The city of Salem, Oregon charged Discrepancy Report $479.63 for a public records request filed May 3. The request sought written communications between city employees and organizers of a controversial pro-Second Amendment rally held at Riverfront Park on May 1.
On May 21, I, Discrepancy Report Editor Joe Douglass, paid the fee thanks to a donation from Warren J. Thompson of Salem.
About a week later the city sent me a message saying, “Please provide the email address(es) of the parties related to the records you are requesting. For example, you mentioned Magen Marie. This information is required in order to perform a record search. Thank you.”
I then asked, “How were you able to generate such a specific request for this amount of money when you apparently had no idea who city employees communicated with regarding this event? … Also the city never stipulated this (the need for email addresses) before requesting its fee and accepting payment.”
The city then apparently backed off from its request. On June 15, officials sent me a PDF featuring an exchange of text messages between Daniel Grant Tooze Sr., a Proud Boys activist, and Salem Police Department Sgt. Trevor Morrison.
Tooze later told me he was involved with the rally but did not organize it. Police named him and another Proud Boys supporter, Magen Marie Stevens, as hosts.
The Canadian government has labeled the far-right group the Proud Boys a “terrorist entity” and the Southern Poverty Law Center calls the organization a hate group. Members of the Proud Boys adamantly refute the labels.
Salem Police Communication With Organizer of May Day 2A Rally (Redacted) by jmdglss on Scribd
The first text message in the exchange was sent by Tooze on Friday, April 30, at about 6:30 a.m. It includes an image of a flyer posted by the group “Fascist Free 503.” The flyer appears to advertise a rally planned for that night, displaying the phrases “Police Profit Off Of Murder” and “Pacification is Dissuasion.”
Following the flyer is a message from Tooze saying, “Didn’t know if you’ve seen this yet they’ve been holding onto it.”
Morrison did not respond.
At 11:20 a.m. Tooze wrote, “Please keep them away from us tomorrow. We are done tolerating their behavior.”
“We are aware of it,” Sergeant Morrison texted back. “Thks.”
It’s the only message from Morrison in the thread.
The next one was sent by Tooze on May 2, the day after the unpermitted rally in which multiple journalists and activists claimed officers gave preferential treatment to the event’s organizers in part by not having a large police presence and allowing armed members of the Proud Boys to remove people from the public park and allegedly assault them.
Salem police deny the accusations. The agency says all of the cases associated with the “May Day 2A Rally” have been closed and no arrests were made.
“Sir the people asked to leave and walked out that called you were antifa fake press doxing people and there license plates of attendees,” Tooze told Morrison in his May 2 message. “This is the things they like to do and I believe that they are illegal.”
Tooze’s message included a screen capture of a tweet from a group apparently displaying Tooze’s home address along with the names of two businesses he owns and their addresses. The tweet accused him of being involved with an assault, though state court records show Tooze has faced no criminal charges.
On May 5, Tooze texted Morrison again with a link to an Oregonian tweet and article featuring a photo of Tooze with the headline, “Inauguration Day will come and go. Violent domestic extremism may be around for a while.”
“Why is the Oregonian allowed to just make things up and lie,” Tooze said in a message.
I asked Tooze how he obtained Morrison’s cell phone number. Tooze said he wasn’t sure but that Morrison may have given him a business card at some point when Tooze was helping set up for the rally.
Lieutenant Treven Upkes, the spokesman for the Salem Police Department, said, “In the crowd management profession, it is standard practice to try to obtain contact information for all types of event organizers and then chat with them. That way we can get important information regarding the event: who is attending, how many, how long, is there a march, where is the venue, will there be speakers, do they have porta-potties, where are they parking, etc.?”
Upkes told me Morrison obtained Tooze’s phone number from Oregon State Police.
A legal compliance specialist for OSP, however, said she could find no record of that happening.
On June 25, after I told Upkes about OSP’s response, he suggested I file a public records request for police reports related to the event.
“As I have now explained repeatedly, an officer contacting an event organizer is routine and common practice,” Upkes said in an email. “I will not be answering any further questions regarding this event.”
