FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2021
Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB) is not the Atlanta Civil Service Board (ACSB)
Contact: Charles Curry, Public Information Officer 470.217-0511 / Email: ccurry@atlantaga.gov
or Myola Smith, Community Engagement Manager: 404-293-3440 / Email: mmsmith@atlantaga.gov
The Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB) is not the Atlanta Civil Service Board (ACSB) and was not the agency that was responsible for the reinstatement of former Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe.
The ACRB is an independent investigative agency of the city of Atlanta, authorized to receive, investigate, mediate, and adjudicate citizen complaints against Atlanta police and corrections officers. Our sole focus and purpose are to provide a forum for citizens to receive redress on their concerns about the actions of Atlanta police and corrections officers and community engagement.
The ACSB serves as the official protector of the civil service system. The ACSB handles city employee adverse action that include suspension without pay, demotion, dismissal; removal from eligible list; disqualification for reemployment, failure to follow procedures of layoff or reduction in force; and unjust coercion or reprisal.
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For more information on the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB), please visit the www.acrbgov.org.
If you want to learn more about the Atlanta Civil Service Board (ACSB),
please visit https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/boards-and-commissions/civil-service-board.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Op-Editorial
“Siege of the US Capitol: Who is Behind the Badge?”
Contact: Charles Curry, Outreach Specialist and Public Information Officer: Email: ccurry@atlantaga.gov
or Myola Smith, Project Manager Office: Phone: 404.865.8622
EDITORIAL COMMENTS:
ACRB Executive Director Lee Reid Speaks Out on the Police Response
As a civilian oversight professional, I believe officer selection is the most critical aspect of the future of law enforcement, followed by officer accountability. If there was ever any doubt that we need to have a national discussion about who wears the badge, that doubt should have been dispelled on January 6, 2020. The nation and the world witnessed some officers sworn to protect and serve display actions that were offensive to society. Video of Capitol Police officers strolling with and taking selfies and photos of agitators, insurrectionists, and domestic terrorists were an affront to all the officers who wear a badge and those in society who still believe that police officers can do the right thing when needed. Their actions were an insult to the lone officer who had to continue to retreat to safety as he tried to keep the attackers at bay to only arrive in an area where other officers casually walked up, with the least amount of urgency, to stand with the lone officer.
Those images juxtapose with the images of law enforcement’s response to the protests over the summer of 2020 require us to examine who is behind the badge, how they are selected, and what is their character. While it is true that most of the men and women,who wear the badge,reflect many of the morals and character traits that society respects, it only takes one “bad apple” to unjustly take a life, spark community outrage, and cost a city millions of dollars. The selection and retention of that one officer who goes unchecked and avoids the consequences of their actions causes immeasurable damage to the reputation of all officers and harm to the communities they are supposed to serve.
One could argue that those officers who were strolling around with the mob, taking pictures and chumming up to the terrorists was a way to capture the images of those men and women for later identification and prosecution. It could also be argued that their actions were a demonstration of a failure of officer selection,that their actions were just a part of a historical subversive thread of deceit and dishonor that has continued to weave its way through law enforcement departments throughout the nation,where enforcement of laws is aggressively inflicted on people of color,but gently, almost apologetically, applied to whites.Sadly, their actions could reflect a conscious decision by leadership to allow their behavior, with no concern about accountability.
As many who witnessed the slow police reaction to the terrorists, one cannot help but imagine that if the people who were attacking the Capitol were black, brown, or apart of any other minority group or ideology, we would have seen images of blood and tears, and heard the screams from injuries. We did not see that on January 6, 2020. We did not see women shoved, old people knocked down, citizens running away, men pummeled, bloody bodies, ripped clothes, or anguished faces. We saw a group of people comfortably enjoying themselves on the nation’s property, thumbing their noses at society and law and order, madly raging and wielding throughout the Capitol while destroying and stealing property and injuring some of the very people they profess to honor by “backing the blue.”The truth is we can discuss and implement policing policies and trainings, increase pay for officers, remove qualified immunity, and increase accountability all day long; but,at the end of the day, none of that matters as much as knowing and understanding who is behind the badge. Officer selection is one of the most important aspects of changing the policing culture. It is the core of the individual who wears the badge that is the most fundamental determinant of that officer’s impact on society. Their judgment, their understanding of humanity, their desire to do what is right regardless of permissive court opinions, leadership, policies and trainings impacts their actions and sets the stage before they ever interact with citizens.
