By Add Seymour Jr., The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Riverdale Police Department should be restructured, and its employees need to undergo cultural diversity training, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report released by city officials Tuesday.
The report also suggested that the department analyze whether its ticket-writing is influenced by race. The recommendations were among many contained in a 31-page report that focused on race relations in the police department, and looked at other city departments, too.
“What is known as the ‘Good Ol’ Boy system’ exists to varying degrees in most, if not all organizations,” Ernest Jones, a Department of Justice official, wrote in his report.
“However, the City of Riverdale must take every step to get rid of the procedures and processes which allow this type of action to take place.” As Riverdale, Clayton County’s second-largest city, becomes more diverse, race relations in the city are becoming more of a concern.
It was an issue that newly elected Mayor Phaedra Graham, the first black mayor of any city in Clayton County, campaigned on last fall.
Today, 67 percent of Riverdale’s 13,000 residents are African-American; 10 years ago, that figure stood at 23 percent.
Of the Police Department’s 49 officers, 29 percent, or 14, are African-American. The City Council will discuss the report and recommendations during its next meeting Feb. 23.
The city is not obligated to follow the report’s recommendations.
In his report, Jones said Riverdale needs better written policies to ensure fair and equitable treatment for all city employees.
And disciplinary actions or employee promotions in the Police Department should be put on hold until those new procedures are in place, he said.
Recommendations for other departments include increasing staffing and training.
Although city officials still are poring over the report, City Manager Billy Beckett said the city wouldn’t suspend disciplinary action in the Police Department, and it likely won’t hire an ombudsman, as recommended by the report.
However, Beckett has suggested three programs, which include cultural diversity, communications and community partnership training, to the City Council.
The training programs, he said, will cost at least $82,000.
Riverdale officials asked the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service to look at city government after a July 2003 independent investigation found a Police Department with racial tensions and “the potential violation of civil rights,” Riverdale police Chief Mark Edwards said at the time.
Edwards couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.