Mayor Bottoms is pleased to announce that the City of Atlanta has engaged the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to provide a comprehensive set of recommendations concerning how policing should be handled in the city of Atlanta "from top to bottom."

PERF is one of the nation’s leading providers of management consulting services to police agencies, having conducted comprehensive studies in police departments of all sizes across the nation. PERF specializes in areas such as use of force, records and information processing, budgeting, communications, crime prevention, and management of criminal investigations.

PERF’s 18-month engagement will include:

• A thorough review of APD’s use of force and related policies
• A review of the training that APD officers receive, including recruit, field, and in-service training
• An assessment of how APD’s current practices measure up to evidence-based standards and best practices
• The creation of a “Kitchen Cabinet” to regularly advise the Interim Chief of Police throughout the engagement

The Mayor’s Administrative Order 2020-27 also recognized that community engagement is a vital component of policy review and reform.

As a result, Mayor Bottoms is pleased to announce that the City of Atlanta has engaged the services of an Atlanta-based organization – APD Urban Planning and Management, LLC (Urban Planning) – to oversee a city-wide community engagement effort integrated with PERF’s policy reform work.

The team at Urban Planning has over thirty years of national expertise on urban planning, equitable community development and affordability policies. They are guided by a strong commitment to public participation and maintaining transparent, capacity building relationships with community stakeholders throughout their work.

Urban Planning’s initial 6-month engagement will include:

• Developing a community-led engagement plan that respects the diverse community and individual needs across all of Atlanta as it pertains to community support and law enforcement
• Gathering data and input from APD, residents, business leaders, and stakeholders using various innovative and transparent tools and methods
• Facilitating community engagement processes that flexibly accommodate changing conditions due to COVID-19 realities

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