Policing is an honorable profession. It is a service to the community, and it must reflect the very best of the community. Men and women of the highest integrity should only consider policing and should only be selected for policing. The displays that we witnessed yesterday and many days before requireus to examine who is behind the badge and to not accept or retain anyone who cannot demonstrate a core of honor, integrity, and a respect for all humanity.
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The Atlanta Citizen Review Board is an agency of the City of Atlanta
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONDAY, September 10, 2018
Op-Editorial
“Reflections on the Tenth Anniversary of the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB)”
Contact: Charles Curry, Outreach Specialist and Public Information Officer: Email: ccurry@atlantaga.gov
or Myola Smith, Project Manager Office: Phone: 404.865.8622
Thirty-nine shots were fired, at least five ripped through her body. Ms. Kathryn Johnston, a mother, a grandmother, a neighbor, a friend, lay dying, shot in her home, bleeding and handcuffed. It was the middle of the night, November 21, 2006. Mother Johnston, as she was affectionally known, became an innocent victim of police corruption. Men in uniform who had sworn to protect the City of Atlanta shot and killed a 92-year-old woman in her home. These men were Atlanta police officers.
Ten months later, after vigorous protest from an outraged community and groups of clergies, elected and appointed officials, businessmen and business women, the tragic incident resulted in the creation of the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB). Council members C.T. Martin, H. Lamar Willis, and Ivory Lee Young, Jr. led the charge on the Atlanta City Council to create the agency by introducing legislation aimed to give Atlanta citizens independent civilian oversight of the city’s law enforcement officers. The ordinance was unanimously approved by the Atlanta City Council and the Mayor in 2007 and the ACRB opened its doors September of 2008, tasked with investigating citizens’ complaints of misconduct against sworn officers of the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and the Atlanta Department of Corrections (ADC).
As we commemorate ten years…a decade of dedicated service to citizens of and visitors to Atlanta, we thank the hundreds of those who have trusted the agency enough and reported incidents with local police that caused them to file formal complaints or seek informal mediation through ACRB. As we go about our daily work to fulfill the goal of bringing police and citizens together, we also thank the thousands of people who have discovered who we are and what we do through our many community outreach presentations, our KNOW YOUR RIGHTS TRAINING WORKSHOPS, and special events like our ART & ESSAY CONTEST that promote education, understanding, peaceful dialogue and mutual respect for everyone.
Thanks in part to our ever-expanding outreach to community groups, transparency and cooperation with the ACRB by the APD, there are significant signs of improved relations. Five years ago, for example, it would have been difficult, if not impossible for an APD officer to be authorized to pose for billboards throughout the city promoting ACRB’s Mediation Program. Now, when needed, the ACRB and APD collaborate to provide training and advisement on programs and matters that benefit the community, police and civilian oversight. APD should be commended for weeding out a significant amount of corruption within its ranks over the last ten-year period. Much of the recent progress can be attributed to continued support from Council Member Ivory Lee Young, Jr., who introduced legislation in 2016 to expand the ACRB ordinance, APD Chief Erika Shields, Atlanta City Council and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ administration.
It would be of great benefit in the coming years for the community and law enforcement to formally come together and agree on a common set of core values and expectations that can be applied to officer misconduct actions in a reliable and comprehensive manner that inspires mutual trust and confidence. Improved officer training should also help reduce fatal encounters with police.
It would be true to state that civilian oversight has not reached the zenith of its success yet. Our most recent numbers related to the Chief of Police handling of ACRB sustained allegations showed the percentage of acceptance at 47%. While this certainly represents an increase over past reports, the level of discipline on sustained complaints by the APD remains unacceptably low, an issue that the ACRB needs to address with Chief Shields. Despite greater community education and awareness efforts, the creation of the mediation program, the addition of anonymous complaints filings, the expanded areas of investigations, policy recommendations and increased transparency, more needs to be done to address citizen complaints.
Yet the ACRB remains the only civilian oversight agency in the State of Georgia and most of the Southeastern United States that large and small jurisdictions around the country regularly contact and seek to replicate. Despite the challenges, the ACRB remains the most enduring legacy of Ms. Johnston’s tragic death. The darkness surrounding her loss of life continues to be a beacon of light and hope for those who demand to be heard. Nurtured by the commitment of dedicated board members and staff and the continued financial investment of the city leaders, the agency will never stop pressing for officer accountability, fairness, transparency, peaceful dialogue and cooperation with citizens.
