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Protests Grow In Atlanta After Deadly Officer-Involved Shooting; Far Right Groups Target Anti-Racism Demonstrations In London; What School Classes Will Look Like Post-Pandemic; New COVID-19 Cases Rising In 12-Plus States; How A U.S. City Disbanded Its Police Force And Started Over. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired June 14, 2020 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen.

Nearly three weeks of nationwide protest over police brutality in the U.S. re-erupted with fury in Atlanta, Georgia, late Saturday, following the police killing of another African American man.

Atlanta police say at least 36 people were arrested during several hours of unrest Saturday, during which this fast food restaurant you're seeing was set on fire. It all began at that location, the night before, when police responded to a call of a man asleep in a vehicle.

But as they attempted to arrest him, a violent scuffle broke out and Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed.

The officer who fired the fatal shot was quickly fired and his partner put on administrative duty and the police chief was stepping down as chief. The chaos was capture on several videos. A warning, they are difficult to watch.

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ALLEN (voice-over): The first video was taken by a bystander, it shows the two officers in a tense struggle with 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says Brooks failed a field sobriety test and was resisting arrest. Brooks manages to break free of the officers after grabbing one of their Tasers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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ALLEN (voice-over): The next video taken by surveillance camera shows what happened next. Again, it is graphic. Brooks is seen running with the police chasing him. At one point he turns and appears to discharge the Taser at the officers. Moments later, he is shot. He falls to the pavement and is pronounced dead at the hospital.

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ALLEN: Atlanta's mayor said the officers were wrong to use deadly force.

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MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D-GA), ATLANTA: I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force and have called for the immediate termination of the officer.

Chief Shields has offered to immediately step aside as police chief so that the city may move forward, with urgency, in rebuilding the trust so desperately needed throughout our communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Let's go now to CNN's Dianne Gallagher live in Atlanta for us, 5:00 am, here in the morning, Dianne.

Are the streets quiet at the scene now and what perhaps is expected today?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Most of those protesters were dispersed about 3:00-3:30 this morning. Large crowds, though, throughout most of the night. We're expecting that as well today to come out, once the sun comes out, we get closer to the afternoon.

You have to remember, Natalie, there have been protests planned almost every single day since they began just about two weeks ago here in Atlanta after the death of George Floyd. So there were already protests against police brutality that were planned for Sunday in Atlanta as well as Monday, a large march on the capital.

So these protests are taking on a much larger meaning because this is someone from Atlanta, who was killed in Atlanta. So you felt that, in those protesters, that this is something that they were protesting in general and past killings.

And then during protests against police brutality, it happened to someone here, which just caused the anger that was already on the streets to kind of explode into what you saw, that Wendy's catching -- being lit on fire, shutting down the interstate.

And so, look, the expectation is there is going to be more protests; they were already planned and we're going to continue to see more of this unrest in Atlanta.

ALLEN: Absolutely. And I guess, Dianne, we should talk about the fact that this isn't the first act of police violence we have seen since protests began in Atlanta over the killing of George Floyd.

What else has happened? GALLAGHER: No, and that's something that was brought up with protesters. On the second night of protests, just about two weeks ago now, there was video that was seen pretty widely of police officers here in Atlanta.

And the words of the now former chief, manhandling two college students, who were in their vehicle, aggressively Tasing them. The young man was injured, fractured his wrist and his arm, had to get, like, 24 stitches. That was on camera.

And now six of the police officers involved in that were charged, various charges from aggravated assault to property damage; four of them were fired.

There was another incident, where a young woman was body-slammed, in her words, by the police and broke her clavicle.

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GALLAGHER: So we have seen this happen, which just exacerbated the situation for a lot of the protesters, who feel like they're not being heard and there is not enough being done.

Now something that is happening are these arrests and are these firings, something we have not seen happen so quickly in the past when it came to police and the Atlanta Police Department.

You mentioned that the police chief stepped aside, the NAACP called for her to resign just soon before she did. And so that's a start, according to the protesters, that we have spoken with. But it is not nearly enough to satisfy what they're out here marching for.

