Decatur Police Chief Todd Pinion told AL.com today that he does not plan to leave his post any time soon as community protestors continue to demand his resignation.

A city council vote to keep Pinion on as chief was deadlocked yesterday at 3-2, with Councilors Carlton McMasters and Hunter Pepper backing Pinion and Council President Jacob Ladner voting for his removal along with Councilors Billy Jackson and Kyle Pike.

“I hear their concerns and respect their opinions,” Pinion said.

“We are united in our desire for our community to thrive. I have been and am still committed to leading this department.”

Calls for Pinion’s resignation began after the police shooting death of Stephen Perkins, a 39-year-old Black man, on his lawn in the early hours of September 2023.

The police officer who shot Perkins, Bailey Marquette, is facing murder charges following a grand jury indictment and has been fired from his job.

Late last month, Huntsville-based Green Research Technology published a review commissioned by the city in response to calls for reform. It found that Decatur police wrongly charged people for disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice.

Green Research interviewed 55 community members and 53 police department personnel and reviewed over 300 hours of body-worn camera (BWC) footage.

“There were instances where DPD facilitated Disorderly Conduct arrest improperly and described the facts of the arrest differently in their arrest report compared with what was observed and communicated during the BWC review,” the report stated.

“In these situations, DPD officers often used their justification of ‘giving a lawful order’ as the reason for making the (Obstruction of Government Operations) OGO charge, even when their ‘lawful order’ was questionable.”

In a meeting at Decatur’s City Hall after its release, Pinion publicly responded to the report, and said that “mistakes were made.”

“In the days and weeks ahead, I will continue to look for areas of improvement and changes that can be made,” he said.

At yesterday’s meeting, protest group Standing in Power once again pleaded with city councilors to remove Pinion.

“Yes, we want him out,” said group co-founder Terrance Adkins.

“Because even with the report, even before the report, there are things that he could have done that are minute changes between the department and different places, different people, and places in Decatur, and he decided not to do that.”

A majority vote of 4-1 would be required from the council to make any changes to the position of police chief, according to Ladner.

“The question I had to ask was: Can the chief lead us through this very difficult time?” Ladner said.

“If the answer is yes, I got to know what is the evidence to support that. And I just haven’t seen that unfortunately, over the last 16 months.”