What was expressed at the ten-year anniversary of the death of Ms. Johnston remains true today: civilian oversight alone cannot solve the problem of police officer misconduct…It was never designed to be a silver bullet…Civilian oversight is a tool that citizens, elected officials and law enforcement departments can use to solve the problem.
Ten years from now, we will still be faced with some of same the challenges as we do today, but if citizens become more engaged in and aware of the process; if they rise up in big numbers and use the resources of civilian oversight to speak truth to power; if they call for and create more than just one civilian review board in surrounding municipalities, then this small island of accountability known as the Atlanta Citizen Review Board will have done its job and the death of Ms. Johnston will not have been in vain.
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The Atlanta Citizen Review Board is an agency of the City of Atlanta
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, March 13, 2017
OP-Editorial
MEDIATION…IT’S TIME TO TALK!
“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
Today, the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB), Georgia’s only civilian oversight agency for law enforcement, is introducing a voluntary mediation program to the City of Atlanta so that its citizens and officers may discuss complaints in a neutral setting. The above quote from Albert Einstein aptly applies to the citizen complaint against a police officer, and what can occur from the mediation of a complaint about the officer’s behavior, actions, or comments. The goal of the program is to transform perspectives through dialogue and improve interactions between citizens and officers.
Among the many trusted relationships that we form within society, the relationship between an individual citizen and a police officer is one of the most crucial relationships where the level of trust and respect on both sides determines the outcome of an interaction. Given the many news stories from around the country and in our city, the erosion of this relationship can cause injuries, deaths, stress, and loss of financial and personal security. As the mutual trust between citizen and officer erodes, protective walls are built, ears become closed, and minds become set in a concrete barrier of blame.
Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution that creates an opportunity for parties to meet and discuss ways to resolve an issue. For the ACRB, the mediation program creates the opportunity for a citizen and officer to meet and discuss a citizen complaint against the officer with the assistance of a third party neutral mediator in a safe environment. It is another effort by the ACRB to start knocking down the walls and opening the ears and minds of citizens and officers through face-to-face discussions focusing on perspective sharing, increased understanding, and reconciliation.
The actions and behaviors of an individual citizen and officer who meet in a one-on-one interaction can be an educational and revealing experience. Individual biases and perceptions without regard for courtesy and mutual respect can destroy the delicate fabric of societal expectations and shape lasting perceptions that lead to general conclusions about “All you people…” and “All police officers….” respectively. The ACRB often hears citizens say “I just want to know why the officer did that…”, and some officers comment “I wanted to explain but….” It has been our experience that the time during an incident between a citizen and officer does not always lend itself to a productive conversation where perceived wrongs have occurred. Concerns about safety, perceptions about control, and feelings of anger, embarrassment, and distrust often rule that moment.
Mediation offers a faster and informal resolution to a complaint. While mediation is not suitable for every complaint, a complaint settled through mediation would be resolved and closed many months before the completion of an investigation. The settled complaint allows the citizen and officer to move forward with closure and a sense of empowerment and satisfaction.
Mediation is a bridge for communication that can lead to better relationships between citizens and officers. A neutrally safe environment offers the opportunity for personal growth and understanding that can challenge perspectives, open minds and ears as citizens and officers create their own solutions to problems. Ultimately, mediation is about citizen and officer empowerment.
Studies and discussions with participants of mediation programs have shown that parties have greater satisfaction with the outcomes of their complaints through participation in mediation. While there are skeptics and naysayers to every new endeavor, the facts prove that participants in citizen/officer conflict resolution programs appreciated the opportunity to speak directly with each other, despite initial apprehension and even when the parties could not agree after the mediation. There was value in the discussion. For those complaints that settled, there was the satisfaction of being heard, being acknowledged, having closure. Many cities across the nation have implemented mediation programs with success with the support of citizens and the active support of their local police departments and officers.
Mediation is about learning from each other and sometimes reassessing one’s behavior. It requires citizens and officers to step back and re-approach an incident from a perspective of openness and shared responsibility. Sometimes an officer and/or a citizen may have to openly hear others’ perspectives and comments to realize that a person may need to change. We rarely recognize how behaviors, attitudes, and comments affect others until we feel secure enough to hear and accept what we see in the mirror. That’s when lasting change can occur. The ACRB mediation is not about the guilt or innocence of a citizen or the merits of the complaint against an officer. It is about both parties’ willingness to understand how they got to the point of having to file a complaint.
