APD appoints second GLBT liaison ... but what about Dani Lee Harris?

• Joeff Davis
• Former GLBT liaison Dani Lee Harris

With Atlanta Pride Festival right around the corner, police Chief George Turner and Mayor Kasim Reed made good on a pledge to the gay community and announced today that the APD has appointed a second GLBT liaison. Precinct Patrol Officer Brian Sharp will join current liaison Senior Patrol Officer Patricia Powell in, as it was put in a press release distributed this morning, “identifying issues within the community that the department needs to address — from cultural and sensitivity training to updated policies and procedures.”

“I expect Officer Sharp to expand on the great work and tireless efforts Officer Powell began in May to help us continue to build bridges of cooperation and understanding within the GLBT community,” Turner said in the release. “There is plenty for him to do. Our work truly has just begun.”

Conspicuously absent from the cheery announcement, however, was any mention of former GLBT liaison, Officer Dani Lee Harris. According to the APD, Harris has been on leave for medical reasons since early this year (although Harris insists she’s been cleared to return to work). She’s never been officially removed from her post as GLBT liaison, and the department has refused to comment on whether or not she’d be welcomed back in that capacity — or whether she’ll be welcomed back at all.

When CL contacted Harris earlier today, she was unaware that a second liaison had been hired in her absence. “That’s news to me,” Harris said. “I Still haven’t heard anything from them, but it’s good to know they officially hired another liaison. At least my attorney will believe me when I say that they weren’t trying to put me back in the position to begin with.”