Jul. 3—”A thorough and complete” third-party review of the Decatur Police Department will cost at least $213,750 and is scheduled to be be completed by Jan. 1, but city officials said it won’t include a a review of the fatal police shooting of Steve Perkins.

The City Council voted 4-0 at Monday’s meeting to hire Green Research & Technology to conduct an independent review of the Police Department. Councilman Hunter Pepper was absent, but he said recently he supports the third-party review.

The review has been a demand of those critical of the city’s handling of the Sept. 29 shooting of Perkins. A grand jury indicted police officer Mac Marquette for murder.

Mayor Tab Bowling fired Marquette and two other officers while suspending another. The four officers have appealed the disciplinary actions to the Personnel Board.

Councilman Billy Jackson pointed out that there have been discussions about the need for a third-party review of DPD since October and he praised Council President Jacob Ladner for finally “grabbing the bull by the horns” and pushing the review to fruition.

Claudette Owens, a pastor at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Decatur, thanked the council for moving forward on the third-party review.

“It’s a bad perception and a bad look (for the Police Department),” Owens said. “We appreciate the review. I pray that this review will at least get things going right when it comes to the Police Department, and there’s other departments we need to look at as well.”

Ladner said the review is meant to be thorough and “much more complete” than a Mobile review last year. A team of investigators led by former U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown looked at six police responses in that review. Brown released the report in May. After the review the Mobile police chief was placed on administrative leave and was later terminated.

“That review was very specific toward the use of force,” Ladner said. “Ours will be much more broad.”

Police Chief Todd Pinion said he supports the third-party independent review of his Police Department.

“As I’ve stated before, I will always support any initiative that brings the potential of improving our day-to-day efforts of the Police Department. We believe this is one more step in our promise to become more transparent and communicate more effectively with our community in Decatur,” Pinion said.

According to the agreement, the city will pay Green Research $285 an hour for a minimum of 750 hours. In return, Green will:

—Review Police Department policies and procedures and make recommendations if needed.

—Assess DPD culture.

—Review citizen review board appointment procedures and make recommendations.

—Review body camera footage and corresponding police reports.

—Review Internal Affairs processes to develop any recommendations.

The city agrees to provide selected body camera footage, police reports, Internal Affairs reports and current policies and procedures.

City Attorney Herman Marks, however, said the city cannot turn over camera footage or any other information related to the Marquette prosecution because Circuit Judge Charles Elliott imposed a gag order in the case. It also can’t turn over any information related to any other case that’s under investigation or involved in litigation, he said.

The agreement does not say anything about interviews of Police Department personnel, city officials, the City Council and mayor or the public.

Ladner said he intends for the review to be “fluid and open. If they want to interview someone, review emails or read reports, they can. This review should be very broad.”

Ladner said his goal in having the review is to achieve “clarity and the exact facts.”

The agreement also has a confidentiality clause that prevents Green Research from speaking publicly about its work for the city except with its monthly reports to the City Council.

Ladner said Green’s work “has to be filtered through (the city’s) Legal (Department) because they will have access to sensitive information. We’ve got to make sure it’s lawful before we release any information.”

He said the Green report will include “a lot of redactions, but if it’s legal to make it public, we will. My intent is absolute transparency as much as the law will allow.”

On Monday, several Perkins supporters said they haven’t received any responses to the many complaints they have filed against Police Department officers. Demonstrators have alleged abuse by officers responding to protests, and several of the incidents they have complained of were caught on video.

“There’s a breakdown with our complaint system,” said Michael Stovall, who has been involved in several demonstrations over the Perkins shooting and the city’s response in the aftermath. “It’s either with Human Resources, the chief of police or some kind of way because we had so many complaints and nobody has heard anything. That lets me know somebody is hiding something.”

Marks said Internal Affairs creates a report that goes to Police Chief Todd Pinion, who then consults with the Human Resources and Legal departments.

“I can’t speak for other departments, but when the Legal Department becomes aware of a concern, we’re going to do something with it,” Marks said.

Members of the public at the council meeting expressed frustration that the city allowed Lt. Joe Manuel Renshaw to retire Monday with full benefits without receiving a disciplinary hearing over allegations of misconduct stemming from his interactions with Perkins supporters.

In response to a question from Sierra Taylor, Marks said any citizen complaints about Renshaw did not make it to the Legal Department.

Marks also said the city doesn’t “let somebody retire” as Renshaw did. He said that’s a “personal decision” an employee makes if he or she has enough service time with the city to retire, which is a determination made by the Retirement Systems of Alabama.

Taylor asked Marks if she “would see Jack Brown on the street again as a police officer.” She accused Brown of punching her in March during a protest outside of Bowling’s home in Old Decatur.

Marks responded, “The Police Department can answer that better than I can, but I believe the answer is — you should not.”

In response to an inquiry by The Decatur Daily on Tuesday, Marks said after checking with the Police Department that Brown “has been reassigned temporarily to administrative duties.”

Pinion confirmed Tuesday afternoon that Brown “is on temporary administrative duties until everything is complete.”

Ladner said Green will look at Internal Affairs and its process for handling complaints.

Justin Shepherd, a neighbor of Perkins, asked Ladner what would happen if Green “finds any crimes” during its DPD review.

Ladner said Green would report any potential crimes it finds to the city and the Morgan County District Attorney’s Office.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432