread).
The current investigation started with a tip, a screenshot showing Panter was subscribed to the The Grendel Report, a right-wing Islamophobic intelligence report, via his official city email. We requested the emails sent to Panter from The Grendel Report.
Operated by the Western Defense Studies Institute (WDSI), The Grendel Report purported to provide “cutting-edge Open Source Information on Terrorism and the Islamic Threat.” A closer examination revealed the dissemination of explicit anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiments, boosting narratives of hate and prejudice.
The Grendel Report was led by Bruce Tefft, who claimed he was previously involved in counter-terrorism efforts for the CIA and NYPD. Through the years, Tefft has not been a stranger to controversy.
In 2004, Tefft participated in a panel discussion hosted by The Simon Wiesenthal Center. At this forum he stated, “Islamic terrorism is based on Islam as revealed through the Qu’ran…There is no difference between Islam and Islamic fundamentalism, which is a totalitarian construct.” In response, multiple chapters of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on The Simon Wiesenthal Center to repudiate Tefft’s Islamophobia.
In 2006, the NYPD and Tefft faced legal action for disseminating, via Tefft emails, biased intelligence briefings that targeted Muslims and Arabs. The suit alleged, “that Tefft flooded the police communications network with bigoted condemnations of Muslims and Arabs, and incitement to violence against them.”
Tefft’s intelligence reports to the NYPD made statements like, “Burning the hate-filled Koran should be viewed as a public service at the least,” and “This is not a war against terrorism … it is against Islam and we are not winning.” The emails “ridiculed and disparaged the Muslim religion and Arab people, and stated that Muslim- and Arab-Americans were untrustworthy and could not reliably serve in law enforcement positions or handle sensitive data,” the lawsuit stated. CUNY School of Law issued a report called Mapping Muslims: NYPD Spying and its Impact on American Muslims that discussed Tefft’s harms, and documented that his work created a “a culture of systematic discrimination, with hundreds of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab email briefings sent to the unit over the course of two years.”
As The Grendel Report has existed since 1995 (according to Tefft) the emails at the core of the NYPD suit may show the tone and tenor of the content PPB received via Panter’s subscription. The intelligence reports cited in the NYPD lawsuit occurred in 2005. The suit itself took place in 2006. The emails we obtained from PPB show Officer Panter subscribed to a more recent version of Tefft’s work, from Sept 2018 to May, 2022. His subscription occurred after Tefft’s islamophobic views had been widely publicized. We cannot confirm Panter knew about Tefft’s hatred but PPB’s lack of commitment to combating prejudice within the ranks has been documented and the subscription to this report should also be investigated. The implications of Panter’s subscription to The Grendel Report extends beyond individual actions to systemic issues within law enforcement. PPB’s inability to address and rectify such affiliations perpetuates a culture of discrimination and mistrust, further eroding community-police relations. Moreover, it underscores the need for comprehensive deep change and defunding of these programs. Our community must demand answers as to how The Grendel Report, Officer Panter, and similar influences have impacted PPB’s culture of harm.
Here are just a few of the articles and organizations from more than 19,000 pages of The Grendel Report shared with PPB obtained by PRADA.
- An article from the Gatestone Institute. “John Bolton was chairman of the Gatestone Institute, a New York-based advocacy group that warns of a looming ‘jihadist takeover’ of Europe leading to a ‘Great White Death’ (NBC News).”
- Articles from The Middle East Forum. “ In 2014, Christopher A. Bail of Duke University described [the Middle East Forum] as a “pseudo-academic” journal with editorial board members who share an ideological outlook, adding that while it appears to present legitimate academic research, it is regularly criticized “as a channel for anti-Muslim polemics”.
- Reports from Front Page Mag, “an American political website edited by David Horowitz and published by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. It has been described by scholars and writers as right-wing, far-right, and Islamophobic.”
- Articles from Sidney Secular, a member of and contributor to the Council of Conservative Citizens, an SPLC designated hate group, “a crudely white supremacist group.”
- “Muslims, by belief and practice, are the most blatant violators of human rights.” From a report from The Geller Report, a group run by Pam Geller who perpetuates anti-Muslim hatred. Geller was quoted in Anders Breviks manifesto.
- Anti-Immigrant hatred from FrontPage Mag, “every single alien who manages to enter the United States, either legally or illegally provides terrorists with that single opportunity that they need to carry out a deadly attack.”
- “Imams are allowed to roam freely in the United States, using every means available to them to destroy liberty and freely preach their gospel of hate against all non-Muslims, while heartlessly destroying any individuals who dare to speak the truth about their beliefs. They remain a threat to our national security, and to the safety and security of all American people.” from Jihad Watch, a project of the David Horowitz Center.
- A statement from Grendel Report editor, “Let’s pretend Islam isn’t a mental illness that breeds terrorism.”
The full file? Over 19,400 pages of similar content. We chose not to release them all to avoid giving this hate and ignorance oxygen. How much of this hate is Officer Panter steeped in? How did Panter then influence PPB actions? How did this abusive content impact his work and leadership with the Northwest Gangs Investigator Association, who see themselves as crusaders? Has Panter or the content here informed and impacted PPB’s brutality against Pro-Palestinian activism? The ignorance and Islamophobia of the report is clear.
These documents show Officer Colby Panter’s affiliations with these vile right-wing and Islamophobic ideologies and highlights the persistent and continuing bias within PPB and local law enforcement. PPB’s failure to address and confront these issues undermines the Portland community’s efforts to foster inclusive and radical community care. Meaningful accountability is imperative. Only through community-focused action can we realize the promise of thriving communities, police harms cannot be part of this. To address this issue, we demand:
- Colby Panter be placed on immediate unpaid leave and all of his arrests and convictions should be reviewed by an outside civil rights group to be decided by PCCEP. This work should be started immediately.
- The content and any related material must be reviewed and all training materials related to gang enforcement must be made public and reviewed by outside groups that include Muslims and Middle Eastern community members.
- Any relationship between NWGIA and PPB must end (including membership of individual officers), planned training must be canceled, and all materials created or obtained through that organization must also be made public.
- PPB and Mayor Wheeler to make a public apology to Portland’s Muslim and Arab community immediately.
- All police actions against Muslim and Arab community members, and organizations should be reviewed and any Islamophobic content sent to or shared within the bureau be documented, made public, and removed from Police files.
No Islamophobia in Portland. No hatred in the PPB.
