PORTLAND -- Portland Police Bureau Capt. Mark Kruger has been suspended without pay for two weeks for posting a plaque in a city park to honor German soldiers in World War II.
Portland police Chief Michael Reese announced Tuesday that Kruger must also take part in a mentoring program for up to two years.
Reese said that Kruger also gave up any right to an appeal.
More: Read Reese's letter
Reese said in his disciplinary letter to Kruger that he failed as a small group of captains in the bureau, to uphold a standard of leadership expected at that rank.
Kruger's actions also went against the spirit of community policing, and a fundamental premise that each citizen of Portland has infinite dignity and worth, Reese wrote.
Kruger also violated the simplest of city ordinances. You can't attach things to a city property in a park.
Reese cited past federal investigations into Kruger's conduct, in which he was defended by the city, but show with clarity, the extent of his intentions with erecting a plaque.
Of the five officers he honors, each had the man's name and rank, date of birth and date of death. Kruger identified one of the five as a member of the SS.
Reese points out to Kruger in the disciplinary letter that SS stands for Waffen SS, a unit loyal to Adolf Hitler; membership was tied to Nazi ideology, including racial purity. Its members were found responsible for war crimes.
Reese wrote that Kruger put the plaque in a place from he could gaze at it while driving along I-205 and had returned to make certain the plaque was clean and not in need of repair.
Your decisions around the plaque, as well as its content, are easily viewed in a negative light, Reese wrote.
Kruger released a statement saying the plaque with the names of five German officers resulted from his interest in European history, especially military history.
He denied that he had any sympathy for the followers of Adolf Hitler.
He said that the plaque was put up 11 years ago, before the days of the Web and easy access to research, and that he did not know one of the five officers he admired may have been involved in war crimes.
More:Read Kruger's letter
Kruger also apologized to his bureau peers whose reputations may have been damaged because of his actions.
