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The Decatur City Council met Thursday to discuss 400 additional hours for Green Research and Technology, and its co-founder and CEO Tory Green, to complete a third-party review of the Decatur Police Department. The resolution passed 4-1, with only Councilman Hunter Pepper voting no.
“I’m not going to support this today because obviously, the individual who represents that company is not present today. I have questions regarding his agency and the people who work for that agency,” Pepper said.
The City Council hired the Huntsville-based company in July following the Sept. 29 fatal shooting of Steve Perkins by a Decatur police officer. Community members have been demonstrating since the event, and interactions between the Decatur police and demonstrators are also being reviewed by Green Research and Technology.
Earlier this week, during a city council meeting, Green spoke to the council and expressed the demand that the review had presented, explaining that every hour of footage represents two to two-and-a-half hours of review.
Green could not say much more about the review’s progress due to a non-disclosure agreement but said he believes the review will be completed by the original deadline of Jan. 1.
So far, Green Research and Technology has talked to about 40 of about 70 citizens they planned to interview while reviewing about 280 hours of video from officers’ body cameras.
“Some of the stuff that’s left is interviewing people on this dias as well as people in the police department. We want to see that full picture of the police department; this is what they need, so I’ll support it,” Councilman Kyle Pike said.
The initial contract allotted 750 hours minimum of review at $285 an hour. The additional approved hours will bring the total cost of this review up to over $300,000. The funding for this review comes from the General Fund’s Unassigned Balance, not DPD’s funding.
Council President Pro Tempore Carlton McMasters raised questions about whether this might be the only addition to the contract or if more hours would be needed in the future.
“Our focus should be to get to the bottom of it, to make sure that there is a complete review of our department, and if it takes more time, it takes more, as far as I’m concerned,” Councilman Billy Jackson said.
Pepper questioned the span of the review, what timespan were they reviewing and what reports were being looked into. Council President Jacob Ladner explained that Green Research and Technology was reviewing reports dating to the beginning of 2023.