ALLEN: Dianne Gallagher, live for us here in Atlanta, thank you.

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ALLEN: Joining me now is Jerry Clayton, the sheriff of Washtenaw County, Michigan, home of Ann Arbor. He joins me now live.

Good morning to you, Sheriff. Thank you for coming on.

SHERIFF JERRY CLAYTON, WASHTENAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Thank you for having me.

ALLEN: I want to talk to you big picture about what is going on in our country right now. But first, let's talk about this incident in particular, that ended in the death of Rayshard Brooks.

Can you see a reason from what we know about the videos we have seen why this officer used deadly force on Mr. Brooks as he ran away or tried to run away?

CLAYTON: There is nothing in the images that I can see. What I will say is obviously the mayor acted swiftly. It is my assumption -- I do not know this for a fact -- she acted based on information she received because of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. She received information -- and I would assume based on that that it

was reasonable for her to believe that the force used was not appropriate, given the actions of the subject that they were encountering.

ALLEN: You have been a leader in law enforcement for decades. And you teach training to agencies around the U.S. and around the world.

What should that officer have done as someone is running away from the scene when you're trying to arrest them?

CLAYTON: So there is a transition period, so from -- when you see the first part of the video, they're in a wrestling match, both officers in a wrestling match with the subject. He grabs the Taser and, at that point, that's a critical situation.

But then he breaks free and now he starts to flee. And the officers are giving chase. So there is distance between the subject and the officer. There are two officers, not one. And even with the subject turning back and pointing the Taser, it is my belief there is time, there is space.

We know who this person is, we can know who they are, based on -- I assume they have done sobriety tests, they have asked for identification, they possibly have identification.

From what I can see, there is opportunity to apprehend this person without discharging your firearm. And that's really what we want. And at the end of the day, let's remember, the original call was a man sleeping in the Wendy's drive-through lane.

ALLEN: Absolutely. Well, at a time when Americans and the world even have been in the streets demanding, pleading for police reform and justice for the killing of black people, it is surreal, it is beyond surreal that this happens again.

How do you make sense of it?

CLAYTON: Well, it is years and years and decades and decades of conditioning, both in the profession and from societal standpoint. We have known through countless studies throughout the country that there is patterns and practices of discriminatory behavior in some agencies.

I've been part of studies where we found no pattern and practices. But it does exist. I think it would be naive of us to think, just because of the protests that have happened over the last two to three weeks that, all of a sudden, there would be this complete pivot and we would automatically stop seeing incidents like this.

This is like trying to turn a huge cruise ship around. It is going to take time. We're looking at pattern and practices, as I said, for decades and decades. And the thing we need to think about is -- I heard this mentioned earlier -- this is about culture. This is about societal culture, this is about culture in the profession.

Listen, the objective of policing is noble. There is nobility in policing. But there is not perfection in policing. And I think the profession, we, have ignored the calls of people, especially black and brown, for way too long.

And now there is voice, there is action, there is call for immediate action. But I also think we need to understand and we have to take a thoughtful and strategic approach to actually changing the culture in this profession to reflect what is expected from the community.

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ALLEN: I understand that.

What would be step one in changing the culture?

We've heard a lot of ideas talked about in this country right now, that maybe it is not always police officers that respond to certain issues. And, again, as you mentioned, it is important that police officers operate in the communities they serve.

CLAYTON: So I think it is a multitude of things. And part of it -- I hear a lot; there are sound bites, simple solutions -- this is complex. From a culture standpoint -- and this is individual organizations, so we have it look at it from the professional role. We have to start thinking about what are the basic assumptions that drive the police profession.

We're here to serve, treat people with dignity and respect, really honor and maintain the sanctity of all human life. Those are the -- how we start. And that has to be preached to everyone in the profession and reinforced.

We have law enforcement leaders that is doing that on a daily basis. There are good examples of strong police agencies. And what I mean by strong is having a really good relationship with the community, where they're building strong and sustainable communities by co-producing public safety, which is more than just law enforcement.

