Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board

Athens-Clarke County Unified Government Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board Meeting Minutes Meeting Name: Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board Meeting Meeting Date: 02/22/23 Meeting Called to Order: 5:31 PM Location: City Hall, Room 301 Virtual? No Public Input Requested or Received? No Voting Member Attendees: X Cassie Evans X Kiana Sims X Timothy Pierce-Tomlin X Sarah Halstead X Felix Bell X Lane Pratt X Devante Jones X Jocelyn Crumpton X Omar Reid Voting Members Leaving Before End of Meeting & Time of Departure (if applicable): Sarah Halstead arrived at 5:32pm Kiana Sims arrived at 5:34pm Devante Jones arrived at 5:52pm Commissioner Fisher departed at 6:05pm Omar Reid departed at 7:09pm Staff / Ex-Officio Attendees: X Commissioner Dexter X Sherrie Hines Warden Covington Fisher Chief Jerry Saulters X Josh Edwards Chief Mark Pulliam Sheriff Williams Other participants present: Deputy Chief Harrison Daniel representing ACCPD Lee Reid with the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB) Items Discussed: 1. Chair Evans opened the meeting 2. Minutes were approved 3. Special Guest: Executive Director Lee Reid of the Atlanta Citizens Review Board (ACRB) a. ACRB uses the Independent Investigative Model i. When citizen oversight is done correctly, it benefits everyone b. How do we establish trust in the community: The potential candidate needs to have a good understanding of policing and legal training. Prior affiliation with law enforcement agencies they will investigate can be detrimental to establishing trust and independence for the board. i. ACRB Board is responsible for hiring their executive director (ED). This is essential for independence. ED reports directly to the board (not the city, mayor, or department head) ii. The board can’t be effective if the work is solely done with the Board’s volunteer time. The work of PSCOB requires daily commitment and attention. It can’t be done without full-time staff. c. Mediation: 3rd party → no staff/board of ACRB or LE d. Community Engagement is the lifeblood of ACRB, and effective citizen oversight e. Questions: i. Challenges ARCB encountered: 1. Can’t compel LE to do anything (discipline, recommendations on policy/training) other than give information to complete the investigation. When facing these challenges, utilize the public to pressure LE and local officials. ARCB received subpoena power in 2010.  2. Agreement rate in citizen complaints between the Board and LE is low (early days as low as 11-14%) Most LE will agree with “unfounded” or “exonerated” complaints/findings. Disagreements with “sustained”. 3. Public bickering between board members: each member has to recognize their reason for being on the board, put personal reasons aside, and be community-minded. ii. ED’s relationship with Chief of Police: “respectable”. Won’t see eye-to-eye, but Reid can foresee issues that might not be a complaint yet. “It’s not us against them” It takes time and honesty. iii. Discrepancies in report numbers: need to define what a complaint is. At the Atlanta Police Department (APD), a complaint doesn't become official until it reaches APD internal affairs investigation. Hard to measure the differences. ACRB and APD have similar numbers of complaints. Need an analyst to look at a deep level. iv. Budget: Need resources, capacity, and authority. In 2012, ARCB started with four full-time staff. In the last ten years, they now have funding for twelve staff. Asked how to set an adequate budget for the board: some oversight departments base the budget on the number of officers, and some base it on the allocated budget for LE departments. Lee Reid advised to look at the last five years of complaints (what did they deal with, how they were handled, what was the outcome) ACRB Reid recommends at least two full-time staff members for the size of Clarke Co as a baseline. v. Open to contact from board members after this meeting 4. Debrief: a. Validating yet frustrating. Wish the board had reached out to ARCB Reid sooner  b. Likes that ACRB has a mission statement, logo, separate website, and bios of Board Members 5. Announcements: a. Chair Evans attended and spoke at GOC meeting on Monday 02/20/23. Drafted a resolution and a dissenting opinion i. Wants to have a special meeting to talk about this before M+C meeting on March 7th 1. Hines suggested the Resolution uses different citations 2. Edwards recommended that Chair meets with Mayor first 3. Bylaws/job description probably won’t get to M+C until May, realistically 4. Board decided to have a meeting before the next GOC on March 20th ii. Edwards encourages Board members to send out any documents before board meetings and include them on the agenda. Edwards also suggests that all emails sent to voting members should also be sent to ex-officio members Votes Taken with Motion / Second / Results (Unanimous or Number of Yes / No Votes and names) (if applicable): ● Felix Bell motioned to approve the 01.25.23 minutes. Lane Pratt seconded. Motion approved unanimously. ● Cassie Evan motions to amend the agenda to add discussion of opinion. Timothy Pierce-Tomlin. Motion approved unanimously. ● Lane Pratt motions to move the monthly meeting from 03.22.23 to 03.15.23. Sarah Halstead seconded. Motion approved unanimously. Motion to Adjourn made by: Cassie Evans Seconded by: Felix Bell Result: Unanimous Meeting Adjourned: 7:23 PM Minutes Drafted By: Jocelyn Crumpton