DeKalb’s top cop advising Baltimore police following riots

Civil unrest in Ferguson and Baltimore has raised the profile of DeKalb County Public Safety Director Cedric Alexander.

Alexander, president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, flew to Baltimore Tuesday to advise local leaders on how best to deal with tensions that erupted following the April 19th death of Freddie Gray, 25, while in police custody.

Though the riots have subsided, tensions remain high in Baltimore, where a curfew was imposed and the National Guard was summoned to help patrol city streets.

Alexander has preached greater transparency in interviews even as questions remain back home over the recent deaths of two men at the hands of DeKalb officers.

Last month, U.S. Air Force veteran Anthony Hill, who suffered from bipolar disorder, was fatally shot by an officer responding to reports of a suspicious person. Witnesses said Hill was knocking on doors and crawling on the ground nude at his Chamblee apartment complex. The officer, Robert Olsen, said the suspect ignored his commands to stop.

In December, Kevin Davis was shot in the gut by an officer in the doorway of his Decatur apartment after calling 911 to report an assault on his girlfriend. Davis was armed, but by all accounts did not point his weapon at the officer.

Their deaths led to a change of policy in DeKalb, which now cedes investigations of police-involved shootings to the GBI. The agency has completed its probe of Davis’ shooting but their findings have not been made available to the public.

Alexander was initially reluctant to involve the GBI. The formal request for help came more than a month after Davis’ shooting and was made only after he was pressured by community leaders, according to local activist Derrick Rice.

"I think there are inconsistencies between the public Cedric Alexander and the one who is behind closed doors, " Rice, pastor of Sankofa United Church of Christ, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

But that criticism hasn't impacted Alexander's growing national influence. Last year, he consulted with Ferguson, Mo., officials following the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer. Alexander said the largely white police force there needed to better reflect the citizenry, which is majority black.

That’s not an issue in Baltimore, where the mayor and police chief are African-American.

Appearing before Congress in December, Alexander testified that America’s criminal justice system “needs to be explored and possibly revamped.”