It is about food insecurity, housing insecurity, transportation, all of those things that police can't solve. But we should be at the table when all of those discussions are happening, so we find where we fit in that larger architecture. I think all of that is important. I want to mention one more thing, too.

The George Floyd incident sort of sparked this moment. And the moment requires immediate action and immediate impact. We want to see results. People want to see results.

But what we're on the precipice here is -- an actually police reform era. So police reform, criminal justice reform, which has already started, social justice reform, which requires the deconstruction of institutional, structural and systemic racism that is brought on by white supremacy.

Think about what we're talking about here. We're on the precipice of an enormous change, not only of this country but worldwide in terms of how we interact with people and the policing profession is just a part of that.

ALLEN: Well, we hope with your expertise and experience you'll be part of the solution. You sound like you have very good ideas about it. Sheriff Jerry Clayton, thank you for your time. Thank you.

CLAYTON: Thank you for having me.

And regarding calls to defund or reorganize police, coming up, I speak with a Yale University scholar about what that might mean and how policing America's cities may soon look very different.

Also, President Trump facing criticism for what he said or didn't say at a military graduation at West Point. That's coming up.

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ALLEN: Atlanta's chief of police has resigned. A six year veteran of the force has been fired following the police killing of another African American man in this country, identified as Rayshard Brooks.

At least 36 people were arrested late Saturday during a night of unrest in south Atlanta that left a fast food restaurant in ashes. That was where Brooks was killed the night before in a violent encounter with police.

The officer who fatally shot Brooks, seen on the left, was terminated. His partner was placed on administrative duty.

Shortly after police fired tear gas to break up the protests here in Atlanta, a cousin of Rayshard Brooks, the victim, spoke with CNN.

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JYMACO BROOKS, RAYSHARD'S COUSIN: Ignorance doesn't have a color. It doesn't have a white or a black. It's -- you either have sense or you don't. We all people.

But because you have a badge, it doesn't say, I do what I want to do. It says that you are supposed to uphold the law for people that cannot. That's what we pay taxes for. And for so many dumb reasons, this shouldn't be happening.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This right here, you're talking about the --

BROOKS: I mean, I understand the anger, I understand the hurt.

But how does it help?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Another family victimized, calling for peace at this time.

Philip McHarris is a race and policing scholar at Yale University and he joins me now live from New York.

Thank you so much.

PHILIP MCHARRIS, RACE AND POLICING SCHOLAR, YALE UNIVERSITY: Thank you for having me.

ALLEN: The lawyer of the family of Rayshard Brooks, clearly exasperated and angry, to say the least, said earlier at this point he doesn't even know what justice is anymore. Let's listen to him briefly.

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L. CHRIS STEWART, BROOKS FAMILY ATTORNEY: I can just say we want justice but I don't even care. I don't even know what that is and I've been doing this for 15 years. I don't know what justice is anymore.

Is it getting them arrested, is it getting somebody fired?

Is it a chief stepping down?

I know that this isn't justice, what's happening in society right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Poignant questions raised there by him.

So how can the United States stop what appears to be an endless cycle of police violence?

MCHARRIS: Right. What the attorney mentioned is sort of a broader problem, where the focus is on individuals and bad apples and firing police and police chiefs stepping down.

And it doesn't actually get at the structural issues. And that is that it is not a question of reforming police; it is that policing is the problem. It is that it is police power itself that is the issue and that these approaches that focus on individuals, it is not fundamentally changing or stopping police violence.

And which is why the call you hear all around the country is around defunding police, which has brought up a broader framework of investing and divesting. Defunding the police and funding community resources and institutions, we know that things that make safe communities.

It's things like employment, schools, housing, hospitals. Those are the things.

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MCHARRIS: When we look around the country, the things that made the communities the safest, it is not communities that have the most police, it is the communities with the most resources.

The other side of this is investing in alternative emergency response and conflict intervention that can get at, you know, immediate responses, where people need help or there needs to be some intervention that is not someone with a gun and a badge and immunity to murder that we continuously see these cycles.

