Following a failed accreditation bid that prompted the city’s police chief to retire, Avondale Estates will begin a third-party investigation into the city’s policing habits, which activists say include a history of racial bias and overzealous ticketing.
The Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police (GACP) denied the city’s accreditation application last month, citing an “overwhelming lack of documentation” alongside problems with evidence storage and training. The botched accreditation bid was part of a larger effort by the city to change its policing reputation.
“I think the failed accreditation has kind of woken people up to the systematic problems in the police department,” said Carol Calvert, a leader with the Avondale Alliance for Racial Justice, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday. “I feel like it’s kind of lit a fire under the city leadership to want to make change.”
The Board of Mayor and Commissioners held a special called meeting Wednesday to begin the process of searching for a new police chief and figure out how to move forward. Mayor Jonathan Elmore said it’ll be the first time the city has analyzed racial bias in its police force.
“We have never gone through any kind of third-party objective review,” Elmore said during the meeting. “I think it’s something that any healthy organization should do on a regular basis every five or 10 years.”
City Manager Patrick Bryant, who took criticism over the police department’s oversight, said he’s working with GACP to find a new police chief, with a focus on attracting minority candidates. He also said the department will make improvements to evidence storage practices and hire two third-party firms — one to review racial equity within the department and another to look into police procedures.
“No one is more disappointed than I am that the police department did not receive certification, and more importantly, that the process was handled so poorly,” Bryant said.
‘Immediately clear’ issues
The voluntary accreditation process certifies that local police agencies have well-documented, state-approved policies, procedures and training programs. Avondale Estates submitted paperwork seeking accreditation Aug. 30 and received the report detailing their request’s rejection Sept. 16.
The 28-page report said more than one-third of the department’s 139 documented standards did not meet the requirements for certification. Bryant said, “It was immediately clear to me and to anyone else who had read it that there were issues.”
The department’s accreditation manager, Lt. Duanne Thompson, resigned following the failed review. Chief of police at that time, Lynn Thomas, also retired, leading to Capt. Paul Conroy’s promotion to acting chief.
Thomas, who joined the department as a patrol officer in 2002, was promoted in the wake of his own controversy. A civil grand jury “strongly recommended” Thomas be charged in a 2013 shooting that left an unarmed Black man dead. Then-DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James declined to charge Thomas in 2016 for the shooting. Months later, Thomas was promoted to chief.
A nationwide search for a new police chief is underway, and Bryant said he’ll seek out candidates from women- and minority-focused police organizations.
In addition, a property and evidence storage expert from Dunwoody will come to Avondale Estates to improve the city’s evidence facility, which fell short of standards expected of law enforcement to keep cases from being compromised.
More than a dozen residents spoke during Wednesday’s meeting, and some were were baffled by the department’s violations.
“Anytime you have a police department that leaves evidence on top of a locked container, I would say there’s room for improvement,” Jack Krost said. “… that’s potentially letting the bad guys off.”
Reckoning with racism
Obtaining accreditation was among Avondale Estates leaders’ plans to move past systematic issues of racial bias, which Commissioner Lionel Laratte said is a well-known problem for the majority white city.
“We are all aware that in the past, policies, procedures and just about everything else has been written intentionally or unintentionally has had an impact on race,” Laratte, the city’s first Black commissioner, said Wednesday. “… There are things in the past that I don’t believe anyone can deny occurred.”
Larette said he wants the new police chief to start a citizen review board and present quarterly or monthly departmental reviews to commissioners during public meetings.
In 2019, the small department of 14 officers issued nearly 4,000 traffic citations and collected more than $630,000 in fines and forfeitures. That total accounted for more than 11% of the city’s total revenue. The city’s residents are about 85% white, but Avondale Estates reports that about 75% of drivers cited in any given year are Black.
The Avondale Alliance for Racial Justice has pointed to over-policing on U.S. 278 or Covington Highway, which activists describe as a speed trap for travelers.
“We’ve heard from a number of people in neighboring communities who feel like it is making Avondale very unwelcoming to people of color,” Calvert said. “We want to see policing of the whole city — not just one highway that happens to run through our town.”
Elmore said the city will continue to pursue accreditation. City leaders also said they expect the department’s procedures and policies to undergo revisions as a result of the third-party reviews.
“I feel like the accreditation process has really raised their awareness about some of the issues and some of the perceptions about police and that they want to move in a better direction,” Calvert said.
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