At last night’s Decatur City Commission meeting, City Manager Peggy Merriss detailed action items that are part of a response to the Decatur Community Coalition’s stated concerns of racial profiling in Decatur.  Former Decatur Board of Education member Don Denard started the conversation with the City Commission back in January after providing a detailed account of being stopped by a Decatur Police officer.

Among the items listed by the City Manager last night —

• Sponsoring a community conversation on diversity and “how it’s a community goal”.  Ms. Merriss stated that the city had met with a local facilitator who will come with a formal proposal to the September 2nd commission meeting.  Christian Perry – the GSU grad student who recently presented trending of the city’s demographics a few weeks ago has been asked to continue working with the city on this project.
• Deputy Chief Keith Lee and the City Manager will speak with the Anti-Defamation League this week about coming to do training with Decatur Police once Beacon Hill is complete and DPD “has a training room again”
• At the end of July, Decatur Police started tracking demographic data of people detained by the police department — Decaturish notes that this was one of the Decatur Community Coalition’s specific requests.

The City has set aside $25,000 in its budget for the City Commission to address these issues.

Decaturish has a detailed report from last night’s Decatur City Commission meeting.  Here are the first few sentences…

Don Denard says police racially profiled him and his experience isn’t unique.

The former Decatur Board of Education member brought a group of his supporters to the City Commission’s Feb. 18 meeting. Denard read a letter in response to a Decatur Police investigation that cleared officers of racially profiling him.

“Simply put, the finding by (Police Chief Mike Booker) that the officers did nothing wrong is totally unsatisfactory and unacceptable to me and is inconsistent with the pertinent facts of the case,” Denard said.

Mr. Denard said he would return to the Commission with a formal request as how the Commission should respond to the allegations.  The City Commission told Denard that they take his concerns seriously.

Decaturish followed up with former Decatur School Board member and 30+ year resident, Don Denard, who said he’s “considering his options” after the release of this week’s Decatur Police Department investigation findings in response to his accusations of racial profiling back in December.

Mr. Denard tells Decaturish that he will publicly respond to the investigation finding’s at next Tuesday’s Decatur City Commission meeting.  Both District 2 City Commisioners declined to comment on the DPD report prior to the meeting.

More HERE.

Decatur Police have distributed the findings of its investigation into the racial profiling allegations made by a Decatur resident back in December.

Investigating Officer Capt. W.S. Richards wrote in summary, “The stop was not based on the color of Mr. Denard’s skin, but instead on his behavior and what Inv. Hall discovered at the residence.”

According to the file, after watching Mr. Denard leave the residence from the rear/side of the residence where no vehicles were visible, Special Investigator Hall found unopened mail on the residence’s front porch – suggesting to her that the homeowners may be out of town.  The file states that after knocking on the front door and receiving no reply, she went around the back of the residence and noticed an ajar rear door.  These elements combined with Inv. Hall observing Mr. Denard adjusting his coat and looking around him when he left the residence are Decatur PD’s stated reasons for the stop.

You can read the full complaint investigative file HERE.  Decaturish also has a good, more extensive summary of the report’s findings.

As reported by Decaturish from last night’s City Commission meeting…

Decatur Police are investigating allegations of racial profiling by its officers, City Manager Peggy Merriss said during the Jan. 6 City Commission meeting.

Decatur Police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ross said she wasn’t familiar with the investigation when Decaturish.com contacted her for a statement. The alleged incident that prompted the investigation upset commissioners. They apologized to Don Denard, a former city school board member, after he told them he was stopped by officers who were racially profiling him.

Decaturish also has video of Mr. Denard’s remarks and reaction from the Commission.

I came across this article a few days back, but at the time we were knee-deep in our own battle over race, and a body can only tolerate so much animosity on his site at a time.

Over on the site New Black Man, Emory Associate Professor of English and African American Studies, Lawrence Jackson, recounts an incident with Decatur police in June reminiscent of the Henry Gates arrest, when he was stopped along Clairemont Road for bicycling after dark without a headlamp.

Much can and – I’m sure – will be said about this in-depth account, but one thing cannot be argued; Jackson’s account is honest.  He’s very upfront with a series of past interactions with police that have forever altered his perception of officers.  He’s also honest in describing his “fury” once police pulled him over.  He could have skimmed over these factors, but he didn’t.

I don’t have the answer for this one.  I wasn’t there.  But I can predict how the conversation will go.  Some will argue that he broke the law and that his reaction to police is unacceptable.  Others will argue that this is just one more case of racial profiling, where a black man received a ticket where a white man never would.

I would just like to remind everyone that every man and woman is shaped by their own experiences.  Be it the cop in the car, the professor on the bike, or the anonymous commenter with a point to get across.  Facts are one thing, “truth” is perceived.

With that in mind, I ask everyone upfront to respect both each other and the conversation.