Augusta, GA -- Cora Kirk is angry; she's one resident of Cherry Tree Crossing who believes Augusta doesn't care her neighborhood. “I haven't seen anybody from the city out here, these people they just want to come out here and pick up another dead body,” she said.
City leaders are asking residents to be patient.
“Praying that the community calms down I know they are frustrated they want answers they're angry I understand that everybody wants to know what happen, says Commissioner Corey Johnson.
The details of the shooting are under investigation, but the incident has Augusta’s Human Relations Commission director, Frank Thomas, saying if a citizen’s review board was in place to investigate Sheriff's Office complaints residents would have a greater trust in law enforcement.
“When things like this happen, people who are being impacted would understand that we'll just wait and see where that board comes down if it's good or bad the facts will come out a review board would work,” says Thomas.
At his new conference yesterday Sheriff Strength made clear his feelings about a citizen’s review board.
“I’m not going to have a citizen’s review board,” he said in response to a question.
Augusta Commissioners also feel now may not be the time to see the board created.
“At this point it's too early to say yeah or nay with that, maybe in a couple of weeks we'll know more about it but at this point we just don't know,” said Johnson.
Thomas tried to form a review board back in the 1990’s but the idea was never approved by the Sheriff’s Office.
For years, the Human Relations Commission has been a forum for citizen complaints, but due to Commission budget cuts, the office is shutting down after the first of the year.
Do you think there should be a citizens review board? Take our poll here:
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