For the past year, a divisive, racially charged debate on policing has gripped the country and metro Atlanta. Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway sparked further tension with strident remarks last week. To capture the impact of those comments, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke to law enforcement officials, social justice advocates, criminologists and metro Atlantans.
Recruitment at the Gwinnett County sheriff’s department is down 27 percent this year.
An Atlanta-area police officer checks for threats every morning before driving out of his garage.
A metro county sheriff condemns “the culture of police hatred,” while a rural county sheriff says he’s watching some of his best people walk out the door.
Thirteen months after Ferguson and the heightened racial tensions that followed, a current of defensiveness and frustration is coursing through many police departments across the country. A white deputy in Texas was gunned down at a gas station. A police sergeant was refused service at an Arby’s in Florida – one of a few such incidents that seem to have taken on great significance among cops. Here in Atlanta, fliers for a neighborhood cookout promised free hotdogs and hamburgers at a community garden in Edgewood on Saturday. But the flier specified “no cops” and showed a drawing of hotdogs roasting over a burning Atlanta police car.
Into this fraught atmosphere last week walked Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway, who ripped into police critics with an 800-word statement claiming that “this trend of law enforcement hatred threatens the fiber of our society.”
Conway wrote, “Those who are inciting riots … are domestic terrorists with an agenda” and concluded with the pointed declaration that “ALL LIVES matter.”
Activists were angry.
“He basically said, ‘Hi, I’m Butch, a blameless hero. You are hateful terrorists. Let’s talk,’ said Shaun King, an Atlantan and a founder of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“That’s not how thoughtful, meaningful conversations among equals begin,” he added. “Consequently, I have zero trust or respect for this man. A week ago I didn’t even know who he was, but he backed himself into a corner with how he’s approached this movement. In my opinion, he should be fired for what he said.”
‘An expectation of misunderstanding’
Few local police officials have publicly joined the policing debate. Conway’s comments last week garnered support among a few local law enforcement officials contacted by the AJC, including the heads of the Marietta and DeKalb County forces.
But several others — including the chiefs in Atlanta, Cobb and Clayton counties — did not weigh in when asked.
“I don’t think most want to engage in the conversation,” said Georgia State University associate professor of criminology Dean Dabney. “There’s an expectation of misunderstanding. Most believe that anything they say will be dismissed or attacked.”
Beyond that, Conway has the luxury of holding an elected position: voters are the only ones who can fire him, and they’ve sent him to office five times. By contrast, most police chiefs are appointed by a city council or county commission. They may not want to wade into a controversial, racially charged topic and risk the wrath of one or more of their elected bosses, Dabney said.
In addition, Conway is a high-ranking law enforcement official in Gwinnett, but he doesn’t run a police force. His sheriff’s department is largely responsible for running the county jail, maintaining security at the courthouse and other duties.
Still, more police officials are beginning to speak out, if only because they feel the current climate endangers their officers. Conway said he considered taking a public stand for a year, but it was a conversation with one of his deputies that spurred him to release the statement. The deputy said he might hesitate shooting an armed and aggressive suspect for fear of drawing controversy upon himself.
“I think officers are going to die because they’re afraid to pull their guns,” Conway said.
Police killed vs. people killed by police
In his way, Conway laid bare the concerns of police across the nation, said Ronald Hunter, a criminology professor at Georgia Gwinnett College.
“That’s not just him talking,” Hunter said. “There’s a lot of fear among officers.”
The inherent dangers of the job were underscored on Friday when a DeKalb County police officer was shot during a traffic stop. The incident was not believed to have been an ambush.
Since the incident in Ferguson, as well as other controversial deaths at the hands of police, officers have come under steady and severe scrutiny and criticism, including accusations of racism and brutality.
In 2014, the year Michael Brown was killed, 51 police officers died in the line of duty. Similar numbers were killed in each year of the previous decade, although the toll dipped to 27 in 2013, according to FBI crime statistics.
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, over the past 12 months, six officers – including the one in Texas and two Brooklyn police officers — appear to have been targeted specifically because they were cops.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that the number of people shot and killed by on-duty police officers just passed 700 for 2015 — almost double the highest number of police shootings ever reported by the FBI for an entire year.
‘It’s very hurtful to see that’
Given the assassination of the deputy in Texas, the often-shrill rhetoric directed toward police, even the scattered reports of officers refused service at restaurants, many cops are conscious of the mounting criticism.
