Longtime Jefferson High School counselor Donald Dixon said Chuck Lovell called him about 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
Since they hadn’t spoken in a while, Dixon asked Lovell how he was handling the fallout and outrage over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the backlash against police violence.
“I was talking a lot because I was concerned about him and just like good ol’ Chuck, he listened, listened and listened,” Dixon said.
The two met when Lovell worked as a school resource officer at the high school. Lovell also was one of the first mentors who volunteered to attend Dixon’s "Boys to Men'' monthly breakfasts that began 11 years ago.
Finally, Lovell cut into the conversation.
Lovell asked Dixon to do a favor for him. Lovell then told his friend that he was “getting ready to be the chief of police.” He asked Dixon to attend the public announcement the next day.
“I was just about ready to drop the phone,” Dixon said.
Dixon said he and other African American community activists had talked to Lovell seven or eight years ago about how he was on a path to become police chief one day, but they didn’t expect Monday’s bombshell.
When Jami Resch introduced Lovell, 46, as her successor at a news conference in Portland’s City Council chambers, more than half a dozen African American leaders and supporters were there with him. They also applauded Resch for her decision to turn the top job over to a relatively new black police supervisor at a critical juncture in local and national history.
“This is what equity looks like,” said Libra Ford, chief operating officer of Self Enhancement Inc., the youth and family services center.
“When you move out of the way and you give room for people who look like Chuck Lovell, Chief Chuck Lovell, when the time is right and the time is needed, that’s what equity looks like.’’
Lovell, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and a former member of the U.S. Air Force, is an 18-year Police Bureau veteran, having joined in May 2002. He served as a school resource officer from 2007 through 2011 and rose to the rank of lieutenant but was doing behind-the-scene work for two recent chiefs.
He served as former Chief Danielle Outlaw’s executive assistant when she came to Portland from Oakland and most recently oversaw a new community outreach division for Resch.
It was Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, who recommended Outlaw, the bureau’s first African American woman named as chief, reach out to Lovell.
Lovell could be Outlaw’s link as she worked to build relationships with the community – that’s the “the guy you probably want to talk to,” Turner said he told her.
“He seemed like the perfect person for her to rely upon for community contacts,’’ Turner said.
And it was Lovell’s deep connection to African American youths and black city leaders that stood out when Resch tapped him to take over.
Resch said she noticed Lovell’s communication skills and strong ties to African American community members, particularly in the last week as he helped connect four young black men who had been participating in protests to Resch and other city, county and federal criminal justice leaders.
“Chuck was the guy behind the scenes making all of that happen,” said Tony Hopson Sr., chief executive officer of Self Enhancement Inc. “He was actually the one who had the connections and the experience on the street with our community.”
Resch said she observed Lovell over the last 10 days and saw that his interactions with people were so “pivotal and honest” that he was the right person to build bridges with residents and business owners at a time when the African American community’s distrust in Portland police is at an all-time high.
Antoinette Edwards, who recently retired as director of the city’s Office of Youth Violence Prevention, has known Lovell since he began as a resource officer at Jefferson High. Her daughter Kijana Winchester, who had attended Jefferson High, accompanied her mother to the news conference announcing Lovell’s appointment.
The goal of school officers is to work with staff, students and parents to ensure school safety, provide crime prevention and mentorship to students.
Lovell did just that, supporters said.
Lovell was able to gain the trust of students, and he dealt with problems with compassion and a steady level-headedness, Edwards said.
“He has a real humility,” she said. “He is consistent, calm and kind in every situation that I’ve seen him in that way.”
She remembered the time he dealt with a boy who stole another student’s sneakers. Lovell got the sneakers back and had a strong talk with both students.
“He resolved the issue and nobody else had to know,” Edwards said, describing it as an early example of restorative justice.
Another time, Lovell dealt with a drunk, overzealous father who was creating a scene at a boys basketball game. Lovell escorted the father from the game without creating a commotion and later gave him a ride home.
“He respectfully deescalated the situation, calmly talking to the man,” Edwards said. “He just works his magic.”
Hopson said it was bittersweet for him to learn about the end of Portland’s school resource officer program, pointing to the impact that Lovell had on Jefferson High students.
School officials and Mayor Ted Wheeler announced last week that they will pull city police officers from high schools and put the $ 1 million the Police Bureau had spent on the program to support culturally specific programs for African American students.
It was also Lovell who worked quietly to get some of Outlaw’s initiatives achieved, such as the beauty shop and barbershop conversations she held to meet and listen to residents.
“It was her idea, but that was Chuck quietly doing his work, and arranging those sessions to bring the chief to the neighborhoods in a real engaging way,’’ Edwards said.
Kevin Modica, a retired Portland police assistant chief who is African American, said Lovell has an enormous heart and has already earned the respect and built the relationships that others in the Police Bureau keep talking about the need to foster.
“He’s always been available to our black community, particularly our youth community,’’ Modica said.
Aside from his work as a school officer, he mentored black youths in the Boys to Men program and volunteered in the Police Athletic League for years.
“He’s always provided suggestions and advice in the most respectful ways no matter the rank he’s dealing with,’’ Modica said.
Going forward, Lovell already faces doubts from some reform advocates and others who said Lovell’s leadership at the top isn’t enough.
They said they want to see transformational change in how police do their jobs and see officers disciplined for misconduct.
Triston “Xaii” Crowl, 25, who was one of the four men who met with Resch, Lovell and the other officials last week, said he found Lovell to be a “very genuine, kind-hearted nice guy.’’
But Crowl said he’s also concerned about the appointment.
“It feels like they’re trying to make amends by appointing a black man as chief,” Crowl said. “By the simple act of putting him as police chief could be perceived as tokenism unless he does enact some real change and has some real influence in the system.’’
Modica said he’s confident Lovell has the skills to succeed, and added, “He doesn’t have time for a honeymoon or much pomp and circumstances.’’
-- Maxine Bernstein
Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
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