While mediation is a reaction to a complaint, it dually serves as an opportunity to resolve the current complaint but most importantly, it has the strong potential to proactively mitigate behavior that could lead to future complaints. So we can continue to talk at each other, laying blame, and even purchase a thousand additional body cameras…OR we can talk to each other face-to-face with respect and openness to learn, while working toward stronger lasting relationships.
There will always be a need for law enforcement and there will always be the desire for courtesy and respect of the law and individual personhood; but it is the respectful confrontation about our actions that provides how we conform to policies, laws, and expectations.
If you ever have a concern about an interaction with an Atlanta police officer, consider mediation. Take the first step and contact the ACRB. It’s time to talk!
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Written by Samuel Lee Reid, II, ACRB Executive Director
Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB) established by the City of Atlanta to investigate citizen complaints of misconduct Against Atlanta Police and Corrections Officers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 03, 2016
Contact: Charles Curry, Outreach Specialist, Email: ccurry@atlantaga.gov, Phone: 404-865-8408
EDITORIAL COMMENTS:
ACRB Executive Director, Lee Reid Speaks Out on Chiefs Responses to Citizen Complaints
Last week, the Atlanta City Council Public Safety Committee voted to send the proposed ACRB ordinance changes to a Public Safety work session. Despite many months of preparation, meetings and communication invested by the ACRB staff and board related to the proposed changes, and requests for feedback on the changes, the Public Safety Committee decided that some stakeholders still needed more time to consider the changes. The ACRB welcomes the opportunity to receive input and feedback from the affected stakeholders.
One of the most significant challenges facing the ACRB is the Atlanta Police Department’s lack of discipline on ACRB sustained complaints (complaints filed by citizens, discussed and reviewed by the ACRB and deemed credible or true based on evidence obtained by experienced investigators). While that in itself is a major criticism of the APD, the failure to provide a response that has a legal or factual basis for the disagreements compounds, frustrates and weakens the intent of the ACRB ordinance.
The ACRB ordinance was created to help foster a better understanding between citizens and officers, and increase the level of accountability and transparency within the City’s officer accountability mechanism. The reasonable and measured approach of the proposal to require the chiefs of police and corrections to provide greater detailed responses to ACRB sustained complaints benefits all stakeholders – citizens, elected officials, community groups, police and corrections, and the ACRB.
It is critical to community trust-building and individual and organizational accountability that the Board and citizens understand how and why the chiefs make their decisions on misconduct cases. A detailed response letter on ACRB sustained complaints would alert the ACRB to any investigative issues, allow the ACRB and citizens to gain a better understanding of the departments’ discipline philosophy, and create additional opportunities for more constructive dialogue on officer accountability that will benefit citizens and officers.
This proposed change to the ordinance does not affect the chiefs’ ability or authority to make disciplinary decisions as deemed appropriate for the management of their respective departments. However, with the enormous power granted to the departments with the ability to justifiably take freedom and life, an expectation and requirement for justification of decisions on misconduct complaints is a very reasonable request. While the ACRB and the law enforcement departments may never be in total tandem on every disciplinary decision, as partners in officer accountability, clear understandings and clear avenues for discussion of disciplinary decisions should be an expectation of departments committed to officer accountability, transparency, and better community/officer relations.
The ordinance changes, if adopted, will strengthen the relationship between the ACRB, the Police Department and the residents of Atlanta. The recommendations will lay a foundation that will help ensure transparency of decision making and assure citizens that their police complaints have been thoroughly investigated, seriously evaluated, and impartially considered.
The work and progress of the ACRB has been accomplished through the unwavering commitment of the ACRB staff and board members who have dedicated themselves to fairly investigate and adjudicate the complaints. Our highest priority has always been to treat parties without bias and in the most respectful manner.
I am proud of the work that the ACRB staff and board members have done to provide the residents of Atlanta efficient and effective police oversight. I also look forward to working with the Atlanta Police Department and Atlanta Department of Corrections in the pursuit of fostering better relations with the Board and citizenry.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Contact: Charles Curry, Outreach Specialist, Email: ccurry@atlantaga.gov, Phone: 404-865-8408
OP-Editorial
Since the announcement of the Atlanta Citizen Review Board’s DON’T RUN! campaign, we have heard from the community expressing timeliness and support of the initiative. Locally and nationally, we have also heard from citizens expressing concern that the message places blame on the victim.
