ACLU member resigns from Public Safety Task Force

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The ACLU of Georgia has resigned from Mayor Andre Dickens’ new ‘South River Forest and Public Safety Training Center Community Task Force,’ according to the human rights organization.

In a statement released by the ACLU, group officials also called for a halt of the controversial Public Safety Training Center citing, “the lack of commitment to transparency in providing media and citizen access to the meetings of the Task Force and its subgroups.”

It comes after sources on the task force told Atlanta News First on Wednesday that some members were considering resigning after learning they were instructed to provide input on the acreage around the police and fire training site but not the site itself.

Now Atlanta News First is learning one of those members considering leaving may have been The Georgia ACLU Policy and Advocacy Director Christopher Bruce who just announced his resignation over transparency concerns.

Bruce and The ACLU of Georgia issued the following statement:

“The ACLU of Georgia has resigned from its involvement with the South River Forest and Public Safety Training Center Community Task Force. The decision follows the closed-door policy of the Task Force’s first meeting, and the release of an autopsy report from the DeKalb County Coroner that provided more details in the fatal shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, who was known as Tortuguita.”

“Policy and Advocacy Director Christopher Bruce joined the Task Force hoping to increase the level of transparency surrounding the training center and to protect protesters, exercising their First Amendment rights. The ACLU of Georgia is disappointed by the lack of commitment to transparency in providing media and citizen access to the meetings of the Task Force and its subgroups.”

“The ACLU of Georgia’s priority is protecting the First Amendment rights of protesters and legal observers,” said Bruce. “With the closed-door policy of Wednesday’s meeting and the report months after Tortuguita’s death, showing that police struck them with more than 50 bullets, I have lost faith in trying to increase transparency through the task force and echo our original demand to stop building the training facility.”

“Additionally, the ACLU of Georgia has opposed the leveling of domestic terrorism charges against protesters, as an over-criminalization of demonstrators under a constitutionally dubious statute. The ACLU of Georgia will continue its fight from 2017 of fighting domestic terrorism charges and championing government transparency.”

RELATED: Incident report released in death of Manuel Teran, family responds.

After the task force met for the first time behind closed doors with Mayor Andre Dickens on Wednesday, it sparked more concerns over transparency from the community.

However, Dickens told Atlanta News First that members of the task force asked for the doors to be closed to the public over safety concerns.

“They were scared, scared of the individuals who have thrown Molotov cocktails, sent threatening letters,” Dickens said Wednesday.

Two days after the first task force meeting, The City of Atlanta released the following statement saying all future task force meetings would now be made public via zoom:

“As recommended by Task Force members on Wednesday, future meetings of the Task Force and its subgroups will be open to the public through Zoom.”

“The Task Force includes a wide array of members representing diverse viewpoints, including both proponents and opponents of the Training Center. We are confident that the Task Force members will bring their authentic and candid views to inform their recommendations,” The City of Atlanta Spokesperson, Bryan Thomas said.

On Saturday the ACLU released another statement to Atlanta News First applauding Mayor Andre Dickens for his swift move to make the task force meetings public.

“The ACLU of Georgia applauds the Mayor for making the Task Force proceedings open to the public and acknowledges other important efforts by the Mayor such as the investment in the Pre-Arrest Diversion Program and the Year of the Youth Initiative. While we may not agree with the building of the training facility, we acknowledge and support all measures that open transparency to government and directly address community solutions to public safety for all,” ACLU Communications Director, Dorrie Toney said.

Atlanta News First has since reached back out the ACLU to see if Policy and Advocacy Director Christopher Bruce will now consider rejoining the task force following the change in meeting protocol and we have not heard back yet.