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Athens' Police Chief Cleveland Spruill Holds Community Town Hall Meeting

Phot courtesy: Jimena Vaegas Pacora

Athens’ new Police Chief addressed members of the community at a Town Hall meeting Thursday evening. Chief Cleveland Spruill said he wanted to let residents know where he stands on issues.

“I want to share my vision for the department, talk to them about what I will set as the expectations for my officers, how we’re going to go about policing,” Spruill said.

In addition, Spruill wants to find out more about the community.

“I also want to hear from the community, what they’re expectations of the police department are. So, this is line with exactly what I plan to do for the first few months in office is get out into the community and share that vision, but also more importantly, is to listen.”

Attendees like Kimberly Davis thought it was important to hear from the chief about a particular issue.

“ I want to hear more about how he plans to relate to the African American community because I know with our previous chief who was fired, there were some in the rank and file who questioned his relationship to some of our African American leaders,” according to Davis. “I want to make sure that our chief understands how important it is that he builds those relationships.”

Others, like attendee David Sharpe, had no specific concerns, but wanted to get a sense of the new leader’s priorities.

“I just decided to come and see what this was going to be all about.”

Chief Spruill, a Johns Hopkins University graduate, said last night’s event, hosted by the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement at the Athens Library, was the first of many such gatherings he’s planning to attend throughout the city.

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