That day I filed another public records request with the city seeking all call records between Morrison and Tooze showing who called who and when. The city told me it was already researching that information based on a message I sent in a thread linked to my previous records request. Officials then told me my records would be ready by 5 p.m. on July 30 but ultimately pushed the deadline back to Aug. 13, claiming I hadn’t filed a fee waiver request form and that they needed more time because they were handling a large number of requests.
On Aug. 13, the city disclosed a police report free of charge featuring information about how officers communicated with organizers of the May 1 rally and prepared for the event. Although the document describes communications, it does not include the call records I had requested repeatedly since June 25.
The city did not immediately respond to three messages I sent asking why the call records were not included.
The police report dated April 25 was filed by the agency’s mobile response team. Its stated mission is “crowd control detail.”
“On May 1st, 2021, there is a planned event being called ‘Mayday 2A Rally,'” the report says. “This group is associated with Proud Boys, 3 percenters, and Patriot Prayer. In the recent past, they have engaged in unlawful activities with counter groups as well as law enforcement. This group is well-armed and is usually armed at these events.”
The report says Magen Marie Stevens applied for a permit at the State Capitol grounds, which was denied.
But Chris Havel, a spokesman for Oregon’s Parks and Recreation Department, told me, “We did not receive an application to use the State Capitol State Park or any other state park property for this May 1 event, so there was nothing to reject. We did send a blank application form to a person named Dan Tooze in April for a May Day rally at the State Capitol State Park, but Mr. Tooze did not complete and submit it for our review.”
Joey Gibson, the founder of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, was also planning to attend the rally, according to the police report, a claim Gibson denied. He told me had nothing to do with organizing the event.
“There is a high likelihood and potential of physical violence, criminal acts, or crime damage,” the report says. “Since May 30th, 2020, there has been increased tensions and opposing political view groups showing up at similar type events. Based on experience from these previous events, we learned that some attendees are prone to engage in disorderly conduct, such as blocking traffic while marching, vandalism, and physical violence against police or opposing political view groups. Based on past events, it is also likely that attendees from any opposing political view sides will likely be open carrying firearms, wearing body armor, armed with impact weapons and other less-lethal weapons.”
The report then outlines plans for patrolling the event and describes attempts to reach organizers saying in part:
Salem Police MRT (full team) will deploy wearing their standard MRT uniform. Salem Police MRT will patrol the area of the event using a combination of assigned MRT Vehicles and bicycles. Attempt has been made to contact the event organizers. Sgt. Moisan was able to speak with him on April 22, 2021 only to learn the event was being moved from the state capitol to Riverfront park. Sgt. Moisan indicated Mr. Tooze abruptly ended the conversation after providing the news of a venue change. Sgt. Keniston said he attempted to speak with Magen Stevens but was told she would not cooperate with him for any future events.
On 04/28/2021 Sgt. Morrison spoke with Mr. Dan Tooze. Mr. Tooze stated the event would start at 1200 and go for about three hours. Mr. Tooze expected the attendees to be around 250 persons. Mr. Tooze said he is not coordinating the event but said he will oversee security. Mr. Tooze said there will be around 18-20 members of Proud Boys acting as security. Sgt. Morrison spoke with Mr. Tooze about obeying all applicable laws, obeying all park rules, and drinking in public. Mr. Tooze was aware the event was at a public park and he was urging folks to not open carry near the playground. Mr. Tooze has been monitoring counter-protestors sites and has not found any information about people showing up for the event to disrupt it. Mr. Tooze said there is not a march planned for this event. The event is to take place at Riverfront Park and Mr. Tooze is aware there are not any permits for this event. Sgt. Morrison provided Mr. Tooze with a cell phone number to contact him directly.
Oregon’s Department of Public Safety Standards and Training told me neither Tooze nor a company he owns, Proud Security, Inc. are certified to perform security services professionally. Tooze said he only provides security services voluntarily and that his company is inactive.
Upkes did not immediately respond to emails asking how Moisan and Keniston contacted Tooze and Stevens.
