South Fulton to no longer hire officers with excessive use of force violations
The ordinance also requires the chief of police to report any officer termination or resignation related to the use of force to the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.
SOUTH FULTON, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - One metro Atlanta city is changing its police hiring process to ensure its residents can trust those sworn to protect and serve the community.
The City of South Fulton council unanimously passed an ordinance late last month that will crack down on police officer applicants with excessive use of force violations on their employment backgrounds.
“We want to hire for quality, not quantity,” said Councilwoman Helen Willis of District 3, sponsor of the ordinance. “Most of the use of force that has occurred across this nation, when you go look at the background of some of these officers and do a deeper dive, they’ve been involved in these types of incidents before.”
Officers applying for a job in the city will now automatically be disqualified if they were previously fired, resigned, or resigned in lieu of termination for violating any agency’s use of force policy, failure to render aid, and/or failing to intervene when witnessing excessive force.
“You have people now who understand their rights and if an officer is going to be questioned or challenged, we need officers with the right temperament to handle those situations in an amicable way,” Willis said.
The ordinance also requires the chief of police to report any officer termination or resignation related to the use of force to the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.
The changes come after the January death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died three days after being beaten by police officers during a traffic stop in Memphis. Five former officers have since been charged with murder, and two others have been relieved of duty.
“A lot of those officers had use of force complaints and incidents in their background that weren’t properly addressed which, in my opinion, made them feel comfortable enough to do what they did,” Willis said
Willis, whose husband is a sheriff’s deputy, recognized the new hiring standards will make it harder to recruit new officers. She said this was not an indictment of all law enforcement but rather about building trust in the community and reducing liability.
“We just want to make sure we’re putting extra measures in place for officers to protect themselves and residents,” she added.
Atlanta News First reached out to several law enforcement agencies to see if they had similar disqualifiers. Cobb, Gwinnett, and DeKalb counties police departments replied but did not have these specific disqualifiers.
The new hiring standards in the City of South Fulton take effect at the end of the month.
Copyright 2023 WANF. All rights reserved.
