A View From the Executive Director: Memphis Police Officer Accountability
Lee Reid, ACRB Executive Director
Many of us, by now, have seen the video or heard the reporting about the Memphis officers attacking Tyre Nichols. It seems clear to me that the horrendous actions they displayed that night were not the first time for those officers, and not a surprise to the Memphis Police Department nor the citizens of Memphis. The actions they displayed did not appear to be those of officers fearing for their lives during a rapidly evolving situation. They appeared to be officers who were too comfortable with their ability to exact punishment. If we want to change the behaviors of officers, we must ensure that officer accountability is the starting point for all conversations involving policing from the recruitment process, through training, and tenure. It must be the first conversation for every increase in officers’ salaries, every police department’s budget increase, every discussion about adding more officers, every discussion about training, every discussion about officer promotion, every discussion of union contracts, every discussion about new crime fighting initiatives, and every discussion about selecting a new chief.
President Biden on the MLK Holiday Calls For Police Officers to be Retrained
President Joe Biden made history during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday weekend by becoming the first sitting president to deliver a Sunday sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, with its senior pastor Senator Raphael Warnock, Senator Jon Ossoff, and Ambassador Andrew Young, among the dignitaries in attendance. King served as a pastor of the historic church until his assassination in 1968 at the age of 39. Senator Warnock invited the president to deliver the sermon on what would have been Dr. King’s 94th birth-day. “Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a nonviolent warrior for justice, who followed the word, and the way, of his lord and his savior,” President Biden said.
The following day, speaking at the National Action Network’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day breakfast in Washington, DC, President Biden said police should be retrained on why they shouldn’t always shoot with deadly force. He said officers don’t need to use deadly force even when they need to use their weapons. The president called for police officers to be retrained. The president asked, “Why should you always shoot with deadly force?” President Biden criticized Republicans for not passing a Democratic policing reform bill. “We have to retrain cops as to why shouldn’t you always shoot with deadly force. The fact is, if you need to use your weapon, you don’t have to do that,” President Biden pushed for police reform after the death of George Floyd.
Atlanta Creates a Taskforce and Uses Citizen Input to Modify Plans for Construction of the Controversial Police/Fire Training Facility as Clashes Continue
Violent clashes between law enforcement and protesters have continued as residents living near the site of the pro-posed controversial police and fire training facility have been given the opportunity to have a voice in its construction plans.
The assurances from Atlanta’s mayor and the DeKalb CEO that most of the wooded area would be preserved did little if anything to quell the violence at the site. On Sunday, March 5th, nearly 100 people reportedly breached the construction site and clashed with police after leaving a peaceful protest. At least 35 people were detained and 23 were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism. Only two were from Georgia. Atlanta Police Department’s (APD) video shows fire-crackers and Molotov cocktails being thrown at officers and setting construction equipment on fire. Some of the protesters were quoted saying their civil rights were violated. APD Chief Darin Schierbaum was quoted saying, “This wasn’t about a public safety training center. This was about anarchy, and this was about the attempt to destabilize.”
The City of Atlanta created a task force that will put together recommendations that will be released in the summer based on community input. The vision for the facility has been adjusted to include a 100-foot tree buffer along the residential-facing part of the facility, a pavilion, accessible meeting spaces for the public, moving the planned firing range and explosives training/ordinance disposal away from residential areas to lower the noise impact; and moving the main en-trance to lessen residential traffic.
Yet, clashes have continued at the site known by protesters as “Cop City”. Confrontation between local law enforcement and those who oppose the construction of the training complex turned fatal as its construction moves ahead. A photo-graph of a gun released by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation shows the weapon state investigators say was used by an environmentalist protester camped near the planned training facility site to shoot a Georgia State Patrol trooper in January. Reportedly, the protester was shot and killed by other officers on a task force assigned to sweep and clear the woods. Following the fatal shooting, a peaceful protest turned violent in Downtown Atlanta as a group began smashing windows, damaging law enforcement vehicles, and spray painting the words “Stop Cop City” on buildings. APD arrested six suspects during the riot. Only one of them was a Georgia resident. Each was charged with four misdemeanors and four felonies, including domestic terrorism.
A family autopsy revealed the man killed in the shootout, identified as Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, was shot 13 times by different guns while seated with his hands raised and legs crossed at the site of the planned public safety training center in DeKalb County. The family says the GBI has withheld evidence and not answered their questions about the shooting.
Amidst the turmoil, Mayor Dickens and DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond moved ahead with the project by agreeing to a Memorandum of Understanding that they say ensures the planned center will protect and enhance the surrounding environment, spur local business and job development and serve as a community resource. During a joint news conference, Mayor Dickens, seeking to clear up misconceptions, said the training center will sit on 85 acres of land that has long been cleared of hardwood trees through previous uses of the site with 30 of those acres devoted to green-space, park-lands, and trails of city limits. It will replace the city’s dilapidated police and fire training facilities. The remaining nearly 300 acres of City of Atlanta-owned land will be preserved as green-space, park-land, and trails. The site will include double erosion control to ensure viability of Intrenchment Creek, the main waterway in the South River Forest Basin. Arborists have confirmed the existing vegetation on this land is overwhelmingly dominated by invasive species like brush, weeds, vines, and softwood trees. Much of the site contains rubble from old building structures and asphalt from old parking lots. Environmental activists and other opponents to the proposed public safety training facility tried but failed to get a Fulton County judge to stop construction at the project site. Their suit said plans for the facility ignored sediment regulations and overstated how much green space would be at the 85-acre, $90 million campus.
