In recent days several Atlanta City Council members as well as activists attending an Atlanta Civilian Review Board (ACRB) meeting have criticized the now-suspended ACRB billboard campaign advising “Don’t Run” from law enforcement officers. An ACRB member told InsiderAdvantage that the campaign was a “common-sense approach.” Anti-billboard Councilman Kwanza Hall told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that, when he was growing up, when we saw the police coming, the rule was to run. …”
About 20 billboards were erected around Atlanta telling young men “Don’t run from the police.” ACRB Chairman Lee Reid said the intent was not to aggravate encounters with police by running— even if police weren’t in the right. “I’ve noticed running from Atlanta police officers during an encounter leads to or can lead to citizens being injured,” he says.
Murder, robberies and several other crime categories are increasing in Atlanta from last year and the campaign was intended to assist the police– although the police department was unaware of the billboard advertising campaign.
Activists during last Thursday’s ACRB meeting at the Ben Hill Recreation Center complained about some high-profile individuals who were recently killed by police who did not run. “I have concerns about the Don’t Run campaign legally and constitutionally. When you have a public campaign telling citizens to don’t do something that is legal and constitutional, you have a problem,” State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, told ACRB members.
“It is taxpayers’ dollars that is paying for the billboards, so you are paying for your own demise. Twenty billboards at a minimum of fifteen hundred each, that’s thirty thousand dollars,” said Kalonji Changa of the National Coalition to Combat Police Terrorism.
City Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms, though opposed to the billboards, appeared to mellow by later admitting, “I certainly would advise my child not to run from the police. You might have a right to run, but is it smart to run? No.”
