Police watchdog group to get new leader

By Rhonda Cook
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

5:36 a.m. Thursday, April 12, 2012
The vote Thursday night on a new executive director of the Atlanta Civilian Review Board will say a lot about the future and reputation of the police oversight agency, observers say.

Three women and a man with widely differing professional backgrounds are the remaining candidates to succeed Cristina Beamud, who resigned in November after almost three and a half years of dealing with the Atlanta Police Department and the police union.

Nine police watchdog and civil rights groups wrote an open letter to the all-volunteer board reminding its members why the oversight panel was put in place after the fatal 2006 shooting of an elderly woman in her home.

The ACRB is a product of public outrage over the shooting of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston during a botched drug raid on Neal Street in northwest Atlanta. Subsequent state and federal investigations found officers lied, planted evidence and tried to get an informant to verify their versions of what happened that night. Several officers went to prison.

“The public’s faith in the ACRB rests largely on our belief that it serves the best interests of the people, even when faced with political pressure and hardship," the groups wrote. "It is also absolutely imperative that Atlanta’s new executive director be entirely free from conflicts of interest with the Atlanta Police Department and city of Atlanta government.

The Atlanta Citizen Review Board is scheduled to vote on their next executive director on Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 6:30 PM during their regular meeting in Committee Room 2 of Atlanta City Hall.

Concerns about the board's ability to hire a qualified director arose after a community forum on March 22nd revealed that only one of four finalists for the job has experience in police oversight and legal practice. Only days before that, the ACRB made the news for suddenly removing information about complaints from their website. The board restored the information to the website only after hearing your comments at their March meeting. Let's do it again!

Meetings are open to public comment.

Come out and show the ACRB that the community has not forgotten the circumstances that created scandals like Neal Street. Let them know that our communities will not wait for another wake-up call!

What: ACRB Board Meeting
When: Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 6:30 PM
Where: Atlanta City Hall, 55 Trinity Avenue, ATL 30303, Committee Room 2
Why: Because progress is the ONLY option

Contact the ACRB:

tel (404) 865-8622
fax (404) 546-8401
www.acrbgov.org

http://us4.campaign-archive.com/?u=e7cc95f99d57118de1fd4bb95&id=c862feaa43

BLOCS UPDATE & ACTION ALERT

9 ALLIES JOIN BLOCS TO CALL FOR QUALIFIED POLICE OVERSIGHT EXECUTIVE.

Are you with us?

On April 10, 2012, Atlanta Jobs with Justice, The Coalition for the People’s Agenda, Convened by Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR), Pastor Anthony Motley of Lindsay Street Baptist Church, Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office, Project South, Inc. and The Southern Center for Human Rights join BLOCS in demanding that the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB) select a qualified executive director. Since that time, Grassroots Action Team has rendered its endorsement.

The ACRB conducts independent investigations of allegations of police misconduct lodged against Atlanta Police Department officers. Concerns about the board's ability to hire a qualified director arose after a community forum on March 22nd revealed that only one of four finalists for the job has experience in police oversight and legal practice. Only days before that, the ACRB made the news for suddenly removing information about complaints from their website. The board restored the information to the website only after hearing your comments at their March meeting!

The board is scheduled to vote on their next executive director on Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 6:30 PM during their regular meeting in Committee Room 2 of Atlanta City Hall. Meetings are open to public comment. Please come out and show the ACRB that the community has not forgotten the circumstances that created scandals like Neal Street. Let them know that our communities will not wait for another wake-up call!

Read the open letter to the ACRB (below and attached) and don't forget to meet us at City Hall on Thursday to raise your voices!

Atlanta spends $1.2 million to investigate police raid

By Rhonda Cook
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

4:51 p.m. Monday, April 9, 2012
The city of Atlanta paid a law firm more than $1.2 million to investigate a 2009 police raid at a Midtown gay bar, almost as much as taxpayers spent to settle three lawsuits brought by patrons and employees who were in the Atlanta Eagle that night in 2009.

Police oversight board holds public interviews with executive director candidates

By Rhonda Cook
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

7:53 p.m. Thursday, March 22, 2012
The choices are down to four. Three candidates to head Atlanta's police oversight agency already live in the metro Atlanta area, and one is from New Orleans.

One is a man and three are women. Two already work for the city of Atlanta.

All want to be the next executive director of the Atlanta Citizen Review Board, created in response to public outrage at the police shooting of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston in her home during a botched drug raid in 2006.

The candidates took questions from the civilian members of the board that governs the agency and then from 10 members of the public Thursday.

More than 160 people applied to succeed former executive director Cristina Beamud. The four remaining candidates were selected out of 10 finalists.

“It is our belief, the search committee’s belief, that each of these candidates present sufficient qualifications,” said Alan Morris, who was chairman of the search committee.