Box 15, Folder 12, Document 2

Box 15, Folder 12, Document 2

THE RESPONSE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY TO THE INQUIRY

OF THE HONORABLE IVAN ALLEN, JR., MAYOR OF THE

CITY OF ATLANTA UNDER DATE OF MARCH 19, 1968,

WITH RESPECT TO HIS INQUIRY CONCERNING REQUESTED

ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY CITY DEPARTMENTS AND

PUBLIC AGENCTES « » es

Following the format adopted by Mayor Allen in his
communique to all department heads dated March 19, 1968, please
be advised that no report was filed with respect to Paragraph 1
thereof inasmuch as the Law Department of the City of Atlanta is
not the type of department which would be involved in the type ©
of activity set forth therein. ‘ Consequently, no report is made

i this department concerning that feature of the letter.

@

With respect to Paragraph 2 of the report dealing with
Chapter 10 of Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil
Disorders, please be advised that the following represents a report

of that chapter as the same is broken down in the book itself.

The chapter is broken into two phases which shall be

discussed in seritam fashion.

The first phase concerns short range work which should
be done and after each suggestion, a comment will be made concerning

how the Law Department may aid in the implementation thereof.

(a) Establish neighborhood action task force - it is the
opinion of this department that we might do nothing effective with

respect to the implementation of this.

-(b) Establish effective grievance - response mechanism -

it is the opinion of the Law Department that we would be in a position .


to assist here in that should such grievance - response hearings
be held, an Associate City Attorney could be present in order to
determine whether or not any proposed action taken would be legally

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permissible.

(c) Expand legal services fee Hie poor - inasmuch as
the function of the City Attorney's Office is to represent the
Mayor and Board of Aldermen, it is eux opinion that this matter
should be best be left to the Atlanta Bar Aseosiarion and related
agencies, such as, but not limited to, The Emory University School

of Law.

(d) Financial assistance - we do not feel we could be

of any assistance here.

(e) Hearing ghetto problems and enacting appropriate
local legislation - we could be of assistance here as indicated

under (b) (as=in=boy} above.

(f) Expand employment by City Government of ghetto
residents - this department would not be able to assist in this

particular function.

-~ With respect to the long term recommendations set forth
in Chapter 10, and adopting the same format above set forth, this

is our response to those.

(a) Establish neighborhood city halls - the Law De-
partment would in all probability not be of any assistance in

this respect.

(b) Develop multi - service centers - this appears

to deal with such things as parks and recreational facilities
.and the Law Department would in all probability not be in a

position to be of any assistance here.

(c) Improve political representation < At has long
been the opinion of ids department, as the sewed ‘tei been -
expressed through the City Attorney, that eh disproportionate
representation created by malapportioned wards is, if not
unconstitutional, a bad practice. This is even though all
aldermen are elected on a city-wide ‘basis. Admittedly, the
law's present posture seems to be city-wide elections are
sufficient to take this situation out of any constitutionally
infirm problem areas; however, a recent case in the Supreme
Court of she United States, coming out of Texas, and which we
have not had an opportunity to digest, might indicate chat
opposition is not as sound as it was prior to the opinion
set forth in the case. In any event, this department stands

ready, willing and able to assist in such legislation as is

necessary to cure malapportioned wards.

(d) More effective community participation - it is
doubtful that the Law Department could serve in this particular

function. _

With respect to the specific questions asked in Para-
graph 2, we feel that (a), (b) and (c) have already been answered
in the analysis and as to estimating the probable cost involved,
we deem that the functions which we would do, as the same are set
forth above, would be done without any increased cost to the City
of Atlanta over and above the retainers currently being paid to

the several attorneys connected with the Law Department.
With nénpeck to the third paragraph of the letter of
March 19, 1968 from Mayor Allen to the several department heads,
the following constitutes our response as the same concerns itself
with Chapter 13 of the report of the National Advisory Commission

on Civil Disorders.

A work is necessary with respect to some of the con-
siderations raised in this chapter and how the same has been
analyzed by this department. In all probability the report pretty
well hits the nail on the head when it indicates in Chapter 13
that the handling and prosecution under a mass arrest situation is
totally different from any normal type of operation that obtains
in the several courts that would have jurisdiction over the type
of offenses that are normally committed during times of riot and
violence. Also, the report seems to hit the nail on the head
when it indicates that the administration of justice is an
incomplete function when primary emphasis is placed on the quelling
of the riots and virtually no emphasis is placed upon the prosecu-
tion and conviction’ of people who were involved in the riots. The
report of this department will primarily concern itself with these

two features of Chapter 13.

It is the feeling of this department that the City of
Atlanta have on a standby basis, certain members of the local
bar to act as both pro haec vice judges and prosecutors. The
reason no recommendation is being sia. etch respect to defense
counsel is that it is our feeling that the public defender system
now established by the Fulton Superior Court is sufficient to take
ene of this feature of the administration of justice. It is our

thinking that the local bar would rise to the occasion and that
these services would be furnished the City of Atlanta at no’

cost to the City of Atlanta.

*

Inasmuch as: the cry goes up concerning police brutality
during post arrests, this department feels‘ that responsible members
of the negro community should have access to devention areas of
the city jail for the purpose of assuring the negro public
that no abuse of prisoners is taking place. As a concomitant

of/ this, of course, the police would not abuse prisoners.

Also, a matter which should be considered is the
possibility of holding neighborhood courts for bondable and
resogeiuenve offenses in an effort to keep the jails to a normal °
population. The implementation of this recommendation would be
difficult: however; we might even go so far as to have the
basements of setienils utilized during periods of crisis for the
purpose of having a judge set bond and for the purpose of having
representatives of the several bonding companies present. In

addition to schoois, perhaps other public buildings located near

the areas would be permissible for this type of situation.

_ As above set forth, one of the grave problems concerning
the aftermath of riots is that in very few instances have pro-
secutions which ensued as the result of riots been successfully
carried forward to conviction. We feel that this shortcoming might
in part be attributable to lack on the part of policemen of knowing
what state or local Laws are violated in a riot situation. To

this end, it is our thinking that a representative of the Solicitor-
General's office, the Solicitor of the Criminal Court of Fulton

County and the City Attorney, acting as a team, make lectures

or talks to the police force in order to refamiliarize them with




what does in fact constitute criminal activity in this area.
Also, it is respectfully requested that the police begin using
photographic equipment and motion pictures in order that proper
demonstrative evidence might be used by the prosecution for

the conviction of people who violate the law in this type of

situation.

No recommendation is made with respect to bonding
provisions inasmuch as it is our opinion that the criterion
pinendy established by the several judges of the Municipal

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Court are sufficient.

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