That's the only way this is going to get broken, which is why folks are calling for defunding right now because, in the case of Rayshard Brooks, it could have been a wellness check team that could have responded to this instance to see if he was all right, not somebody that came that ultimate led to him being murdered.

ALLEN: Right, absolutely. In your research, Philip, I read you focused on one federal housing unit in Brooklyn.

Can you share some of that?

MCHARRIS: Yes, right, it is a housing building. In this building, as we speak, there is no gas in the entire building. The elevator malfunctions. In the building, hazard and neglect has run amok.

But at the same time, I was there last night there and there is three police cars, one on the corner, another one across the street and one directly in front of the building with the lights flashing throughout the night.

And all of those resources -- and there has been federal, state and city level neglect at the building that has led to the conditions today. If we begin to defund the police and invest in actual communities, we can make safer communities.

The other important piece of this is also decriminalization because there is a reason why the United States incarcerates the most people in the world. Political leaders and legislators on both sides of the political spectrum, Democrats and Republicans alike, have basically criminalized everything from homelessness to mental health to drug abuse to poverty to survival, sex work.

And so we see what has happened in previous decades is that police have increasing opportunities to be violent towards people because everything is criminalized. Police are called for everything, which is why we need to develop alternative emergency response and conflict intervention because, right now, police are responding to everything.

And they come with a gun and a badge and license to kill. And what we see right now is that we need to decriminalize to remove contact. The only way that you can prevent an instance of police violence from not occurring is to prevent and avert the encounter altogether.

It is the only guarantee. The training, the diversity, the community policing, the body cameras do not work. Police reform began in the early 1900s. It has been 120 years of police trying to reform themselves.

Community policing emerged in the '70s. It's been 50 years of the procedural justice of the community policing, all of it has not worked. And while police have just gained more and more resources to become violent, it is not just the police killings, because that's what you see on camera, that becomes sensationalized.

It is the everyday routine interactions that are violent, police jumping out of cars with guns, the sexual assault, the second most commonly reported misconduct for police, the third of which is domestic violence.

So this issue, police are not reformable.

How many people have to die to see that this issue cannot be fixed?

Tony McDade, Kiwi Herring, Breonna Taylor, Renisha McBride, Korryn Gaines, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Tamir Rice, how many people have to die?

Michael Brown --

(CROSSTALK)

MCHARRIS: -- how many people have to die?

This issue is not going to be fixed.

ALLEN: Let's not forget Walter Scott, gunned down as he ran away from a traffic stop in South Carolina five years ago.

I want to ask you this, when you hear police say, well, the problem is there just needs to be more training, more diversity, people applying must be vetted more carefully, these are just a few bad eggs, we've heard that so many times.

What do you say to that?

MCHARRIS: This is the equivalent of the house that is fundamentally built on an unsound foundation, with structural issues that are irreconcilable. And attempts to date have been trying to paint the room, redo the siding, redo the lawn, change a light bulb. It is not fundamentally changing the structure.

We have to unearth this entire system, which is why Minneapolis is leading the way in dismantling the entire police department and completely reimagining public safety as we know it.

That's led by communities, because we can have violence interruption, domestic violence support and intervention, wellness check teams. There is a wide variety of ways. But we also have to deal with the fact that, from 1960, there was $2 billion spent on policing.

In 2018, there was $137 billion spent on policing. And there is literally no correlation between rises in police expenditure and reduction in what is called -- what is referred to as crime or -- including violent crime. And so we have -- for all of this money, there is nothing to show for it in terms of creating public safety. It is an idea.

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MCHARRIS: But what we do have is police forces with increased capacity and resources and qualified immunity and extremely powerful police unions and also things like pretextual stops, which allow police to turn traffic stops into fishing expeditions.

Why is it they were called on someone who is parked?

Or in the case of Walter Scott?

The criminalization of everything, including driving, homelessness, sex work that leads to all of these issues and increased police contact, the only way -- political leaders and legislators listening, if you're not looking for every single way to reduce criminal legal codes that criminalize people, that bring people into contact with communities, you do not care about black people.

