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Metro Atlanta law enforcement officers discusses police reform
The Henry County Sheriff's Office hosted the event which discussed identifying long term ways to improve relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
HENRY COUNTY, Ga. - More than 20 sheriffs and police chiefs from metro Atlanta gathered Friday to discuss police reform.
Henry County's sheriff led a conversation on problems they're seeing within their communities and how to address them.
They spent about an hour and a half discussing various initiatives within their respective departments to help identify long-term solutions that can continue improving the relationship between law enforcement and the public.
"People are sick and tired of us talking," Henry County Sheriff Reginald Scandrett told the room in his call to action.
He went on to say "what should be significant from this meeting that this is a movement to put together a systematic mythological strategic plan that we can walk out for change."
Police chiefs and sheriffs from Cobb County, Gwinnett County, Atlanta, Fayette County, and Locus Grove met at the Henry County Sheriff's Office to zero in on key issues negatively affecting their communities and ways to fix them.
One of those topics is the use of excessive force.
Over the past year, critics have sparked a major push across the country calling for law enforcement agencies to be defunded or reformed over cases of people dying during encounters with police.
"In many situations that I’ve seen, it's the officer's ego that have allowed him to go beyond where he needs to go, and we gotta start teaching better in our profession," Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant.
Some of these departments have faced criticism and investigations recently over the use of excessive force.
"We're hoping to start building that trust because we have to know there's a reason why the community feels the way they feel," Chief Mirtha Ramos with the DeKalb County Police Department explained. "You can't just say it's not warranted and you got to do something about it."
That something is creating more community engagement.
For example, Cobb County's Sheriff talked about assisting residents facing eviction once the federal pandemic eviction moratorium expires.
"I'm trying to find temporary housing for these families, gift cards for food, other things to help them if they are evicted so they can have somewhere to go and a foot to stand on when they get out," Sheriff Craig Owens said.
There was also conversation on making sure those who serve have access to mental health resources regularly.
"How do you clinically unpack the things that you see each and every day? Eventually, pressure is going to break pipes," Sheriff Scandrett said.
He said they are planning more of these panels in the near future.
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