I appreciate all comments related to this very important topic. I believe in respectful dialogue and the value of push back as a way to find common ground, solutions, and action.
First, let me say, the DON’T RUN! campaign is not an indictment against citizens. I am perplexed and troubled that some citizens believe that this message focuses on the blaming of citizens as opposed to focusing on officer actions is harmful to citizens. The nation is in the grip of a debate on what to do about officer–involved deaths of innocent citizens. The Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB) is not concerned with all the talking and planning, and more talking that usually results in minor changes for appearances sake. While we are engaged in the work of officer
accountability and press for strict enforcement of policies and the laws that officers violate, we are concerned with reducing the ability of officers to use running as an opportunity to harm citizens. The perception that this message is in some way blaming the victim discounts the reality of citizens who run when encountering law enforcement. The debate of innocence, guilt, and the need for lawful police action is a mute argument for the dead and the injured and the families and loved ones of a citizen that has been killed or injured because of running.
Not running is not about blind compliance. It’s about standing firm and asserting a demand to have your constitutional rights respected by law enforcement, to demand that an officer treat you professionally, and, if the officer does not treat you professionally, exercising your right to file a complaint and demand redress. This is far from compliance to illegal actions. Over the past two years, the ACRB has been committed to informing citizens of their rights and encouraging citizens to file complaints about police misconduct.
The ACRB takes its entire mission seriously and pushes on all fronts for accountability. We are here to serve the citizens of Atlanta; however, we understand that we cannot do it alone. With that in mind, we encourage organizations and individuals to rise up at every meeting to express their concerns about officer accountability. We encourage citizens to attend our meetings and city council meetings. We encourage citizens to file complaints about concerns they have about officer actions and remain engaged in the process and demand results from the agency, from the police department and from the elected officials.
I have been doing this work for nearly ten years. I have seen how the results of innocent action while running (pulling up pants, holding cell phone in pocket or hand or just empty hands) end in death and injury. We have interviewed citizens, bruised and battered, who later realize that it wasn’t worth running because they were scared or because they had a bag of weed or because they just thought they could get away. I have yet to encounter a citizen who said, “I ran because I have a right to run and I was innocent, so I ran.” For that bruised and battered citizen, the realization that comes while lying on the hospital bed is that he or she could have handled the situation differently. We must stop making it so easy for officers and departments to give reasons for use of force against citizens.
A couple of years ago, I had a conversation with a police officer who stated that citizens can run from police and that saying don’t run from police may infringe on a citizen’s rights. It was an interesting conversation because under the certain perceived circumstances that same officer could use force to stop the fleeing person. Until society comes to grips with the fact that there needs to be greater accountability, we should strongly take a common sense approach to save lives and prevent injuries.
Our message is not only DON’T RUN! but to also “REPORT POLICE MISCONDUCT.” We are encouraging citizens to stand in the face of their fears and the consequences and use the processes in place to fight police misconduct. Take action. File a complaint. Follow the process. Demand that the agencies responsible for officer accountability deliver justice.
Our message, DON’T RUN! is not a guarantee that the officer intent on causing harm will not harm you. Our message is don’t give the officer an opportunity to use your innocent action as a reason to kill or injure you.
We cannot wait until a critical incident, the death of another unarmed citizen, to demonstrate our frustration with the level of officer accountability. We must take action now. The ACRB proposes the first action is to resist the urge to run and to report police misconduct. This is not about whether a person is guilty or innocent. This is not about the responsibility of officers to act according to the law. This is about saving lives and preventing injuries. This is about documenting your interaction with a police officer.
We CAN’T wait to demonstrate in the streets after the death of another citizen. We CAN’T wait for the police departments to change their culture and practices, and we CAN’T wait for elected officials to demand officer accountability with the same vigor that they demand reduced crime rates. We MUST take control of our situations and
not provide reasons, excuses, or justifications for the killing and injuries of citizens.
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Written by Samuel Lee Reid, II, ACRB Executive Director
Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB) established by the City of Atlanta to investigate citizen complaints of misconduct Against Atlanta Police and Corrections Officers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, December 4, 2014
Contact: Charles Curry, Outreach Specialist, Email: ccurry@atlantaga.gov, Phone: 404-865-8408
Atlanta Citizen Oversight Board Director Responds to the Grand Jury Decision
Not to Indict the Officer Involved in the Killing of Eric Garner
OP-Editorial
Now we know… even with a video and audio recording of an unarmed black man being killed by police officers still that is not enough to support charges against a police officer. Without going into the details of the New York recording and the questionable justifications for Mr. Garner’s death, the fact remains that society is willing to accept the deaths of unarmed black men and a 12 year-old child without a trial at the local level to determine the guilt or innocence of an officer in an open court where a clearer understanding of the evidence can be provided. Alas, out of the tragedy of the New York grand jury decision, we can stop and question deeply the movement for body-worn cameras (BWCs) for officers and our expectations.
