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The Commi s sion's coverage on police co nduct ha s long - be en impleme nte d in the Atlanta Police De partmento The rules and regulations of this depar t me nt cover every phase mentioned From time to time p I am sure the re are minor in the reporto violations of this rulee I have i nstructe d the Distr ict Supersio vis or to give c ars in the slum areas of the City closer super vision to see tha t these regulations are c arr ied out o Select ing the right officer for ghe tto duty was put in effect when our Cr ime Prevention Bureau and our Ta s k Force wGls implemented o It ha s be en a practice of this depar t men t to re - assign and r e-t ra in officers when poor judgement ha s be en us e d and to c redit officers doing a good jobo our finest officers in slum areas 0 We. have not a lways put We have always t r ied to give negro areas as goodf i f not better, police protection tha n white areas since mos t of these areas are where our high crime rates areo The Commission reported one city re.port showed it took fou r times as long for police to respond to a negro area than a white area o We have instructed a ll of our officers to answe r all calls i mme d iate l yo The Commission reco~~ende d th~t grieva nce s by citiz~ns should have some externa l r e viewo We have a n Internal Se cur ity Squad tha t inves tiga t e s a ll compla ints aga ins t police and repor t s dire ctly to the Chie f of Police and the Police Committe eo A city a tto r ne y also is as signe d to ffip k e inve stiga tions within the Ci ty governmen t o The Grand Jur y and Soli citor Gene r a l has the ... �author ity to look into a ny pol ice misconduct o cha r ge d with th i s respons ibi lit y o The FBI is a l s o I bel i e ve tha t any cit i zen c a n get j ustice from one or all of the ~bove inv estigative bod i e s o The Commi s sion r e.commended wr itten depar t ment al poli cy fo r dis c re tion and j ud ge me nt in g he t t o a r e a s o tha t a rises in the s e are a s ~re diffe r e n t o Every s i tua t i on A lot of the s e ma t te r s ha ve to be l e ft up to the j u dgeme nt of the pa t r olm n or his superior office r o Ea ch of fic e r is i nstr u cte d whe n he ha s a situa tion tha t is in question to not i fy his superior officer i mmedia telyo This pra ctice has wor ked suc ces sfully in the. pa sto The Commi ss i on re comme nde d t ha t we i nc reas e. ne g r o off icers within our de par t ment a nd r e=ass i gn mor e negro of fice r s in slum , are aso Thi s h a s be e n done o This d e partment ha s hir e d a ll= qua lifie d a pplica nts for ye ar.s withou t r e gard to r ac e , c reed or color o The y a lso r e comme nded the c rea t ion of c ommun ity s e rvice officers from ghe tto ~re as a nd tha t t he se officers be hired on a r a tio of one fo r e v ery t e n police off ice rse We are now cove r i ng t en EOA Ce nte rs and we unde rs t a nd there wil l be 62 s choo l s i 40 pa rks and 20 p l a y lo t s made ava i l a b l e this summe re To po lice t hese. pla ce s p i t would be ne c e ssary f or u s to have our allot ted 85 communi t y s erv i c e off i.cers by s u.mmero Our Cr i me Preven t i on Bureau and these communi t y s ervice of f icers c ou ld work hand i n hand and ass i s t the neig hb or hoods in a ll Ci ty s ervic es o The y are now working with s choo l G.ounse l ors pn a bsentee i sm and s chool d rop ., outs, assisting yout h and adul t s i n employmentp meeting with civic neighborhood g roups and hear i ng and el i minating compltiints on �police service and working with our youth in recreational activitieso We might go one step f urther and also explain to the people the Pol.ice. Department's enfo r cement prog ram in an effort to show them that we are trying to better their co!!llllunityo The Commission has stated that preserving civi l peace is the first responsibility of the governmento doo This we plan to They point outp howeye.rj we must not mistake a peaceful or l awful demonstration as a rioto Maintaining civil orde r is the responsibility of the entire communityo The. initial incident in most cases started fro m routine arresto How the police. and community respond to and deal with suchp may well determine whether they remain a minor police p roblem or escalate into a major diso rder o If a situation arises th at h as racial overtonesp our office