Chair of DeKalb’s Citizens’ Police Review Board wants less cop involvement

DeKALB – The chairman of the DeKalb Citizen Police Review Board wants police officers to be less involved in the panel’s decision-making processes, a recommendation prompted by a recent review of a complaint involving a video that circulated online.

Following the board’s review of the video and the man’s complaint, chairman Maurice McDavid said he thinks DeKalb police officers should not be allowed to sit in on closed sessions where board members review complaint details.

“It doesn’t make sense to have them in the room,” McDavid said.

McDavid’s comments came after the board reviewed a complaint made by a man from Georgia who alleged he’d been mistreated by DeKalb police earlier this year. The man filmed a portion of the encounter and posted it to YouTube, which later gained traction in local online circles and social media groups.

At about 12:34 p.m. Jan. 2, a Black man wearing a black shirt, multi-colored jacket and blue hat went into the Department of Child and Family Services’ DeKalb office, 760 N. Peace Road, to file a Freedom of Information Act request. The man later alleged he was refused service until police got involved, according to a police report obtained by Shaw Local News Network through public records requests.

According to the DeKalb police report filed Jan. 3, DCFS office employees told DeKalb police the man allegedly refused to give them his name, which they said they needed to help him complete his request. Instead, the man allegedly told the employees he wanted to film them in the office, and also asked for their salaries, according to the police report.

DeKalb police were called to the DeKalb office a short time later at the request of the office’s staff. Body camera footage obtained by Shaw Local News Network in a Freedom of Information Act request shows more of what happened.

In the video, employees could be heard asking the man to leave the building, saying his actions made them uncomfortable. The man refused to leave, however, and can be heard in the video insisting that he was conducting official business.

In another video also obtained through public records requests, a DeKalb police officer is heard explaining to the man after he leaves the building that the man violated state statute for causing a disturbance at state-supported property. The police officer told the man he was banned from the building.

The man later posted more than an hour’s worth of video footage from the incident online to a YouTube page titled “Tyrant Terminator Audits.” The video begins with the man narrating in the parking lot outside the local DCFS office, stating he’s “back with another one” and wants to see if “they respect our rights to record in public.”

The footage began circulating the internet and in local social media groups. The man filed a complaint Jan. 3 against a DeKalb police sergeant, alleging he was wrongfully treated during the encounter because of his race. In his complaint, also obtained by Shaw Local News Network, he asked the police sergeant to be disciplined.

As it is tasked to do, the Citizen Police Review Board took up the complaint for review. The Review Board’s process included a meeting that was in part closed to the public. Those sessions are meant to address personnel matters, policy, security procedures and training.

Neither the police sergeant nor other officers who are alleged to have violated police department conduct are allowed in closed sessions, McDavid said. Rather, a third party police officer sits in to address questions should the Review Board have any.

In its findings, the Review Board ruled the man’s mistreatment allegation was unfounded. McDavid voted founded, however.

“I will say that I’m not a lawyer of any sort,” McDavid said. “[As a] former American history teacher, [I] have a pretty good sense of understanding of government and such. I think the initial interaction with the police is where I was basing my vote. The initial officer was operating on a false understanding of state law and that’s what led to the further escalation.”

McDavid said his experience reviewing that case has informed his opinion that police officers are too involved in the Review Board’s operations. Under DeKalb city code, Review Board members are residents and cannot be retired police or related to police officers or employees of the DeKalb Police Department.

The way the complaint process works is at least three members of the Citizen Police Review Board must be present in order for a quorum to be met.

Typically, the Review Board’s secretary, Melissa Neblock, also is present in closed session, said McDavid. In addition, one high ranking police officer, such as the chief, deputy chief or a commander but not a sergeant or a patrol officer, may be allowed in to answer questions should the panel have any. The Review Board usually knows the names of the police officers alleged to have committed wrongdoing when they are reviewing cases. Police officers do not get to offer verbal testimony to the panel in closed session, McDavid said.

DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd said it’s not his place to make an assessment about whether the Review Board’s decision was right or wrong in regards to their ruling on the Georgia man’s complaint.

“That’s their prerogative,” Byrd said.

McDavid said he looks forward to the prospect of engaging members of the Review Board in discussion on how much the police should be involved in closed session during their next regular meeting.

Byrd said he hadn’t been made aware of any issues with protocol in the way the Citizen Police Review Board operates.

He said the panel has the authority to work with the police to make changes in how that’s arranged.

“I am always here to assist in any way possible to help the Review Board, of course, conduct their duties as a Citizen [Police] Review Board,” Byrd said. “Whatever [McDavid] would need from me, he just has to request it.”

The next regular meeting of the Citizen Police Review Board is tentatively set for Feb. 22 at the DeKalb Police Department.