Gresham, Ore., police chief retires

GRESHAM, Ore. — Gresham Police Chief Robin Sells retired on Friday, effective immediately, city officials said Friday.

The city of Gresham announced the retirement in a news release and said no further comments would be made at this time.

The suburban Portland police chief’s retirement comes after a report released last week showed Sells fostered and permitted a hostile workplace that drove out a Black senior official hired to address issues of racial bias.

Sells in a written statement said Friday she quit in reaction to the “city’s choice to release a deeply flawed report without affording me due process,” The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. She said the city hadn’t given her a proper chance to respond to the report’s conclusions.

The police chief’s rocky relationship with former deputy city manager Corey Falls, who was initially hired to address racial bias, led to events that included Sells, Mayor Shane Bemis and City Manager Eric Kvarsten all quitting in June.

Sells later rescinded her resignation, rejoined the department and remained police chief until Friday.

The report was commissioned by the city after Falls filed a complaint. It concluded that Sells and her staff created a hostile workplace for Falls and noted that Sells felt she’d been placed in a hostile environment when she was required to answer to Falls on reform and racial equity.