A recommendation from the city’s crime task force states that, “Supervisory powers over the chief of police need to be immediately delegated to the mayor.”

The question is, how does the Selma City Council make that happen?

The council met Tuesday to discuss the crime task force’s recommendations. It focused on the chain of command between Mayor James Perkins Jr. and Police Chief Robert Green.

Perkins created the crime task force in October to examine Selma’s crime problem and form solutions. The task force returned in December with recommendations, which included the chain of command issue.

“How are we as a council defining who has what authority to do what?” asked Councilwoman Bennie Ruth Crenshaw. “Right now I feel that it’s a pull with who has the power to do what.”

Crenshaw added that the council should ask Perkins and Green for their understanding of the task force’s recommendation.

Council President George Evans agreed. Evans said he would contact Perkins and Green for clarification of the recommendation. “I need to ask them to communicate with the council in relation to this action,” he said.

Evans added that he would ask both men to respond before the council’s March 22 meeting.

The decision to contact Perkins and Green stemmed from the council’s Tuesday discussion. On Tuesday Councilman James Durry said he had heard that a chain of command didn’t exist between Perkins and Green. “Police officers say that they’ll do whatever the mayor asks, and the mayor says that communication doesn’t exist,” Durry said. “That seems to be the real meat of the problem right there.”

Crenshaw, though, said she had heard that no lines of communication existed between the mayor’s office and police department. She then suggested the council hear from Perkins and Green about the issue. “We all know problems exist,” she said. “We don’t need to be evasive about that.”

Durry compared the situation to one of teacher and principal. He said that a teacher is subordinate to the principal, but that the teacher had control of his class. Neither principal nor superintendent would come into the class and take control, he noted. “It’s true in the case of the police and who is under Green and who is over him,” Durry said. “Chief Green should know where his responsibility begins and where it ends. Maybe there are other motives involved. After all, this is a political year.”