Local police 'wait and see' as nation braces for verdict in Floyd trial

Apr. 20—As America anxiously awaits the return of a verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, charged with the murder of George Floyd, cities nationwide have braced for the potential of unrest if he is acquitted.

But in Cobb, public safety officials say so far, they have seen little reason to suspect disturbances will break out in the county.

"(Regarding) protests specifically related to the jury receiving the verdict in the George Floyd case, I'm not aware of any protest that has been scheduled or that anybody's communicated with us," said Cobb Police Chief Tim Cox.

A spokesperson for Cobb Police said the department has not received any information indicating brewing tensions.

"Absent any direct information to indicate any potential unrest," Officer Shenise Barner said in an email, "we are not making any changes to our current daily work schedules."

Barner noted the department is maintaining an unspecified number of units available to support neighboring jurisdictions, such as the Atlanta Police Department, if needed. During protests last summer in Atlanta, Cobb Police were sent to the city to help manage protests there. But the department pulled out of the effort when APD officers were charged by then-Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard following the highly publicized traffic stop and tasering of two college students.

Ben Williams, president of the Cobb Southern Christian Leadership Conference, similarly said he's not aware of any planned demonstrations. He and fellow activists, however, have been "tuned in" to the proceedings in Minneapolis.

"The trial is going very well," Williams said. "But regrettably, the adage that justice is blind has not been the case when it comes to Black folks."

Most impactful to Williams has been the willingness of Chauvin's fellow officers to break their silence and speak out directly against his actions. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria testified that Chauvin's actions "absolutely" violated departmental policy.

"The blue line is not as strong as it used to be. The police chief, and a number of other officers in that department have come forward and said, 'Nah, we don't—we don't do that,'" Williams said.

The sentiment was shared by Sally Riddle of the Cobb Coalition for Public Safety, who called the "break in the blue wall" the "most positive" development of the trial.

Riddle likewise said she hadn't heard of anything planned locally—yet—but wanted to encourage potential demonstrators to not take out their potential anger over a verdict on local police.

"I would certainly hope that people, again, would take into account that this did not happen locally here," she said. "We have citizen groups, including the NAACP, SCLC (and) our group, that have positive working relationships with our police departments, and that they'll hopefully take that into account."

Officer Chuck McPhilamy of the Marietta Police Department said his department is in the same mode as the rest of the country—"wait and see."

"I think the average person ... has seen more than enough of these cases over history to know that there's no way to know what all the facts are that the jury has heard, nor do they know what the jury will decide," McPhilamy said Tuesday. "And that there's no point in really making any preparations until we know what that outcome is."

He added that if there are demonstrations in Cobb County, he hopes that as they did last summer, protestors remain peaceful.

"We are pleased to report that Marietta has had a very long history of peaceful protests. And we would hope that if there were any need for that, our history would follow through and that the community would work with us to safely voice any concerns they had."