You do not care about marginalized people, do not care about poor people. This is leading the people dying. Every single day, people are being dying, brutalized, harassed, you know.

And it is this issue cannot be fixed. It is unfixable. You have to unearth it and reimagine public safety entirely as we know it. That has to be led by communities.

If not, politicians are actually only invested in maintaining their own power and positions and not actually restructuring society and restructuring the conditions that give birth to this. And that is at the core of what it is because business owners and property owners and class privilege communities that feel safe, politicians are afraid of -- those groups at the expense of people dying.

ALLEN: We certainly understand that this is an area that you are studying there at Yale. We wish you the best. Thank you so much for your expertise. It just all makes so much sense, what you say. Philip McHarris, thank you so much.

MCHARRIS: Thank you for having me.

ALLEN: Protests against police brutality sprung up again Saturday in cities across the U.S. as activists keep the pressure on for change. We'll have more about that next.

Also, clashes in London Saturday, between police and far right demonstrators holding a counter-protest near an anti-racism rally. We take you live to London with more.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news. ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and

around the world. I'm Natalie Allen live from CNN Center.

A night of violent protests in south Atlanta has led to dozens of arrests following the deadly police shooting of an African American man.

Late Saturday, this fast food restaurant was set on fire; that was the location where 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed the night before during an encounter with Atlanta police.

The officer who fatally shot Brooks on the left here was immediately fired from the police force. His partner was placed on administrative duty. And Atlanta's chief of police stepped down over the incident.

As crowds infuriated by Brooks' death marched in Atlanta, many others were on streets in other parts of the country, once again protesting police brutality.

Here's the scene in New York Saturday. Demonstrators are calling for police reform and racial equality, something they have been doing for many days now. The governor of New York is pushing local governments to redesign their own police forces.

And in Washington, peaceful protesters marched through the city and onto a highway, where they kneeled for a moment in solidarity.

Demonstrations also took place in New Orleans; Montpelier, Vermont; and Seattle, Washington.

London police say they made more than 100 arrests Saturday as far right groups held rival protests near anti-racism demonstrators. At times the far right protesters threw bottles at police and some scuffled with officers. Authorities had urged people to stay away from the rallies because of the threat of violence from this group.

Statues and monuments in that area of the capital were boarded up and police imposed a curfew in an effort to avoid unrest. For more on the demonstrations and what was behind it, let's is bring in Salma Abdelaziz.

Good morning to you. The monuments, that was the focus of why these people came out.

What more can you tell us?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: That's absolutely right, Natalie. I'm going to start by telling you where I am today. That big gray box behind me there, that is actually Winston Churchill's statue. That's been boarded up.

And that's why right wing demonstrators say they were out here yesterday, here according to them to protect cultural heritage sites, to protect monuments like this one. It transpired into clashes with the police. We were here yesterday when there was a few hundred of them, hurling

insults, acting aggressively toward policemen and the media. It devolved into cat and mouse in the streets alongside me here.

And also about 100 people were arrested, some clashes and some minor injuries. But the important thing to remember is that the Black Lives Matter movement canceled yesterday's demonstrations specifically because they did not want to be involved in what transpired here yesterday.

It was very important to them that they don't be tarnished with the image of the violence that played out in some of the streets of London yesterday and that their movement is known, as it has been, for being largely peaceful.

And they have been sharing images of what happened here yesterday, among Black Lives Matter protesters and supporters and they have been saying we're glad we didn't come out, we're glad we didn't stay home. It looks to us like they were ready to pick a fight.

But they're going to tell you that all of this is a distraction to them. They feel like these few hundred people, these fringe right wing groups, are getting into the story but really they're pulling away from the actual issues, which is the anti-racism movement that is picking up momentum here -- Natalie.

ALLEN: And, Salma, the supporters, most of them, of Black Lives Matter, stayed home.

But what did they have to say about what happened there?

ABDELAZIZ: That's right, Natalie. Most of them did stay home. There was a small group of people, very small group of people who did come to Hyde Park yesterday. They dispersed quite peacefully.

