ATLANTA — The director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation says policy changes in Georgia should create transparency when they investigate police-involved incidents across the state.
Only Channel 2's investigative reporter Mark Winne talked to the GBI’s director about the changes.
They are significant changes because the agency provides independent, outside investigations for lots of police "use of force" incidents.
GBI director Vernon Keenan told Winne that anyone in law enforcement who does not support transparency and accountability in police shootings are not long for their jobs.
“We are adapting to the new environment, which is the post-Ferguson incident,” Keenan said.
Keenan says a big part of the GBI's job is conducting criminal investigations into whether local police followed the rules laid down by the law in police shootings and other serious uses of force.
“We average one use of force investigation per week,” Keenan said.
Now, the GBI is crafting some new rules about how it handles those cases, even though what is already in place is detailed and rigorous. The changes are in response to what happened in Fergusson, Missouri and elsewhere recently.
“The new environment has led me to believe that we must have more and timely release of information to the public about what has occurred,” Keenan told Winne.
Keenan says current policy has the bureau providing little detail to the public until a final report weeks or months later, but transparency equals trust. And being careful not to compromise fairness or the investigation, the GBI will release more to the public upfront.
“There must be accountability to the community,” Keenan said.
He says a ranking GBI agent will be assigned specifically to communicate with the family of the person police have shot.
“We do not want family members believing that anything will occur other than thorough fact-finding,” Keenan said. “There should not be adversity between the police and the community that they serve.”
WSBTV