ACRB Participates in the First National Police Oversight Virtual Town Hall
Atlanta Citizen Review Board participated in the first National Police Oversight Virtual Town Hall, a forum that allowed viewers an opportunity to learn more about the similarities, differences, and the inner workings of such agencies. Convened and moderated by Philadelphia’s Citizens Police Oversight Commission (CPOC), agency leaders from New York City, Nashville, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Cameron McEllhiney, Director of Training and Education from the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE), responded to questions, reacted
to viewers’ polling results, and shared the many challenges they face and solutions that work on behalf of the citizens they serve. “Being able to hear from your community and know what they need, public reporting and transparency, and procedural justice and legitimacy of an oversight agency never ends. It’s about getting to all stakeholders and making sure you are doing the work for all of them,” said McEllhiney. When asked about “some ways that we can consistently inspire and engage with our youth to foster better community police relations,” ACRB Executive Director Lee Reid cited several innovative programs for youth, including “our Educator Fellows Program where we train Atlanta Public Schools (APS) teachers about police interactions. We see this (teaching the students) as a life skill for the community to be able to navigate that interaction with the officers… it goes over to their parents. They (students) go home, talk to their parents. We also do our Arts & Essay Contest which encourage students to give us their expressions of their beliefs and thoughts on policing. The good thing about that is being able to have that conversation on their expressions with the police department (and be able to say) this is what the students are saying; what they are experiencing. We also have our mascot called Justice Crusader that visits the summer camps and libraries to have these age-appropriate conversations with youth. We’ve added two 18-to-30 year-old board seats because we realize they are closer to (the age of) the individuals who are experiencing some of the greatest challenges when dealing
with the police.”
ACRB Elects 2023 Board Officers
Kudos to the newly and unanimously elected officers of the Atlanta Citizen Review Board for 2023: (standing left) Leah Pulliam, Board Secretary, who represents the Urban League of Greater Atlanta, (seated) Tamara Orange, re-elected Board Vice Chair, who represents the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, and (standing right) Dorthey Hurst, Board Chair, who represents Neighborhood Planning Units (NPU) M-R. “This will be my first opportunity in a leadership role,” said Ms. Pulliam prior to the election. She continued, “I’m excited to offer myself in that role…and making sure we represent the ACRB in a positive manner…” Ms. Orange said, “I believe I would provide an evenness… I feel I have a pulse on the community and where the community is striving to head in its relationship with law enforcement.” In 2022, Chair Hurst distinguished herself by earning both the Ivory Lee Young Award, the ACRB’s highest recognition, and the Arthur Kaplan Award, Atlanta Police Department’s highest civilian honor for community engagement in the same year. “Everything I have done has been around public safety,” Ms. Hurst explained.
ACRB Welcomes Newest Board Member, Kelvin Williams
On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, Kelvin Williams was sworn in by Atlanta City Council. He will be representing Atlanta Planning Advisory Board (APAB) representing Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) A through F. Mr. Williams resides in Atlanta’s District 7 in the Buckhead Heights community.
Mr. Williams has over 25 years of experience as a Project Manager in various public and commercial sectors. He is currently a Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Williams earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in political science from Morris Brown College. He holds several professional certifications, and for 37 years, Mr. Williams has been a proud member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. His public service includes volunteering and community outreach work with American Kinetics LLC.
“I am very excited to be a part of the Atlanta Citizen Review Board and to be a part of serving the Atlanta residents… I’m looking forward to contributing and doing the best that I can,” Williams said after his obligatory first day seated on the board as an observer during the March 9th monthly meeting.
This is Why...
The keyword in the Atlanta Citizen Review Board is CITIZEN. The agency is only as effective as the level of citizen involvement. This is why… ACRB urges all citizens to regularly monitor, question and support its work. This is why… ACRB urges all citizens to know where your elected officials stand on civilian oversight of police and correctional officers. This is why… it is so important for Citizens to be registered to vote. This is why… citizens need to join and be active in community groups; get involved in Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs); attend Public Safety meetings, Atlanta City Council meetings; ACRB KNOW YOUR RIGHTS Training Workshops, and become a member of the ACRB. There are currently, two vacant seats, which include: Atlanta Planning Advisory Board for NPUs A-F and one vacancy for an organization representing 18-to-30-year-old citizens. Call the public comment lines when Council or the ACRB votes on issues that matter to you. ACRB’s Public Comment Line number is 404-546-7848 and it is open on the second Wednesday of the month between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Your comments will be heard the next day during the monthly board meeting of the ACRB. Go to acrbgov.org for details. Thank you, citizens of Atlanta, for your continued support.
ACRB at Atlanta’s Annual M.L.K. Jr. Holiday Youth Conference, March and Rally
Taking place on the third Monday in January, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday is the only federal holiday that is also designated by Congress as a national day of service – a “day on, not a day off.” Participation in service activities has grown each year as more Americans are encouraged to provide meaningful change in their communities. This is why ACRB is always honored to serve the community each day by exposing citizens to our programs and services. It is why we march in the annual MLK, Jr. Holiday March, pass out our information during the march and at the annual youth conference so that citizens know what to do should they encounter local police misconduct. Thanks to Board members Germaine Austin, Gloria Hawkins Wynn, and Tamara Orange; Integrity Street Team workers Lillie Mae Jones, Nikita Presley, and Camille Tolliver Muhammad; ACRB staff members, family members and friends of the agency, and the hundreds of citizens we met during the campaigns who made this special annual outreach event a success.