I spoke to some of the activists and asked them why they came out, though the movement told people to stay home. They said because they didn't want to be afraid. They didn't want to be cowed by the right wing protesters who were a few streets away. They wanted to make a statement of defiance.

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ABDELAZIZ: But by and large, again, Black Lives Matter staying home yesterday. And what they're saying now is we need to start thinking about what the next step in this movement is.

We need to pull away from these conversations with the radical fringe groups of the Right and start focusing on the task at hand, which is tackling systemic racism in this country.

ALLEN: All right, Salma Abdelaziz, thank you very much.

U.S. cities and states are deciding what school will look like in the age of COVID-19. The new normal in store for Houston, Texas, students. We'll have a report next. (MUSIC PLAYING)

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ALLEN: It was once the virus epicenter but New York state is now reporting its lowest number of new COVID-19 deaths since the outbreak began. Still, the virus is surging in more than one dozen other U.S. states now, some reporting their highest daily number of cases yet.

Overall, the country has suffered more than 2 million infections and more than 115,000 deaths.

Across the world, India has just reported 12,000 new cases; that is the country's largest single day spike so far.

Cities and states in the U.S. are deciding what school may look like in this new normal. Rhode Island and Vermont plan to have full in- person classes while, in New York, the mayor says schools should prepare for a mix of in-person and online classes in the fall.

And CNN got a firsthand look at changes in store for Houston, Texas, where COVID hospitalizations are at their highest to date. Bianna Golodryga reports.

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GRENITA LATHAN, HSD INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT: So we're going to check my temperature first.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is how students at Harvard Elementary School in Houston and likely other schools across the country, will be greeted when doors eventually reopen.

LATHAN: It's 97.7.

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GOLODRYGA: Mandatory temperature checks.

Next, they follow a carefully marked path to the PPE station, where each student is given their own face mask that must be worn throughout the day. Interim Houston Superintendent Graneta Lathen, who oversees the largest school district in Texas, with about 210,000 students, has quite literally weathered many past storms.

LATHAN: I want to remind people, we're still recovering from 2017 when Hurricane Harvey hit. And now we're being hit by Covid-19.

GOLODRYGA: But safely reopening schools in the middle of a pandemic is no doubt her biggest challenge yet.

LATHAN: This virus has stumped me, I will tell you the truth.

GOLODRYGA: She gave CNN a first-hand look at just how daunting that challenge is by walking us through the city's oldest school to show us how educators, together with health officials, are preparing guidelines for what students and teachers can expect to see when they return.

LATHAN: So this is one of our classrooms.

GOLODRYGA: Classrooms will be significantly smaller with two or even one student per table.

LATHAN: As we think about having just about 11 students in a classroom at a time.

GOLODRYGA: Cafeterias will be less crowded, with some meals served in classrooms instead. Those familiar tables, meant to seat a large group, will now be used by just a few students at a time.

LATHAN: Initially, I believe it's going to be a prepackaged lunch.

GOLODRYGA: Hallway traffic will be regulated. And instead of students filing out together when that bell rings, it will be teachers transitioning from class to class.

And then there's the question about recess.

LATHAN: Recess will look differently. And the way it will look is we will have a reduced number of students out on the playground. We'll need to make sure that we're cleaning all of our playground equipment throughout the day.

GOLODRYGA: It's a blueprint being modeled in other large school districts, including for the two million students in Los Angeles. The L.A. County Office of Education released its guidelines that include staggered days, one-way hallways and solo play.

It's not just schools that are being refitted. Approximately 480,000 school buses transport more than 25 million students to and from school each day across the country. This is how social distancing will look for many of those passengers.

LATHAN: As you can see, we've labeled our seats so where we would space students out.

GOLODRYGA: All of this change comes with a hefty price tag.

GOLODRYGA (on camera): Reconfiguring schools, reconfiguring school buses, all of this costs a lot of money. How does this play out in the end?

MICHAEL CASSERLY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COUNCIL OF THE GREAT CITY SCHOOLS: Well, a little bit of federal money is starting to come down to take care of at least some of those initial costs, but on the horizon is costs that are much, much larger.

