The city of Roswell is going to pay an outside consultant to take a closer look at its police department following multiple controversies over officers’ actions.
The City Council voted unanimously this week to approve a contract between the city and the Center for Public Safety Management LLC to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Roswell Police Department. Per the contract, the consulting services will not exceed the amount of $77,750, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Funding for the audit will come from the police department’s budget for the 2019 fiscal year.
Monday’s move by the council comes after former members of the police department were involved in a handful of controversial incidents in the past year.
On Jan. 2, body camera footage showed officers leaving a 13-year-old boy in a squad car on a cold night and taunting him.
On March 10, officers pulled over an off-duty officer and let him go after he admitted to speeding and drinking under the influence of alcohol.
On April 7, body camera footage showed two officers deciding whether or not to send a woman to jail by flipping a coin.
The city reviewed eight proposals for outside audits from various firms and had a committee rank and grade them. In a proposal from Washington, D.C.-based CPSM to Roswell dated Aug. 6, the consulting firm writes, “We understand that the police department is currently suffering from a series of incidents which have raised questions about the professionalism and culture of the agency.”
CPSM has conducted audits and projects in 41 states. In the proposal to Roswell, it says it will conduct data-driven analysis, identify and recommend appropriate staffing levels, review policies and procedures, examine the department’s organizational structure and culture, recommend a management framework to ensure accountability, conduct interviews, review internal affairs and conduct other analysis of the department.
In a Sept. 17 memo to the city’s attorney, police chief and human resources director, City Administrator Gary Palmer wrote that out of CPSM and another finalist, CPSM was “best qualified but also the least expensive.”
According to the project schedule cited in CPSM’s proposal, the audit could take about seven months to complete.
