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Title: Her path leads from UO protester to police lieutenant (One of Eugene PD's largest hypocrates)
Source:
www.registerguard.com
URL Source: http://www.registerguard.com/news/2 ... 0205.p1.php?section=cityregion
Published: Feb 5, 2007
Author: Jeff Wright
Post Date: 2007-02-05 14:00:33 by Ferret Mike
Keywords: None
Views: 120
Comments: 3
Trying to converse over coffee, Eugene police Lt. Jennifer Bills keeps getting interrupted by the small radio speaker attached to her uniform's lapel. "Yesterday we had a cougar on the loose and an officer accidentally shot in the foot by another officer," Bills says apologetically. "It's been kind of hectic." But in truth, Bills thrives on the hectic and unpredictable challenge of police work, which helps explain why she has climbed the ranks from rookie officer to lieutenant during her 13 years with the Eugene force. It's a climb even some of her friends find amazing, given Bills' background: a University of Oregon student body president and lesbian activist who, during her college years, was most likely to bump into police at some protest. "They were the authority figures and I ran in the activist crowds," Bills recalls. "Every time I would bring up the idea (of police work), people thought I was crazy." Her harshest critics even called her a sellout - to her face. But Bills sees no contradiction in trying to improve people's lives, whether with a protester's chants or with an officer's badge. "There are door knockers and door kickers when it comes to social change, and I'm more of a door knocker," she says. "If you want to make the world a better place, it's one person at a time, one to one." Bills grew up in Charleston, and was used to seeing police interacting with her dad, an emergency room doctor at nearby Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay. When she got to the UO, she found herself interacting with police in a much different way, arguing over such issues as how best to deal with panhandlers on campus. She also threw herself into student leadership - serving as chairwoman of the committee overseeing the dispersal of student fees and as director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance. As student body president, she joined then-UO President Myles Brand in fighting a new federal policy banning gays from U.S. military service. But after completing her studies in 1992, Bills found herself sharing the fate of many an English literature major - working one odd job or another. She was employed as a barista at Fifth Street Public Market when she noticed a posting seeking new Eugene police applicants. Intrigued, Bills did a couple of ride-alongs with officers she'd met and thought, "Wow, this is interesting, I want to do this." Bills survived basic police academy, despite committing several faux pas because of her unfamiliarity with police culture. "Instead of the Danner police boots everyone else had, I showed up with the Doc Martens I'd worn through college, with the yellow stitching colored in," she says. The year 1994 was an eventful one for Bills: She became a police officer and a parent. Bills was in the room when her partner gave birth to a 10-pound, 5-ounce boy - now a 12-year-old middle school student. The relationship has since ended, but Bills and her former partner share custody of their son. If she in any way has grown more conservative over the years, Bills figures becoming a mom is a big reason why. "Parenthood does something to you," she says. As for sexual orientation, Bills says that's not been the issue many assume it would be in her world of law enforcement. The Eugene police force included several out-of-the-closet gays long before her arrival. Bills notes with pride that the police union was among the first in the city to push for domestic partnership benefits and helped her win "compassionate leave" - because there was no parental leave available to her - when her son was born. "It's a misunderstood group," she says of her police co-workers. These days, says Bills, the job has become more difficult because of the actions of two former officers, Roger Magaña and Juan Lara, convicted of sexual coercion of women. "It's broken the trust, and that hurts," she says. "It's going to take some time for that to go away." In her time on the force, Bills has done just about everything - patrol officer, bicycle officer, Whiteaker neighborhood coordinator, crowd control officer, background investigator and overseer of internal affairs. She also was a member and later the sergeant who oversaw the department's crisis negotiation team, which joins SWAT members in responding to barricaded suicidal subjects. Bills is one of two females among the department's seven lieutenants. The next rank is captain - held by at least two women in the past - and then chief. Bills is coy about her career aspirations. "I'm just really enjoying my job right now," she says. "But I do plan sticking around Eugene." As a lieutenant, Bills finds satisfaction in helping the eight sergeants who report to her - but regrets not getting out as often as when she was an officer on the streets. She thinks of the 10-year-old she helped get out of a bad home and into a good home, and then being invited to his high school graduation. "That was one of the most satisfying moments," she says. Martha Pitts, the UO's director of admissions and Bills' friend for nearly 20 years, admits she was skeptical when Bills first talked of a police career. But over the years, it's made increasingly more sense to her. "Jen has strong convictions about social justice and equality, and she's found a brilliant way to live out those convictions," says Pitts. "She also likes to be in the middle of what's going on, and being a police officer or being in student government puts you in the middle of what's going on." 
Eugene police Lt. Jennifer Bills has held a number of different assignments during her 13 years on the force.
JENNIFER BILLS Family: Bills, 37, lives with her partner, high school teacher Julie Pfaff, and has part-time custody of her son, 12. They also share space with Suzanne the dog and Sadie the cat.
Job: Lieutenant, Eugene Police Department
Education: Graduate of Marshfield High School and University of Oregon (English literature major)
Hobbies: Triathlons, backpacking, skiing, watching her son play soccer Favorite book: A tie between "Possessing the Secret of Joy" by Alice Walker and "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger
Favorite movie: "The Piano"
Something her friends don't know about her: "English is not my first language." Bills' mother is French, and Bills spent half of her earliest years in France.
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#2. To: IndieTX (#0)
How would you have lied to work on a police force with this character? I was chatting with her once telling her about my disgust with an officer who had blown in my ear to get me to fight with cuffs on when I was arrested doing copwatch during a sweep of E13th St. in Eugene, Oregon. I told her I kept peaceful but felt like kicking the assholes ass regardless of being tactically sound in my actions. I mean, who likes guys blowing in your ear acting the bully while you are handcuffed? So she reported this to the psychotic bastard as "I could pose a possible danger to him," though I don't have any violent record. She is a real idiot, and I have not seen her preform in any exemplary way in the remotest over the years, quite the contrary, she is well loathed by many in my neighborhood.
#3. To: Ferret Mike (#2)
IT'S A SHE?????? A he-she perhaps, bit not a "she." LMAO! Remember the Peter principle...the least qulified are the ones promoted. It certainly works that way at my company...as it did when I was a Dallas cop.
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