'Don't Run' Campaign Ends in Debate Over Police Violence

Sign up for the Buckhead Patch newsletter!

---

Waves of protests and riots in response to alleged police brutality and racism towards African Americans and other minority groups has erupted in cities across the country. Now, Atlanta’s political leaders are debating how their young people should respond when confronted by police.

The fallout from the incidents in Baltimore, New York, and towns like North Charleston, SC, where a white police officer is facing murder charges for shooting a fleeing black man in the back during a traffic stop, has spread to Atlanta, a city that prides itself on its relatively harmonious police-minority relationship.

The Atlanta Citizen Review Board, a watchdog organization focused on the Atlanta Police Department is ending its “don’t run from police” billboard campaign after getting tough feedback from City Hall.

City leaders reportedly told the group that the campaign didn’t address police misconduct — an issue at the center of several high-profile incidents in the past year. Some City Council members reportedly said they encourage their sons to run from police when confronted, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

More Police and Fire News From Buckhead Patch:

• Lewd Image Appears on Digital Billboard in Buckhead
• TSA Employee Pleads Guilty to Faking Cancer for 5 Years for Extra Sick Leave
• UPDATE: Off-Duty Atlanta Policeman Shoots Car Theft Suspects in Buckhead

Protest Outside, Debate Inside

In New York City, Eric Garner died last summer in a choke hold by a white police officer attempting to arrest him for illegally selling cigarettes. A grand jury in Long Island decided not to indict the officer seen on camera using the illegal restraining technique, despite Garner’s saying that he couldn’t breathe.

In the wake of Garner’s death and the subsequent failure to indict the officer, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio publicly discussed his own conversations with his biracial son about the way police may treat him if he ever encounters them.

“I have had to talk to Dante for years about the danger that he may face … how to take special care in any encounters he has with the police officers who are there to protect him,” DeBlasio said in a December press conference, according to the New York Daily News.

In Baltimore, Freddie Gray was detained by police last month after he ran when he spotted police officers. Placed in a police van for transport after officers found a knife on him, Gray allegedly suffered severe injuries during transport and died a week later while still in custody.

Six officers involved in Gray’s arrest are facing charges related to his death, with prosectors claiming police had no justification in arresting Gray. Federal investigations are underway regarding how Baltimore police treats suspects and the extent to which racism may play a part in police conduct.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts stressed following Gray’s arrest and hospitalization that, “there is no law against running.”

The Atlanta Citizen Review Board created the “Don’t Run” campaign to remind residents that running from police, while not an illegal act in and of itself, automatically makes police suspicious, and officers may use force to catch people who run from them or may use force once they’ve caught them.

A statement released by ACRB on Wednesday announced the formal suspension of the program and the cancellation of a Thursday afternoon press conference which was to kick off the campaign.

“Unfortunately, a few Atlanta City Council members and some community members believed that this commonsense approach was an attempt to blame the victims of police misconduct without focusing on the police actions. This is farthest from the truth,” the statement read in part. ”This is a proactive Campaign to help educate the public and curtail injuries from police encounters and to encourage citizens to use the processes in place to address police misconduct.”