GOLODRYGA (voice over): Most experts envisioned the school year beginning with a hybrid of both online and in-person classes. The priority, they say, is opening their doors for the most vulnerable. CASSERLY: We're most worried about students who are economically disadvantaged, students who are English language learners, students with disabilities, students who don't have Internet at home.

GOLODRYGA (on camera): We're seeing this back drop of that playground and I'm sure children will be seeing that and say, I want to go back to school. I want to see my friends.

What is your message to those kids and their families?

LATHAN: To be patient. Allow us an opportunity to finalize our plan, to ensure that students can be on the playground, they can be in the classroom, in our cafeteria, on our buses. But just to be patient with us.

GOLODRYGA: For CNN, Bianna Golodryga, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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ALLEN: Let's talk about the spike in COVID cases we're seeing in just about 19 or 21 states here in the U.S. I'm joined by Dr. Sian Griffiths from Oxford, England.

Thank you for talking with us. Good to see you, Doctor.

DR. SIAN GRIFFITHS, EMERITUS PROFESSOR, CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: Nice to see you.

ALLEN: Well, if things continue on the current trend, estimates are that United States will lose 20,000 to 30,000 Americans a month.

Is there anything in the foreseeable future that may prevent these deaths?

GRIFFITHS: Basically what we need to do is we need to remember there are rules of hygiene. And this is a combination of things that needs to be done by people themselves.

So wearing face coverings when you're out, washing your hands and keeping social distance. But it is also about creating safe environments. You were just talking about social distancing in schools. The same goes for social distancing in workplaces, taking precautions on public transport.

We have to put prevention up there because prevention is our main armament at the moment. In time, there will be a vaccine. Once we are vaccinated, that will make life a lot easier. But until we have a vaccine, it is still those non-pharmaceutical interventions which are going to make a difference.

ALLEN: Right, the problem is states continue to open up as these cases spike.

[05:45:00] ALLEN: Here is an example, the state of South Carolina was among the last states to issue a stay-at-home order. On May 4th, among the first to reopen. It just recorded 770 new cases yesterday, the highest daily it ever had. And the governor says the lockdown will not return.

The chief of the health system there says people aren't social distancing and they're not wearing masks.

So what could that mean for this one state in the near future?

GRIFFITHS: Well, from my perspective, sitting here in Oxford, that isn't a good story to hear. Really the politicians need to recognize that this virus is a dangerous pathogen. It hits the most vulnerable in society.

And it is their civic duty to things such as encourage social distancing, mask wearing, such as reinforce the stay-at-home policies until the levels of disease are lower because, if we don't get on top of the disease, we will continue to see it wreaking havoc across our communities.

ALLEN: We're seeing people -- a lot of people protest that they don't want to wear masks. They think it is an infringement on their liberty.

But remind us, what -- how many people can one person infect, who has coronavirus, potentially?

GRIFFITHS: The way we look at the infection rate is we talk about an R number. If R is 0, that means there are not enough people in the community passing on the infection for it to grow.

If R is greater than 1 and it goes up to say, 3, that means every person can infect three people -- you get an exponential increase in the number of people.

So it really -- the way we tell how infectious a community is, is by looking at that R0, the reproduction rate and that's calculated by looking at the numbers of cases, numbers of deaths and other factors as well.

ALLEN: Another issue of concern, other than states seeing spikes, is President Trump is resuming his rallies again next week. The governor here in Georgia, which has seen an uptick in cases, will allow for sports and conventions July 1.

What risks will this pose?

GRIFFITHS: It will pose risks for people if they get together without those hygiene messages. Wearing face coverings, in crowded situations, is the World Health Organization recommendation. And it has been adopted, even here in the U.K.

We have been slow but the recommendation has been adopted. That protects other people, should you have the infection.

And the problem with this disease is that you may feel perfectly well but it is -- there is an asymptomatic, you have no symptoms, you're out there, in a crowded situation, like a rally or demonstration. And you can be infecting people around you.

