The McDonough City Council considered three separate resolutions at its September 3 regular meeting regarding the city’s police department. None of them passed.

  All three were introduced and spearheaded by council member Sandra Vincent, beginning with a proposal for restructuring of Municipal Court, which had been discussed previously. The potential action stemmed from concerns about the court appearing to be under the direction of the police department.

  Specific language in the resolution included this statement: “Criminal justice professionals and many courts of the nation have advised that courts should have a degree of independence in the structure of a government and not use law enforcement personnel for administrative decisions.”

  In response to a request by Vincent to outline why this is recommended by the Georgia Municipal Association as a “best practice,” city attorney Jim Elliott noted that he had shared information from the GMA with the council regarding this kind of restructuring, and he said that the recent trend is to separate the two departments.

  Council member Roger Pruitt asked Elliott to find out if any other municipalities similar in size to McDonough have done this. When asked by Vincent about this request, Pruitt replied that if the current system is working, he is not sure it should be changed “just because someone attended a class where a recommendation was made,” referring to Vincent.

  Police chief Ken Noble said he is confident that the court is running properly, and he is not involved in its day-to-day operation.

  Vincent maintained that the issue is about best practices and keeping the community from being divided. “This is not about defunding the police,” she said. “Our officers deserve to be protected.”

  She added that there is the matter of public perception, such as when a citizen gets a citation from a police officer and then goes to court where most of the people in attendance are police.

  Vincent’s motion to adopt the resolution was seconded by council member Kamali Varner. They were the only two to vote in favor. Opposing votes were cast by Pruitt, Mayor Billy Copeland, Mayor Pro Tem Craig Elrod, and council member Rufus Stewart. The other member of the council, Benjamin Pruett, was not present at the meeting.

  In separate agenda item, Vincent discussed forming a task force for the purpose of developing a process to establish a citizen review board, which would serve as a “sounding body” for the community to address concerns and make recommendations related to policing. She said this would provide a mechanism to minimize lawsuits by engaging the public in policing.

  She made a motion to establish the task force that would review the criteria for the citizen review board, stipulating that approval of the motion would also be an affirmative vote for the creation of the board itself. Varner seconded the motion.

  Stewart joined the two in voting in favor, but opposing votes by Copeland, Elrod and Pruitt resulted in a tie and the measure failed. In the ensuing discussion, Varner remarked that the city established a citizen review board many years ago in response to an officer-involved shooting that took place in the city, and added that she supports the idea as a protective measure in light of all that is happening in the nation currently regarding the relationship between police and citizens.

  A tie vote along the exact same lines was the result of a motion by Vincent to adopt the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing Implementation Guide, which had been reviewed at previous council meetings. She noted current national concerns as an impetus for using the guide to improve and enhance community policing, saying that the effort behind it is to make policing more friendly and less interpreted as military in structure.

  Noble said that his department is already implementing the practices that are referenced in the document on a daily basis, and that the department is currently working on 100 percent Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training.

  Vincent said that adoption of the measure would essentially allow the city to provide a score card to citizens to make them aware of all that the police are currently doing. City administrator Preston Dorsey said he saw no issue with adopting the policy and that he would move forward at the direction of mayor and council. Based on the final vote, there is no change for the time being.