Lt. Brian Marshall, who works for the Marietta Police Department, said he’s seen hateful things said about police on social media, some of which call for violence against them.
“It’s very hurtful to see that,” he said.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills fears for the future of the profession.
"I am standing around the corner in the hall and I am hearing uniform deputies say it is just not worth it anymore, and I am hearing that from my colleagues all over the country," said Sills, the former president of the Georgia Sheriffs Association. "It is so difficult."
Sills spoke of hearing a car backfire at a football game last weekend and reaching for his gun.
“The difference was that was the first time ever in my 42 years that I thought somebody might have been shooting at me solely because I am a police officer,” he said. “And if I am thinking that, just think what the average uniform guy was thinking.”
The metro-area police officer who said he now checks his neighborhood for threats every morning did not want to be quoted by name. But he said his heightened watchfulness is something new.
The start of a negotiation?
While much of the public debate over policing remains acrimonious, some signs of progress are occurring in police-community relations.
Numerous police departments — including Atlanta, Clayton, Gwinnett and Smyrna — are moving closer to the widespread use of police body cameras. More than any single measure, the use of body cameras has been touted as an answer to the recent string of controversial police-related deaths across the country, many involving black men.
At the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, which graduates 1,500 recruits annually, trainers are enhancing some instruction, such as teaching these officers-in-training to notice their own prejudices. They are also developing the verbal skills to connect with people as a human being and not just a badge, officials said.
An AJC review in May found that despite the national debate over police, there haven’t been widespread changes in policy, procedure or training in metro Atlanta. But numerous departments are trying to improve community outreach and transparency.
Marietta’s force, for instance, has invited African-American ministers into its civilian police academy to help them better understand the nature of police work.
More needs to be done, such as teaching officers to calm a potentially dangerous situation, said Ken Allen, an Atlanta police officer and president of the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers.
“We learn how to escalate up to deadly force, but there is no training to bring that down to being a simple arrest,” he said.
‘Sometimes you can find peace’
On Wednesday, the day after Conway issued his statement, he held a press conference. He did not apologize for anything he had said, but he clarified some things. And in general he softened his tone.
He said he did not intend to link the Black Lives Matter movement to terrorists, and that his comments had been misinterpreted.
He acknowledged that some police officers are racists. And he emphasized that when his department finds bad officers, it deals with them. “We fire people,” he said.
He also said he was planning to meet with activists to discuss their concerns.
Hunter, the criminologist, said the harsh statements may represent the early stages of what may become negotiation. When disagreeing parties first engage, they often speak in charged tones, making accusations and demands, he said.
If they continue to talk, the rhetoric often calms down and compromise can be reached, he said.
Hunter stressed that “resolution is extremely difficult. But sometimes you can find peace.”
‘Sometimes you have to slap people’
Brenda Lopez, a Norcross attorney who does immigration work, said Conway did not just offend some in the African-American community. He damaged people’s opinions of all law enforcement, not just the sheriff’s office, she said.
She believes his tone echoes his adoption of the 287(g) program. The program gives law enforcement officials the power to question people about their legal status, serve arrest warrants, and detain and transport criminals for immigration violations.
“I know plenty of people who won’t call the police department. They think law enforcement isn’t there to serve them,” she said. “This calcifies it, because it is already there.”
Conway supporters said much of the debate over policing has been dominated by critics, and it’s about time someone started highlighting the good work of police. Gwinnett County Commissioner John Heard said that while parts of Conway’s statement had a strong tone, it served a purpose.
“Sometimes you have to slap people to get their attention,” Heard said. “Hopefully he slapped the public into thoughtful consideration.”
State Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick — who represents eastern Gwinnett — said she wanted to use Conway’s remarks as an opportunity to educate him. She said she intended to reach out to him this week “after everything blew over.”
Richard B. Haynes, senior pastor of the Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Lilburn, said he, too, was shocked by Conway’s statement and wondered whether the sheriff had thought it through.
Still, he hopes Conway’s words will be a bridge to improving community relations, instead of a stumbling block.
“If he understands why people would be upset, we’ve got room to work it out,” Haynes said. “I know him well enough to know he will.”
Email staff writers Craig Schneider, Ernie Suggs and Arielle Kass.
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