rs are instructe d to notify their superior office r i mmedia telyo They are also instructed to notify tne commanding officer of the Crime Prevention Bureau to move his entire sqund into the. are a and attempt to settle the disordero We feel that these men have been working in these areas d a y in and day out and tney know their grievances and cornplaintso If this fails~ we then plan to move. in our Task Force who have been giving these areas good, tough police service o The y too~ have be en in and out of these areas each day and know the pr oblems that e xist therec -, The Commission has recommended that the police., when sent in the areas, should know the underlying tensions and �grievances and we believe tna t these two squa ds doe Na turally 1 if these two prevention squads fail~ the riot squa d will followo The Commission speaks of b a sic factors and causes and mentions crowded ghe tto living 9 wors en by summer heat and a large amount of young people on the stre eto The y do not think these b , :,o problems could be reme died by the policeo They also mentione d hostility to police which we feel that we are t r ying to remedy the Cr i me P rev e ntion Squa do They also me ntio ned delay i n pol'ce response in ne gro areas and I believe tha t with the covera g e we have in these a r eas now p this is not the problem he.reo an Rumors i nadequa t e infor ma tion in a r e a s of this type alwa ys hur ts the police o We pla n to us e Crime Preve n t ion me n$ loud speake rs a nd ask the n ews media io r their assistance o The Committee asksp ttwhat are your control c a p a bilities?n A surve y by the m showed tha t only 13% of the unifo rm pa t r ol are on duty fro m 4:00 PoMo to 12:00 PoMo disor d ers occurredo This is when 86% of all the Again, we. have. tried to look .ah eado Plus our Eve ning Watch Uni f o rm and Eve ning Watch Tra f f ic, we h a v e our Crime P rev ent ion Bureau a nd our Ta s k Fo r c e working these h ours 0 We pla c e a hig h p remi um on preve ntion of disorders 0 On t r a ining 1 the Commiss io n s u rvey s hows tha t most p olice d e par t ments on l y give r io t tr a i n ing to t he ir recruits 0 The ave r a ge hou r t r a i n ing f o r thes e d e partme nts were 18 h ours p er ma n o The Nat i ona l Gu a r d r e quire s 3J fo r the ir commanding l e v e l of fi cers o h our s per ma n a nd 16 h our s We h a v e. c overed rio t t ra i n i ng in r e c ruit s c hool on a limited b as is and give n ou r old er officers �Training Keys on riot trainingo The FBI has published riot and mob control in their bulletinso Our district supe rvisors have discus sed with their men what action shou ld be taken in c a se of a disordero Discipline and co mmand on the scene is one of our most important factorso You lose radio co ntac t with your officers and they mus t be disciplined to stay within your comm.and and c arry out your orders o Rocks and bottles being thrown can provoke. an officer into unilateral actiono Of the distur bances that we have had in Atlantap the same t a ctics were not used at each disordero Depending on t a ctics used decisions must be de termined by the command ing office r on the sceneo The Commission asked when should and how much force should be used? Should a looter be shot? is already covered by State Law~ This is something that The commanding officer and sometimes the pa t ro l man would h ave to determine thiso The Commissi on does recomme.wl however~ that the use of gas should be us ed fir s t in an effo rt to stop disturbance, looting, etco Most departments ha ve used what is regularly called "CNuo Comm ission highly recommended 11 The csn gas as do other riot manuals 0 What assistance. can we ex pect from the community? We believe tha t good l m-1 abiding citizens do not want riots and diso r derso They usually pass informa tion tha t the y hear along to the police de partmento We have trained intelligence officers that keep us informed on tensed situationso Our Crime Prevention ., Bureau and our Task Force are in these areas daily and nightly and gather a lot of information fr om citize.nso Community leaders �in th~ past have helpe d us considerably i h minor disorders and we welcome their helpo The Commissi on spoke of the police. withdrawing from an area and letting community leaders try to quieten a diso r de rG officer on the sceneo This should be determined by the commanding �