Even as it struggles to handle an expanding caseload, the GBI on Tuesday announced that it will take over all investigations of officer-involved shootings by the state’s largest police force.
Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said the move seeks to create more transparency, citing recommendations by the President's 21st Century Task Force on Policing and the current sociopolitical climate.
“I believe we’ve been extremely transparent in our actions. But I would be lying to you if I tell you that wasn’t a concern of public safety throughout the entire country,” Turner said.
He made his comment in response to a question about the investigation into the October 2014 death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times as he walked away from Chicago police. Allegations of a cover-up have dogged top officials ever since.
“We need to do everything we can to be as transparent as possible so citizens understand that we understand the challenges and also the perceptions that are going on in this country,” Turner said.
But it will come at a price. Gov. Nathan Deal has requested that $3.7 million be set aside in his Fiscal Year 2017 budget for 20 new investigative positions for the GBI, money that the bureau’s director, Vernon Keenan, said is critical if the agency is to ensure the kind of transparency the public is demanding.
“We’re having to pull agents from our child sex-trafficking unit, public corruption unit and other investigative units” to handle police shootings, Keenan said.
The GBI traditionally handled such investigations for counties and municipalities across the state outside of metro Atlanta. Last year, with controversial shootings locally and nationally, more agencies — including Gwinnett and DeKalb counties — started turning to the GBI, which investigated 91 officer-involved shootings, Keenan said.
“This is today’s environment,” he said.
So far none of the officers involved have been prosecuted, although DeKalb District Attorney Robert James will go before a grand jury on Thursday seeking murder charges against Officer Robert Olsen for the March 2015 shooting of unarmed veteran Anthony Hill.
“A thorough fact-finding is an officer’s best defense,” Keenan said. “A vast majority of officers were justified in the use of force. But then we have the controversial cases that require a thorough analysis by the prosecutor.”
If state legislators grant the governor’s request, as expected, Keenan said five agents focusing on police-use-of-force cases will be permanently stationed in metro Atlanta.
Turner said top police officials debated the transfer for much of 2015 and at one time considered the creation of a “multi-jurisdictional investigation unit” to oversee officer shootings.
“It didn’t make sense for us to do something completely separate from what the GBI was doing,” the chief said.
The Atlanta Police Department reported nine shootings by its officers last year. In April, protests followed the fatal shooting of a woman, Alexia Christian, who police said had opened fire on officers from the backseat of a patrol car. Police officials and Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, citing an ongoing investigation, have turned down requests by Christian's family to view footage of the shooting, which occurred outside a downtown parking deck.
State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, said at the time all of the surveillance footage should be made public immediately.
“The atmosphere demands it,” Fort said
Turner said any cases that are still open will be closed by APD investigators.
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