Dear Residents of Atlanta,

Greetings! My name is Lee Reid. I am the Executive Director of the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB).  On behalf of the ACRB Board and Staff, and the citizens at large, I want to take the time to say “Thank you, thank you” to everyone who demonstrated enormous support for the agency. Over the past couple of months, we have witnessed the power of the community voice to effect change throughout the country, and specifically here in Atlanta.

There is no doubt that the City of Atlanta is a special city, a city that will show the nation how things can get done. This post is dedicated to the many citizens, organizations, and elected officials who have supported the ACRB over the years and most recently with the enhancements to the ACRB budget and ordinance. Your efforts will not be forgotten as we move forward continuing with the work of addressing officer accountability. While we may never know every citizen’s name who made sacrifices of time and energy to call, march, and write, your impact, your actions, your demands have set the path for a new day.

The ACRB was created to provide a fair and independent forum for the receipt, investigation, and adjudication of citizen complaints against Atlanta police and corrections officers. It was created so that every citizen can have an opportunity for their grievances to be assessed and determined fairly and thoroughly. This work cannot be done without the interests and participation of the citizens, the involvement of the elected officials, and the cooperation of the city departments.

We often say that the citizens are the lifeblood of the agency. From filing complaints to reviewing agency data and questioning officials, citizen involvement is critical to reinforcing the agency’s efforts to assist the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and Atlanta Corrections Department (ACD) with having the best officers serving the public. The trust that citizens and officers place in the agency to maintain an investigative process that is fair, thorough, and independent motivates us to always put our best efforts forth with integrity.

Our pledge to you is to always operate with integrity and demonstrate our respect and acknowledgment of every citizens’ humanity without regard for their station in life, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity, uniformed or not, or whether they consider themselves a “somebody” or a “nobody.” While we cannot guarantee an outcome that will make everyone happy all the time, we can guarantee that whether you are a citizen or officer, fairness and integrity will be included in every investigation, mediation, and communication. You can expect that from us!

Again, thank you and please join the ACRB in its mission to hold officers accountable and improve interactions between citizens and officers. Visit our education page and subscribe for agency updates.