Photo by Erin Mizelk for The Chronicle
Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines, left, and some members of the Faith-based Coalition show a "Black
. Lives Matter" T-shirt at the "Black Lives Matter Late Night Musical" event on Friday, March 27. (L-R)
* Members shown are Elder Lamonte Williams, pastor of Diggs Memorial United Holy Church; Council
" Member Derwin Montgomery; Police Chief Barry Rountree; and Winston-Salem NAACP President S.
Wayne Patterson.
Lives
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Joines praised Rountree
for his efforts to build rela
tionships in the community.
"You do it to prevent
problems going forward,"
Joines said.
Rountree said that dur
ing a time when there is
rampant distrust across the
nation between communi
ties and the police forces in
those communities, "I am
here to say black lives mat
ter, and we're here to say
all lives matter." He
acknowledged the large
number of young people at
the event because, he said,
he supports them.
The president of
Winston-Salem State
University's (WSSU)
Student Government
Association, Olivia
Sedwick, also was at the
event. She praised the
'Trust Talks" that the city
police and WSSU students
have had, the latest one late
last month. The Trust Talks
are spearheaded by the
city's Human Rights
Commission and bring two
sides together for frank dis
cussions, which in this
case, center around the
police-and-student rela
tionship at WSSU.
"It was a wonderful
success. We were grateful"
for the opportunity to talk,
she said.
""TtsKows we need
some understanding to
work with police."
Sedwick passed out
information from the
Police Department's web
site that gives ways people
should react to police. She
said she wants people "to
understand it's not all the
policeman's fault. We need
to govern ourselves as
well."
Elder Lamonte
Williams, pastor of Diggs
Memorial and a facilitator
of the event, brought
Rountree and Sedwick to
the front of the audience to
answer some questions.
One man in the audi
ence asked: "As a 40-year
old black man in this com
munity, how can we get our
people in this community
to be less intimidated
against police?"
Rountree said: "What
we try to do is come out
and engage people at
events like this." Sedwick
said that people should go
to the Police Department's
website, which will help
explain how to interact
with police, and should
attend community events to
find out information.
"There're a lot of things
going on that most of us
were not aware of," she
said.
Rountree mentioned
some initiatives the Police
Department have that
engage the community:
*A Citizen Police
Academy, in which people
get an inside look at how
the Police Department
works. The academy will
be 13 weeks, beginning
April 16, but the deadline
to apply was Monday,
March 30.
*Ride-alongs, in which
people ride with a police
officer who is on duty to
see what the officer has to
handle daily. "It's not
always like it is on TV,"
Rountree said.
Rountree also intro
duced the Police
Department's community
Winston-Salem Police information
*To get information on how to act when you en
counter police, go to
http://www.cityofws.Org/departments/police/c
rime-prevention, then find the "Stopped By A
Police Officer" brochure in the PDF format at the
bottom of the page to download it.
"Contact the Community Resource Unit at 336
773-7835 or by email at communltyresourceu
nit@wspd.org for information about the SOAR
(Successful Outcomes After Release) program.
Also, go to The Chronicle's website to find informa
tion at http://www.wschronicle.com/tag/soar-pro
gram/.
"For information about the Citizen Police
Academy, contact Officer Claudia Morgan,
Coordinator at 336-408-8126 or by email at cmor
gan@wspd.org.
"For all other information, call 336-773-7700.
relations officer, who
works to resolve disputes
between people "who don't
get along" and meets with
neighbors and citizens.
Community Relations
Specialist Pamela Peoples
Joyner spoke about SOAR
(Successful Outcomes
After Release). This is a
program that uses city
funds to help people who
have criminal records. She
mentioned that she works
with programs such as
Team BAM (Becoming a
Man), a group that helps
male teens.
Artemus Peterson, who
leads the Team BAM pro
gram, was in the audience.
Williams acknowledged
the work he does and took
up a donation to support
the program.
After being asked about
job opportunities wijj^4he
Police Department,
Rountree said there are
several kinds of opportuni
ties there.
?Sworn-in positions,
such as police officers.
?Dispatchers, who take
911 calls.
?Positions in forensics
(as seen on TV shows such
as "CSI").
?Positions in the crime
analysis department.
Rountree also men
tioned a scholarship pro
gram the police department
has for college students. If
college students agree to
serve as a police officer for
three years after gradua
tion, the Police Department
will pay the students'
tuition for their sophomore,
junior and senior years.
