Challenges to control? Atlanta's Maynard Jackson and the politics of police reform.

Abstract

This thesis uses a historical case study to examine the relationship of black mayors to the police bureaucracy by analyzing the mayoral administration of Maynard Jackson in Atlanta, Georgia from 1974 to 1981 in three police policies---police employment, the handling of police complaints and the policing of Atlanta's central business district. This analysis is structured around the following central question: what were the mechanisms that Mayor Jackson used to exercise influence over the police bureaucracy? Multiple sources were used to explore the relationship between Mayor Jackson and the police bureaucracy, including the personal papers of Maynard Jackson; archival documents from the Atlanta City Council, Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce; interviews and secondary sources. As to employment policy, the study found that formal political authority to be important for Jackson's success. Here, Jackson's goal of political control of the police at times conflicted with his goal of police professionalism. As to the handling of police complaints, the study found that Jackson differed from other blacks mayors in that he did not establish a civilian review board and that he failed to dismantle police decoy and stakeout squads. The policing of Atlanta's central business district was a policy area where Jackson did not exhibit much policy initiative, as this policy was not a central concern of his black electoral constituency. Instead, this policy area was dominated by the Atlanta business community who directed their efforts toward increasing police manpower, creating an image of a safe downtown and reducing Jackson's control over the police bureaucracy.