Mayor: No tolerance for white nationals on force
Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly said he has zero tolerance for white nationalists in the police department and his administration will be transparent with releasing information if violence involving officers occurs.
The mayor was asked about his approach to policing and criminal justice on Wednesday evening as part of a three-day seminar series hosted through the Chattanooga-Hamilton County BME District Association at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church. Kelly also discussed his hopes of developing a local workforce and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kelly was asked how he plans to address any white nationalist influences in the police force. In 2019, a project from the Center for Investigative Reporting revealed that hundreds of police officers were members of or sympathetic to white supremacist groups. A Pentagon report released in March said domestic extremists were recruiting military members, according to reporting from The Associated Press.
Kelly said he and police Chief David Roddy would not tolerate any white nationalist influence.
“The department is 400-plus people, and I cannot say that we don’t have a problem. I don’t know what I don’t know,” Kelly said. “I think one of the shocking lessons for a guy that looked like me in the last five years was that there were so many people out there who consciously or unconsciously were white supremacists.”
Elisa Myzal, communications coordinator for the police, said incoming recruits undergo a psychological and personality examination, as well as a written exam, medical screen, physical ability test and drug test.
Kelly said that while there are ways to screen incoming recruits for their motivations in joining the force, some of the issues of white nationalism in law enforcement cannot always be gauged in a straightforward way.
“As far as the white nationalism, it’s hard. You can’t give people a blood test to figure that out,” Kelly said. “I know Chief Roddy understands that and has no tolerance and no place for it.”
Kelly praised the Chattanooga Police Department’s work in getting its most recent recruitment class to reflect the racial diversity of the city. The department will continue setting diversity goals and report its progress, he said.
Increasing diversity in the department, along with a continued focus on community policing, is how Kelly plans to improve community relations with police and make changes in local law enforcement. The mayor was asked about how he will keep police reform near the top of his agenda since protests occurred across the country, and in Chattanooga, nearly a year ago and at the time reform was a talking point for political leaders.
The mayor said the public should expect full transparency from his administration and from the police department if there is a use-of-force incident, specifically any incident involving an officer shooting a civilian.
Myzal said bodycam footage and incident reports cannot be made public until an investigation is complete. Because of a variety of factors, such as the number of people involved and the scope of the investigation, there are no set timelines for when such materials become accessible to the public, she said.
The exact protocols have yet to be determined, Kelly said, mentioning the six days he had to transition to his mayoral role after winning a runoff election in April.
The local chapters of the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Brotherhood of Police Officers endorsed Kelly’s opponent, Kim White, during the mayoral runoff election this spring.
Kelly said his administration will be looking at the Violence Reduction Initiative, one of former mayor Andy Berke’s signature programs, that was launched in 2014 to reduce gang violence. The VRI was based on a policing strategy known as “focused deterrence,” which targets violent offenders, offers them the option to seek help through social services and then prosecutes them to the fullest extent of the law if they continue to perpetuate violence.
The program, which has cost the city more than $1.5 million, produced mixed results, with gun violence remaining steady in the city but the program’s supporters saying gang-related violence has decreased.