Tuesday, July 07, 2009, 12:36 PM
News
By Stephanie Ramage

POLICE UNION FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD

The International Brotherhood of Police Officers filed a lawsuit Monday to stop the release of investigative files to the Atlanta Citizen Review Board. 

The complaint filed by the IBPO in Fulton County Superior Court against the ACRB, the City Council, the Atlanta Police Department, and the City of Atlanta, includes a motion for a temporary restraining order stopping the defendants “from releasing any documents, records, internal affairs (OPS) files, statements, reports, etc., related to the Atlanta police officer involved shootings of Pierre George on December 19, 2008 and Kathryn Johnston on November 21, 2006 that have been subpoenaed by the Atlanta Citizen Review Board via authority from City Council.”

According to the IBPO’s motion for a restraining order, divulgence of such records would result in “irreparable harm” to those under investigation.

 "The CRB has requested documents pertinent to a pending investigation simultaneously with investigations being conducted by internal affairs and the district attorney’s office," says IBPO attorney David Beall. "What we don't want is partial evidence in the middle of investigation to be made public which could then be used against the subject of the investigation."

Beall says doing so is analogous to allowing jury members to make information public before a trial has decided the guilt or innocence of the accused.

Cristina Beamud, executive director of the CRB, says the board is presently determining whether it  will be represented by its own attorney or the city law department.

“This is all brand new and we are still working some things out,” says Beamud. 

The APD released some records related to the 2006 fatal shooting of Kathryn Johnston by police to the CRB on Monday, a few weeks after the City Council subpoenaed them on behalf of the board. The council also subpoenaed records related to the fatal December 2008 police shooting of burglary suspect Pierre George. Police officers have already been convicted and sentenced in connection with Johnston's killing, but the APD is still conducting an internal investigation. The Fulton County DA is investigating the George killing.

 In a supporting brief, the IBPO cites the Georgia Open Records Act as its grounds for not making the records available to the CRB: “Public disclosure shall not be required for records that are… [e]xcept as otherwise provided by law, records compiled for law enforcement or prosecution purposes to the extent that production of such records would disclose the identity of a confidential source, disclose confidential investigative or prosecution material which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or persons, or disclose the existence of a confidential surveillance or investigation…"

The CRB was set up to review complaints by members of the public of alleged abusive language, false arrest, false imprisonment, harassment, use of excessive force, serious bodily injury, and death as a result of the actions of a sworn employee of the police department or corrections. 

Ugh HUGE typo in my conclusion. Stephanie will you please delete my prior post and leave this one.

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I want to be clear on my whole position with this before it gets messy.

The records are not being Subpoenaed for Public disclosure. They have been Subpoenaed by the Legislature.

There is no provision providing a duration for the Internal Affairs investigation.

There are however Statutes of Limitations on actions an alleged victim can take. And by victim I mean the citizens.

The investigation that the citizens want is one on the entire police department and that includes Internal Affairs. At the same time it would answer the question as to weather or not the Distract Attorney's Office has done it's job and on top of that if the FBI has done its job.

This is clearly a much larger issue than the Atlanta Police Department yet they hold the key.

We know the Police Department itself has been stripped to almost nothing. Are they really benefiting, pun intended Ryan, by prolonging what will inevitably be known as a failure from the Mayor's Office down.

The Cops are the workers who have put all their Stock into one company whose top brass is about to 'flew the coop' and leave this department in shambles to answer for their mistakes which will inevitably be known.

We can take it in when the records are finally released and the whole world is there to interpret it in five seconds and hysteria ensues to a beleaguered department who isn't manned to handle the kind of backlash that will no doubt ensue no matter what the investigation says. If it says nothing then it says it took to long for answers.

Unless some vehicle can be established to give the people who live innocently among the turmoil a way to allow this chapter in Atlanta's history to be taken as lightly as humanly possible.

That is what I see Miss Beamud as being able to provide because she is as objective a person we have. I would prefer the Council just get rid of the board and set up the oversite the way it was in CO where she is privy to the investigation's themselves. The DA AND the APD. 1 on 1 relationships are the CYA kind.

Absent that, the APD should conclude its investigation on the Kathryn Johnson case or make a request for resources in order to do so.

Then they can focus on the Pierre George case because it is more recent and reasonable amounts of time for INTERNAL investigations may not have been reached.

But lets NOT make the decision that pits every lawyer the City has against each other while this City continues erode.

I would like to see the IBPO itself asking for answers. The Majority of the Police department is as blind on the results of the investigations as we are. That's a powderkeg waiting to go off.

How do we diffuse that situation?


Turner

neoturner
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 at 3:51 PM

I think that putting a citizen review board in place is nothing but a waste of time and resources. The Police don't just police themselves, and I believe the DA and the APD are far enough seperated as to see there is no worry of cover ups. And if there comes a point where that might actually happen, there are other routes than a CRB to take. Maybe the dragging on of the investigations is more politically motivated? After all, isn't the APD led by a political appointment, one who was made by the approval of mayor and council? Why would an internal investigation which has already been completed on a criminal level still be ongoing? At some point enough is enough, and maybe the mayor/council should bring pressure to bear on an answer as to when it may be completed. Instead, they make another group (CRB) to further muddy the waters. Now it ends up being a matter where the different groups are taking each other to court, nothing is getting done, and tax payers money is wasted once again with absolutely nothing to show. How about looking at cutting government to the bear essentials and rebuilding from there rather than continuing to complicate and confuse the citizens views of city government?

rob
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 at 4:11 PM

I agree with you Rob.

The CRB concept is not a traditional one and certainly comes with greater risk than we all should be assuming.

The Council had the power to Subpoena the information without the board. They should be able to review it or like you said put pressure on the DA and APD to conclude.

I whole heatedly feel that those who are at fault are the appointed or elected members of the administration. The 'blue' collar portion of this ordeal has been handled it's the white collar one that is being stalled and pitting working class citizens against their counterparts in the Police Depatment.

This environment makes it more dangerous for all of us cause we are living on pure assumption. In the end I think the answers are going to be we have one of the hardest working, out gunned, underpaid and overworked Police Forces in the country and 99% of them had nothing to do with the Kathryn Johnson shooting. 95% had nothing to do with the botched coverup.

Yet all of you have to take special training and probably a series of anger management classes and god forbid anyone act on their first instinct. There is a whole lot of second guessing going on because a hand full of people want to save face.

They aren't saving anyone but themselves Badge or no Badge.

In a tone similar to yours Rob, the IBPO, the Citizens and even the occasional Rogue Reporter citizen shouldn't be fighting a fight that is really between the City Council, the DA's Office and the Chief of Police. The former group being the only ones who don't have access to all the information.

Turner

Anonymous
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 at 6:12 PM