Citizen board asks police chief to require officers' testimony

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington’s failure to follow through on his pledge to require officers to testify before the Citizen Review Board is undermining the board’s ability to respond to citizen complaints, the board’s chairman said.

In an Oct. 29 letter to Pennington, Atlanta attorney Roderick Edmond, who chairs the review board, reminded the chief he had promised the board in August that he would issue a directive for his officers to submit to board interviews or face discipline if they refused to comply. But Pennington has yet to issue such a directive and officers continue to refuse to testify, Edmond wrote.

The review board was created in March 2007, four months after 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston was fatally shot in her home during an illegal police raid. It investigates citizen complaints of police misconduct.

But if officers refuse to be interviewed, Edmond wrote Pennington, cases are delayed, leaving “the impression that the police department is not responsive to the requirements imposed by the ordinance. Additionally, it undermines our ability to be responsive to the individuals who have filed complaints.”

In a statement issued Wednesday, Pennington said he was aware of the board’s concerns and said he had instructed the APD’s planning and research unit to develop a standard operating procedure addressing the issue.

“The policy has been completed and is currently under our command review process,” Pennington said, noting the review is scheduled to be completed within two weeks.

In his letter, Edmond also told Pennington he has yet to respond to the board’s recommendation to sustain excessive-use-of-force allegations against two APD officers. The chief was supposed to respond to the Sept. 16 recommendation within 30 days, Edmond said.

This stems from a complaint filed by a woman who said she, her partner and their six-year-old daughter, after getting out of their car, were stopped at gunpoint by two officers on Oct. 23, 2008.

The woman said the officers yelled and cursed at her after she asked why she was being stopped. A sergeant came to the scene and told the woman that the officers drew their weapons because there had been car thefts in the area and the woman’s car lacked a permanent license plate, the letter said.

The two officers and the sergeant refused to give statements to a review board investigator, Edmond wrote. The board recommended to Pennington that he sustain the excessive-use-of-force allegation and discipline the officers.

In recent weeks, Edmond added, the review board has requested interviews with six other officers about citizens’ complaints. Two officers already have refused to cooperate, Edmond said.

Sara Totonchi, associate director of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, said APD should work with the review board. “APD’s dogged refusal to cooperate with the [board's] ongoing investigations demonstrates an utter disregard for law that is currently on the books, passed by officials elected by Atlanta’s citizens,” she said.