Another area Rountree
addressed was the Police
Department's use of body
cameras. He said the
department started testing
body cameras two or three
years ago, and about 340
police officers use them
now. This includes 20
school resource officers
and officers in traffic
enforcement. The police
department has an author
ized strength of 559 sworn
police officers
Rountree said that offi
cers can turn the cameras
on and off but he asks that
officers use them when
interacting with people.
Only supervisors or an offi
cer can view the footage
from the cameras, and no
employee can manipulate
the footage. CDs of the
footage can be made for tri
als or investigations.
He also mentioned that
the Police Department will
be phasing out cameras in
cars at some point.
Montgomery provided
some background about
why there is so much dis
cussion and attention being
paid to the police-and-citi
zens relationship,
"Winston-Salem has
had its own history of
things that have taken place
in the past," he said. He
mentioned the Darryl Hunt
case, in which an innocent
black Winston-Salem man
in 1984 was wrongfully
convicted of the rape and
murder of a young white
woman.
He was acquitted after
19te years in prison.
(Also, as part of that
history with police, a riot
erupted on Liberty Street in
1967 after police killed a
black man during an arrest
for drunkenness.)
Montgomery said
Winston-Salem now has a
Citizens' Police Review
Board, which serves as an
advisory board to the city
manager and Public Safety
Committee.
(The Board, instituted
in 1993, reviews citizens'
request for appeals of the
police chief's decision
regarding complaints
against Police Department
employees, receives and
reviews a summary of
internal and externally
made complaints against
police officers and other
duties.)
"We can say now with
this police' systems and
policies are in place to try
to prevent future such
occurrences.
"Nobody's perfect and
things continue to happen.
That's why we continue to
have forums like this,"
Montgomery said.
He said Trust Talks
should continue. "It just
means we've done a lot of
things that other cities
haven't done," he said. "In
that respect, we're ahead of
the curve."
Patterson and
Montgomery touched on
the importance of action
after the event.
? "We're all going to
have a good time, but at the
end of the day, we must be
proactive," Patterson said.
"Moreso for me. the
question is, what do we do
when we leave here
tonight"? Montgomery
said.
"I hope when you leave
here tonight, you feel
empowered to do some
thing."
Review
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believe that racial profiling
has been a key factor in the
numerous officer-involved
shootings across the
nation. One case close to
home is the September
2013 fatal shooting of
Jonathan Ferrell, who was
mistaken by a Charlotte
police officer for a suspect
in a breaking-and-entering
case. Ferrell had actually
been looking for help after
a car wreck that night.
House Rep. Edward
"Ed" Hanes Jr., said he
sifned the bill to create a
conversation and open dia
logue about profiling.
"It's a conversation that
absolutely needs to hap
pen. We've had a lot of
unfortunate interactions
oyer the last four or five
years that just really
brought the situation, in
regards to the interaction
between police and the
black community, to the |
forefront. This bill aims to
get the conversation started
at a higher level so that we (
can work with our law
enforcement com
and with the
broader commu
nity to make sure
that some of the
things that are
happening, from
a profiling stand
point, can
cease," he said.
Council
member James
Taylor, chair of
imunity
the city's Public
Safety Committee, said
that racial profiling and
discrimination
are real through
out the nation
and it needs to be
addressed.
"I would
note that the
deplorable prac
tice of discrimi
natory profiling
is already pro
hibited by the
Winston-Salem
Police Department, and we
are currently working to
improve the system that is
already in place to address
such issues," Taylor said.
"Our police department has
more work to do, but it has
been one of the most trans
parent and trailblazing
North Carolina police
departments as it relates to
police checkpoints reform,
data storage, domestic vio
lence, police body cam
eras, and reductions in uses
of force. Nationally, all
police departments certain
ly have more work to do to
promote education and
sensitivity training against
discriminatory profiling."
Currently, communities
have to receive permission
from legislators to create
Citizen Review Boards,
which investigates and
reviews allegations of mis
conduct by law enforce
ment officers. This bill
would remove that require
ment. It would also require
training to those agencies.
The boards could be
created without the
approval of legislatures as
long as they follow the
guidelines in the bill,
which include the proce
dure of appointment, the
manner in which hearings
are held and the length of
terms and qualifications for
those appointed.
