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The Chronicle
Volume41,Number 1 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, September 11, 2014
More cops being equipped
with small body cameras
BY CHANEL DAVIS
THE CHRONICLE
Officers of Winston-Salem
Police Department will soon be
recording more of their interac
tions with the public with body
cameras. Police Chief Barry
Rountree announced Aug. 28 at
an East
Winston
communi
ty meet
ing.
"We
are in the
phase of
updating
our cam
era nroiect
Rountree an(j (rain.
ing our
officers," Rountree said. "In-car
video only captures about 85 to
90 percent of what an officer
does. Most of his or her activi
ties are going to be out of the
vehicle. This (the body camera)
is priceless because in certain
situations we can say, 'Yes this
happened' or 'No. it didn't hap
pen.' We have an unbiased wit
ness with the video recording."
Local officers with the
Downtown Bike Patrol divi
sion, D.W.I. Task Force and
Traffic Enforcement Unit have
been using Axon Flex Body
cameras since 2012. Ninety
five additional cameras have
been purchased on top of the 35
already in use. The new cam
eras will be used by school
resource officers, the K-9 divi
sion and officers in the patrol
division and street crimes unit.
Made by Taser
International. Inc., Axon Rex
cameras are about the size of a
thumb drive and can be affixed
to an officer's sunglasses, shirt
collar or a shoulder mount.
Officers also carry a pager-size
device that must be pressed to
actuate recording.
"This camera goes with me
anywhere I go and captures the
event from the beginning to the
end," said the Support Services
Bureau's Sgt. L. Scott Wright,
who has been using a camera
since 2012 and is now charged
with training officers on camera
usage and procedures.
The cameras cost about
$500 a piece and can store up to
12 hours of video at a time. The
video captured is uploaded
after every shift and stored on a
Cloud-like system. Officers
can't edit or alter the video. The
videos will be kept for at least
90 days.
The camera does require
manual activation by the officer
and has a 30 second buffer
See Cameras on A8
Photo by C hand Davrs
Sgt. L. Scott Wright wears a camera on his sunglasses.
Graduation
rates slip at
Parkland
and WSPA
BY CHANEL DAVIS
THE CHRONICLE
Countywide, graduation rates
increased for the seventh straight
year, but Parkland High School and
Winston-Salem Preparatory
Academy saw their rates slip from
2013 to 2014.
The drop was significant at
WSPA, from 94.4 percent in 2013 to
?7S A n?r,-..nl
I pWlVV-iit
this year. The
school's rate
has ebbed and
flowed. It was
100 percent in
2012 and 77.1
percent the
year before
that.
"This year
we took a
drop, but if
you go back
and look at our
overall rates,
we have had
good rates, and
then we
bounce back,
and we are
going to
bounce back,"
said Principal
Richard Watts.
Watts said
that because
the school is so
small - only
236 students -
one or two stu
dents not grad
uating has a
huge impact of
the graduation
ratp
"We have
to make sure
the freshmen stay with us. graduate
with us," he said. "We have to do a
better job of keeping our freshmen
on target, which means that if our
freshmen are at a 1.5 grade point
average, we have to do something
different to make sure they get their
grade point average up to a 2.0."
Parkland saw only a small
decrease, from 82 percent to 79.3
percaqt. vdiichis still better than its
ratespfrom through 2012.
O {J] See Schook on A2
Hardy
Taylor
Watts
Photos b> Chanel Davis
Ben Tennille
from H.O.P.E.
of Winston
Salem speaks
with Ariyonia
McCain.
Below: Jamaal
Bowden speaks
with Natasha
Lawrence about
the Life Line
Shoebox proj
ect.
Agencies seek a few good Rams
BY CHANEL DAVIS
I HI CHRONICLE
To help those who are looking to help
others, Winston-Salem State University
held its annual Fall Student Involvement
Fair on Aug. 27.
Representatives from several agen
cies in need of volunteers set-up displays
near the breezeway of the Thompson
Student Services Center. Some universi
ties require students to complete volun
teer hours as a requirement of gradua
tion. Although students in the the WSSU
Honors College must complete 30 hours
of volunteer service a year, there is no
general volunteering requirement at the
school.
LaMonica Sloan, director of Career
Development Services, said Rams have
always been good about volunteering on
their own.
"We never have an issue of students
completing service." Sloan said. "Last
year, for those that reported it, there were
See Volunteers on A7
Pharmacist is offering customers an alternative
BY CHANEL DAVIS
THE CHRONICLE
At Southside Discount Pharmacy. Ahunna Freeman
wants to change the way pharmacists deal with customers.
"I was a retail pharmacist for nine years, and I realized
that more could be done than what the chain was offering."
Freeman said. "People need help understanding their medi
cines. Some people actually wanted to know more but the
biggest problem was the time. (I wanted to) take the time to
Sec Freeman on A2
Ahunna Freeman
<L
V
Photos by Chanel
Da\i*
Southside
Discount
Pharmacy
is located
i n
Southeast
Plaza.
ASSURED HMsl
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of Winston-Salem, LLC H
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