The head of Atlanta’s police oversight board is revamping the process to investigate police deadly force cases amid expressions of alarm by the mayor and City Council for his agency’s past inaction.
The overhaul includes a memorandum of understanding with the Atlanta Police Department on how and when the board will get deadly force cases to investigate. Lee Reid, the board’s executive director, is expected to appear Monday before a city council committee to report on why his agency has conducted no deadly force investigations in four years.
The changes are in response to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation that revealed the board failed to investigate more than three dozen police shootings and in-custody deaths since 2020. Some cases languished even after police had finished their internal affairs reviews and the district attorney decided not to charge officers.
Mayor Andre Dickens recently declared support for the review board’s role in police accountability.
“I want them to investigate. We want the accountability of the police force,” Dickens said during an interview with the AJC’s editorial board. He noted that the citizen board is an independent group and not controlled by the mayor’s office.
Dickens said he was surprised that the review board had not investigated any deadly force cases in the past four years.
His chief strategist, Peter Aman, is working with the board’s executive director and the chief of police to agree on a process for how information should flow between the board, police, district attorney and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
“It will be a holistic review of the processes end-to-end,” Aman said.
The board was empowered by the City Council in 2020 to investigate and hold public hearings on all cases of deadly force used by police in the wake of the fatal arrests of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta.
It was surprising, then, to Atlanta officials to learn from an AJC investigation published in January that the independent reviews were not occurring. That includes the August 2022 death of Ricardo Dorado, Jr. after police held him for 17 minutes on his stomach while handcuffed. Police were called to a gas station because Dorado, who was high on methamphetamine, was destroying property. Among the other cases not investigated by the board were police shootings and other in-custody deaths.
The failure of the citizen review board to review cases is tied up in disagreement on when the board can conduct its investigations. Reid said he must wait for the district attorney and police internal affairs before the citizen board can act.
An expert told the AJC that the best practice is for boards, like Atlanta’s that have investigative power, to start an investigation “as quickly as possible” to collect evidence and speak to witnesses.
Another point at issue is when the Atlanta Police Department must notify the board when cases are complete.
This month, police shared three cases with the board, the oldest of which was completed in November 2022.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Reid, who has led the agency since 2012, will likely be asked about these issues on Monday when he appears before the public safety committee. He is expected to outline a new process for how the board will receive cases.
He’s also been asked by the council to respond to findings of the AJC’s investigation. Reid did not return the AJC’s calls seeking an interview.
“It’s disturbing and I think it erodes public confidence,” Post 1 City Council member Michael Julian Bond said of the board’s failure to act since 2020.
Bond serves on the public safety committee and will have the opportunity to question Reid on Monday. He said the citizen review board was meant to help families. “When that doesn’t happen, it’s a failure. It inflames the suffering of those families and the grieving of those families over the loss of their loved one,” Bond said.
“We set up the citizen review board, we’re expecting them to do their work,” he added.
Council doles out criticism, resources
Members of the City Council were outraged and disappointed that the review board had not investigated any deadly force cases since 2020, as revealed by the AJC.
Council members promised to increase resources for the independent city agency, which is run by a 15-member appointed board. Monday’s meeting was also set up to consider a possible “strategic legislative overhaul” to expedite investigations.
“I am upset with the board, but I think it would be a disservice for us to put it entirely on the board,” said District 5 City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari. “Typically, when something fails there’s more than just the obvious answer at play. This, to me, requires a full in-depth analysis.”
When the board was given oversight over police deadly force cases, it was seen as a way to rebuild community trust in the police.
To help do that, the finance committee last week gave initial approval to add two investigator jobs to help the board clear its backlog of deadly force cases.
The board is authorized to have four investigators, but currently employs only two and has struggled to hire for the remaining jobs. Since July, the board has advertised a senior investigator job for $43,500 to $54,400 to review police shootings, in-custody deaths and use of force by Atlanta officers.
“Even if we did get a qualified candidate, they wouldn’t be able to afford to feed themselves or live in the city,” on that salary, said Bakhtiari.
In emails, Reid has said he cannot fill jobs without increasing salaries. His most recent email to the City Council asked that investigator pay be raised to $70,000.
A review of salary data shows the board’s investigators are currently making between $52,000 and $65,000.
The City Charter restricts the council from adjusting salaries until the beginning of the next fiscal year, which is July 1, said District 6 City Council member Alex Wan.
Review board gets 3 new cases
Among the three deadly force cases that Atlanta police turned over to the review board this month is the August 2023 fatal arrest of Deacon Johnny Hollman.
Former Atlanta Officer Kiran Kimbrough handcuffed and tased Hollman after he refused to sign a traffic citation. Hollman was pronounced dead shortly after and the medical examiner later deemed his death a homicide.
Kimbrough was fired in October 2023 for not contacting a supervisor before arresting Hollman. The Atlanta Police Department changed its policy following the deacon’s death, instructing officers not to arrest drivers for refusing to sign traffic citations and to instead write “refusal to sign” on the ticket.
The city of Atlanta paid a $3.8 million settlement to Hollman’s family last year.
A spokesperson with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said it sent its investigation to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office on Nov. 3, 2023 and that the agency is awaiting a response about possible criminal charges.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
The other two cases involved Atlanta officers who were exonerated for discharging their firearms at citizens.
Officer Jordan Hill was exonerated in August 2024 for discharging his firearm and using force against James Wilborn in October 2022. Wilborn died as a result of the shooting. District Attorney Fani Willis declined to file charges against Hill in July 2024.
Officer Anthony Smith was exonerated in November 2022 for discharging his firearm five times at a person that was shooting at a group of people fighting in southeast Atlanta. The shooter was not apprehended. The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office did not investigate the officer.
Chief Darin Schierbaum declined to speak with the AJC. The department later provided a statement saying that the Atlanta Police department “is strongly committed” to the review of all deadly force cases. The statement noted that it “has taken some time” for cases to be completed by police internal affairs and other agencies so they can be referred to the citizen board.
Schierbaum and Reid have agreed that the Atlanta Police Department will notify the review board after the district attorney declines to file charges against an officer and the police internal affairs investigation is complete.
New records show the board’s backlog of uninvestigated cases has reached 47 cases. The AJC’s investigation counted 39 cases as of July 2024.
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