So wear a face covering, wash your hands, keep the distance between you. Crowds at the current time, particularly in your states that you are mentioning, where the rate is still continuing to grow, there is a risk.

And it is often maybe not a risk to young people but it is a particular risk to the vulnerable, older people, people who already have pre-existing disease. And we also know there is an increased risk to black and ethnic minority groups. So I think it is really the civic duty to maintain the public health approach to controlling COVID.

ALLEN: Sian Griffiths, we appreciate your expertise, thank you.

GRIFFIN: Thank you.

ALLEN: And next here, with the calls to defund and disband police departments growing louder and louder, we look at one city that did just that. And what lessons can be learned from it.

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ALLEN: Nearly three weeks of nationwide protests over police brutality in the U.S. has thousands of Americans calling for police departments to have their budgets cut or be completely disbanded. One town is laying out the blueprint for that. Here is CNN's Gary Tuchman in Camden, New Jersey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Did you disband the Camden Police Department?

SCOTT THOMSON, RETIRED POLICE CHIEF, CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY: Yes. And so in at the end of 2012. In early 2013, every member of the Camden City Police Department was fired, including myself. And a new police force called the Camden County Police Force was created and it was staffed.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Scott Thomson is the recently retired police chief. The disbanded city police force met no more police union and the ability to make new work directives. The union is now back, but the work directives and new traditions remain innovative like this.

(CROSSTALK)

TUCHMAN: Serving barbecue or ice cream is a regular feature of the community oriented policing that is done here in Camden. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fair am I, can you high five me?

TUCHMAN: For the nearly 400 cops in the city of roughly 77,000, are expected to walk the streets and personally get to know those they are policing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's our future recruit right there.

TUCHMAN: Crime is still a problem here, but violent crime is way down since a high point in 2012 when the City Police Department was disbanded. Homicides down by about 63 percent as of last year. And the Department says excessive force complaints against police are down 95 percent. All amid this directive.

THOMSON: You will use force as an absolute last resort and you will deescalate. There must be an attempt to deescalate a situation prior to using force.

TUCHMAN: This video from a few years back shows an example of that policy. A man flailing a knife inside a store. He continued doing so outside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the knife.

TUCHMAN: It's a dangerous situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the knife.

TUCHMAN: But police stayed calm and let it play out on the downtown streets. It looks like a bizarre parade.

THOMSON: They envelop the individual and they walk five city blocks without using deadly force.

[05:55:00]

TUCHMAN: The suspect was safely apprehended.

(on-camera): There's another very notable principle to abide by if you're a Camden County police officer. And that is you're mandated to notify a supervisor if a fellow cop violates any of these directives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to intervene, that officers do something wrong at that moment, it is your job, because if not yours wrong as an officer, that's good.

TUCHMAN: So one of these two guys, I know you guys wouldn't do this, but heard someone and they were being peaceful. He would report them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would, I would probably take the badge right off his chest at that moment because it says service to yourself. And he's not carrying (INAUDIBLE) through that.

TUCHMAN: And you do the same thing to him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes sir, absolutely sir. I expect nothing less. TUCHMAN (voice-over): This reimagine police force gets a lot of attention here.

(on-camera): You've heard what's going on in the country right now with cops?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN: Do you think you're cops here in Camden are different?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they are very different. They treat us nice, light. And they're very cool with us.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): There is criticism, though, that the Camden County police force doesn't have enough minority officers, isn't transparent enough and may not be responsible for the crime drop.

Kevin Barfield is the President of the local NAACP.

KEVIN BARFIELD, PRESIDENT, CAMDEN COUNTY NAACP: The crime statistics have been going down throughout the state of New Jersey and has been going down within the nation. So I would not credit that with the policing programs that have or supposed to be taking place right now.

TUCHMAN: The former police chief says the department can improve while keeping its principles.

THOMSON: I think that most of the police officers here, get it. Every once in a while, we get one that doesn't. And we move swiftly and with certainty to remove them from the force.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Camden, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen in Atlanta. Thank you for watching. Our coverage continues next with "NEW DAY."