A couple of months ago, the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB) released a study on BWCs (Read the Study). We pointed out several concerns that must be fully debated in the open forum, stripped of the veneer of appeasement and the false sense of confidence surrounding the movement of BWCs that has been offered to citizens who are frustrated, outraged, and disgusted.
While we fully support BWCs, we must bring attention to the very real challenges. A few voices in the wind of the BWC movement have signaled that BWCs are not the silver bullet, not the panacea, to solving police misconduct. Yes, we could use and should use BWCs to provide clarity to a situation that has already occurred and potentially may cause officers to modify their behavior during citizen encounters. BWCs are a step in the right direction; but without true policing reform, the camera will be another tool that will certainly add frustration to the communities that suffer the most.
By now, the public has a good idea of the perceived benefits of BWCs, so I will not mention them in this article. However, in order to make BWCs be more than a tool of appeasement for the masses and protection for the officers, citizens need to understand that the law enforcement community has already examined, reviewed, tested, and determined that: (1) the recordings will not discount an officer’s perceptions and the totality of the circumstances surrounding the event or eliminate the blind deference to an officer’s account of those perceptions; (2) law enforcement industry experts have already laid out the reasons why BWCs should not be the only source to determine whether officer misconduct occurred; (3) law enforcement defense attorneys have already equip themselves to be prepared to deal with BWC recordings in the courtroom; and (4) all other aspects regarding policing will remain the same, business as usual, unless forced to the wall. Understanding the above, in light of the recent decisions will prepare us to ask the challenging questions as we move toward the era of BWCs.
This is the time to make real change in policing. The recent tragedies and the energy surrounding the losses of life must involve a pulling back of the layers of oversimplification, misinformation, and distortions. To start the peeling back process, the first layer to peel off are the conversations about black-on-black crime and the need for effective policing. Those issues confuse the peeling back process and attempt to justify officer’s individual actions when the discussion is about the systemic issues that are at the root of the problem.
The layers that should be peeled back and discussed involve: policing culture, officer selection, insular thinking, lack of support and an incentive for officers to report misconduct when they witness it, a lack of bold police department guidance, and the lukewarm involvement of elected officials.
We, the citizens, have a role in the peeling back of layers that have maintained an environment that allows officer misconduct to thrive. We have not presented a wider cast of candidates to bring diversity of thought and character to the prosecutor levels. We have not maintained the energy to support and maintain strong civilian oversight. Oversight that can officially investigate complaints, make policy recommendations on police department policy, and have an independent entity to refer to when the police department and elected officials do not demonstrate the will to discipline or make changes. We have not voted to ensure that the justice that we are entitled to can be accomplished by the people who are elected to make the decisions impacting our communities.
Reducing police misconduct is an issue that communities have wrestled with for decades. We know the injustices. We know the stories. We have experienced the results. In reality, communities and society as a whole have been accepting of police misconduct to certain degrees, as if police misconduct is a necessary evil, in order to have effective policing that will keep the criminals at bay. When citizens do not report their bad experiences with police officers, and demand corrective action from their local representatives on the large as well as the small violations of citizens’ rights, we encourage officers who behave badly and allow the police departments and elected officials to avoid correcting officer misconduct.
We have only risen up to fight misconduct en mass when we have had enough. We had enough in the 60’s! We had enough in the 70’s! We had enough in the 80’s! We had enough in the 90’s! We had enough in the 21st Century! We have had enough!!! Unfortunately, as history has proven, time and again, without any sustainable efforts to push and pull police departments, prosecutors, and elected officials to maintain police accountability as a rule and not as a talking point during elections, appointments, and “newsworthy” incidents, we will be back here again, with BWCs or not.
Get involved! Stay involved and demand to be heard!
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Written by Samuel Lee Reid, II, ACRB Executive Director
Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB) established by the City of Atlanta to investigate citizen complaints of misconduct Against Atlanta Police and Corrections Officers.