Pinkston opens up about VRI and strained relationship with Chattanooga city officials

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee(WDEF) – The stand-off between the Chattanooga Mayor’s office and District Attorney General is getting hotter after the city council voted to subpoena Attorney General Neal Pinkston.

The controversy started when Pinkston issued a letter explaining why the Violence Reduction Initiative doesn’t keep Chattanooga safe from gang activity.Then the tension escalated after Pinkston didn’t attend a meeting about the V-R-I with other city officials.

Pinkston explained his reaction to News 12 about the Chattanooga city council voting having him subpoenaed to speak before the council.

“I was surprised that they asked me for my opinion on what I thought about things in the VRI that were not working. I told them that with a letter and apparently that was not well received,” Pinkston said.

When the Attorney General didn’t show up for the VRI meeting on Tuesday, he was criticized by Police Chief Fred Fletcher.

“While it’s unfortunate General Pinkston couldn’t find the time to be here today along with my other teammates, as we have all managed to do. It’s even more unfortunate that General Pinkston is choosing to grandstand on such an important issue as violence in our city,” Fletcher said

“A couple of weeks ago, I reached out to the city council and said that if they wanted to meet as a whole or individually with me to talk about the VRI or anything else as far as the criminal justice system goes, I’d be more than willing to sit down and talk to them,” Pinkston said.

Hours after Pinkston issued a letter explaining why he thinks the Violence Reduction Initiative isn’t working, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke issued a written response that says,”I’m not interested in pointing fingers. I’m interested in ways we can make the city safer for Chattanoogans. Then he ended his response by saying “Unfortunately General Pinkston does not appear to be interested in doing the same.”

It was during the city meeting when council members voted to have Pinkston subpoenaed. The city attorney was not available for comment on how the city council could legally enforce a subpoena on a sitting attorney general. Instead, a city spokesperson sent News 12 a copy of the Chattanooga city charter that says the council has the right to issue subpoenas. But the charter doesn’t specifically explain how that is legally enforced on a state official.

By Wednesday afternoon, Pinkston issued this statement that reads:

In response, the mayor and police chief bashed me and eight council members voted to subpoena me although their subpoena cannot be enforced. How can the city expect a successful partnership when they treat their partners this way?

I have been at the table with them every step of the way. The concerns I raised publicly yesterday are issues I first raised behind the scenes as the initiative was being formed. I have continued to raise these issues privately with law enforcement and VRI partners throughout the past two years.

News 12 also spoke to Pinkston about the VRI and why he feels it is not reducing the amount of gang related crime in Chattanooga.

He said one reason why the Violence Reduction initiative isn’t working is because police are not building gang activity cases for his office to prosecute. There’s a criminal gang enhancer under state law that allows felonies to be increased to higher levels punishment.

“But there are categories they have to commit as a gang member; it was committed for the gang. It’s a very dense statute but there has to be evidence of all those things before it can be applied. If cases like that were brought, we could ask for higher punishment,” Pinkston said.

In other words, Pinkston is saying police are not building strong enough cases to keep violent gang members off the streets.

“Majority of the defendants who are convicted or plead guilty get some alternative form of punishment like a short time in jail, probation or community corrections or a combination of all of them. The states system is not geared for automatic incarceration,” Pinkston said.

For automatic incarceration to occur, laws will have to be changed.

“Not only prosecutors and law enforcement but the community needs to get involved if they want tougher and stricter punishment, then the way you change that is through the legislature,” Pinkston said.

Pinkston told News 12 the VRI is also not working because he has personally talked to police officers who are not buying-in the initiative. He also said the city is not using every possible means to target gang members.

Because of alleged VRI deficiencies,Pinkston is forming his own anti-gang unit to go after gang members. He said it will involve multi-agencies.

“A far more collaborative effort that involves everybody from A to Z in law enforcement that are involved in taking the Tennessee Sentencing law in to consideration when pursuing cases appropriate for state court and federal court,” Pinkston said.