Alabama city police improperly charged residents, report finds

Decatur police wrongly charged people for disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice, a review the city commissioned finds.

Following calls for police reform, the council paid Huntsville-based Green Research Technology approximately $300,000 for the review, and released the findings on Thursday, six months after the council greenlit the move.

Green Research interviewed 55 community members and 53 police department personnel and reviewed over 300 hours of body-worn camera (BWC) footage.

“There were instances where DPD facilitated Disorderly Conduct arrest improperly and described the facts of the arrest differently in their arrest report compared with what was observed and communicated during the BWC review,” the report stated.

“In these situations, DPD officers often used their justification of ‘giving a lawful order’ as the reason for making the (Obstruction of Government Operations) OGO charge, even when their ‘lawful order’ was questionable.”

Months of demonstrations and contentious city council meetings followed the police shooting death of Stephen Perkins, a 39-year-old Black man, on his lawn in the early hours of September 2023. Protesters have since complained of police heavy-handedness and wrongful arrests.

Police arrested multiple people for disorderly conduct during the protests, and some are still fighting the charges in court more than one year after.

Obstruction charges “should only be applied when the individual’s actions go beyond mere noncooperation and into active interference,” according to the independent review.

The report noted that there were multiple arrests for disorderly conduct “when a citizen would simply use profanity.”

The document noted contentious exchanges between the police and demonstrators, including engaging in verbal disagreement and antagonistic comments, which sometimes ended in arrests. It explained that the police sometimes exhibited rudeness, abrasiveness in their public interactions.

“The officers missed the opportunity to engage with the protestors professionally,” Green Research Technology stated. “Despite having different views from some members of the public, officers should maintain their professionalism.”

Protesters have repeatedly demanded the removal of Police Chief Todd Pinion, who, at City Hall Thursday, while reacting to the report, said “mistakes were made.”

Pinion said, “In the days and weeks ahead, I will continue to look for areas of improvement and changes that can be made.”

Some police department personnel told the company that they were told to “circle the wagons” to protect the police chief, while others expressed fear of retaliation.

Mayor Tab Bowling said he supports police reforms when he spoke to the press following Pinion’s remarks. “The Green Research Report identified some areas that were worthy of recommendations for improvements,” Bowling said.

After Perkins’ shooting, the blowback against the police handling of the protests and calls for the police chief to resign, Bowling announced he wouldn’t seek reelection and avoided the public comments sections of the city council meeting.

The city redacted portions of the 43-page report because they contain “personal interests, property rights, pending and potential actions including personnel matters,” City Attorney Herman Marks, Jr. wrote on the city website.

Councilmember Billy Jackson, who, like other city council members, has seen the redacted portions, said he is greatly concerned by what he read and questioned the leadership of the police department.

“The actions of some police officers is not one that fits within our policies that our guidelines and but I do think that many of our — I’ll say the majority of our police officers — don’t fit into that category, but I am concerned that we have a situation in our police department where our police officers are operating outside of the scope of our guidelines and that has not been addressed by our police leadership,” Jackson told AL.com.

“I think that anytime there is a malfunction in an operation then you have to address your leadership in that operation, and I think that it is our responsibility to address the leadership operation of our Police department.”

Another council member, Hunter Pepper, said the chief has already committed to improving communication to address one of the issues in the report.

“I believe that the actions of the police department should be to pretty much create a form of better communication with the public,” Pepper told AL.com.

Another council member, Carlton McMasters, in an email statement to AL.com, said that Pinion is addressing some of the issues mentioned in the report.

“What the report didn’t show was equally as important. No mention of the word systemic, widespread, corruption, police brutality, civil rights violation, or officer misconduct,” McMasters added. “Police officers are human, and mistakes have been made.”

AL.com contacted all five council members but did not receive a response from council president Jacob Ladner and councilmember Kyle Pike.

The police officer who shot Perkins, Bailey Marquette, is facing murder charges following a grand jury indictment and has been fired from his job.

Police officers’ initial report said that Perkins had earlier pointed a gun at the tow truck driver during an initial repossession attempt around midnight of Sept. 29, 2023. According to a neighbor’s home security camera obtained by AL.com, at about 2 a.m., Perkins emerged from his house as the tow truck driver attempted to repossess his vehicle again. Unknown to him, the police had surrounded his home. After Perkins asked the tow truck driver to stop, Marquette emerged from beside the house, shouted, “Get on the ground,” and immediately fired multiple rounds at Perkins, killing him and hitting a house across the street.

The police chief has since prohibited his officers from assisting in vehicle repossession efforts.

Currently, the chief appoints all eight members of the Citizens Advisory Board, which advises police and discusses public concerns. The commissioned review said that needs to change and recommends that each city council member appoint a member from their district and the police chief and mayor one member at large each.

“By prioritizing the avoidance of any appearance of conflicts of interest, the Board can better reflect the diverse perspectives and needs of the residents, thereby reinforcing its role as a bridge between the police and the public,” the report said.