Residents already have
the ability to file formal
complaints against any
officer of the Winston
Salem Police Department
or Forsyth County
Sheriff's Department. They
can also file a complaint
with the Citizen Police
Review Board, made up of
residents from the commu
nity, if they disagree with
the results. If that doesn't
work, residents can take
any alleged case of profil
ing or discrimination to the
Public Safety Committee
for review, according to
Taylor.
"As the chair of Public
Safety, I do believe that
making the citizen review
boards easier to establish
statewide is a good thing,
especially in cities and
towns that do hot have one
established as we do in
Winston-Salem," he said.
"There can never be too
much citizen input when it
comes to government.
Citizen review boards help
to keep local government
in the hands of the people."
Hanes, who represents
the 72nd district, said that
the review boards are a
necessary and needed
interaction between law
enforcement and the com
munity. He said that it is
not to point fingers at the
police but to create a
checks and balances sys
tem for all involved.
"Citizen review boards
can, and should, be part of
that interaction. We have to
make sure that police offi
cers a
ire being treated fairly
in the same way
that we have to
make sure citi
Izens are being
treated fairly by
the folks that we
depend on to pro
tect and serve the
community. This
is not a situation
where we are
lookine to catch
w
police officers in
nefarious activity or any
thing like that,"
Hanes said. "It's
really about mak
ing sure that
everyone is
accountable in an
I interaction that
we absolutely
must have. We
must have police
offiyfs protect
ingour communi
ty. It's there to
it easier for these
boards to exist without a
lot of encumbrance."
Taylor said that while
the bill has good inten
tions, he believes that it is a
double-edged sword to
communities. He said that
the bill could prove to be
too costly for residents due
to departments being
strapped for cash and the
lost general fund revenues
from recent General
Assembly cuts.
"I feel that mandating
our police department to
complete additional report
ing duties, and to meet
additional paperwork
deadlines in order to pro
vide a database of informa
tion that can already be
requested by any private
citizen, actually takes away
from time that our officers
should be out protecting
and serving our communi
ty. This bill does have the
potential to serve as an
excellent source of infor
mation on reporting collec
tive local crime statistics to
the state and federal gov
ernment, however, it may
place an undue financial
burden on our local gov
ernment to hire additional
administrative staff, with
out providing the necessary
funding," he said. "It is
never a good practice to
place a price tag on public
safety. Winston-Salem has
lost revenue from the loss
of sales taxes, business
privilege licenses, and the
loss of the ability to regu
late software fees."
For more information
about the bill, visit
http://www .ncga.state .nc .u
s/gascripts/B illLookUp/B il
lLookUp .pl?Session=2015
&BillID=HB+193&submit
Button=Go.
Moore
Taylor
make
Election _
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officers whose terms were to have expired will continue
to serve until a new election occurs."
Patterson said this means that there will be a new elec
tion.
'The election is going to be governed accordingly
based on the correct polices and procedures when it
comes to the election process."
The agency has been attempting to elect new officers
since November 2014. Patterson originally called in the
state chapter to oversee the election due to some viola
tions of the agencies bylaws.
According to Patterson, names of candidates were
submitted after the nomination process was closed.
Protocol calls for each person running for an office to
have been a dues-paying member prior to April IS of the
"With the election hold up, we can't do
anything else. We've just been frozen."
- Isaac "Ike" Howard
election year. Patterson said that some people paid their
membership dues in August, making them ineligible to
seek office. He said that those running for offices had to
submit their names, verbally and in writing, to the nomi
nation committee before their Oct. 28 meeting. An indi
vidual could have also been nominated from the floor
prior to the nomination process being closed at the meet
ing.
This is not the first time the state has been called in to
oversee a Winston-Salem branch election. In 2004, when
incumbent Stephen Hairston was being challenged by
JoAnn Allen amid questions about the branch's finances
and voting methods, a N.C. NAACP official oversaw the
vote.
Patterson, who said he has increased membership in
the organization and has garnered funds to renovate head
quarters including opening a computer lab and library for
the community, said that if elected this would be his last
term. He is also ready to get past the election.
"Hopefully we can start focusing on more community
activities, our Freedom Fund and activities that the nation
al office has mandated the local office to do," he said. "We
are ready to get down to business."
Howard, a long-time community activist who is run
ning on visibility, dependability and accountability, agrees
wholeheartedly.
"People are looking for the NAACP to begin exerting
itself and doing what we are supposed to be doing, which
is addressing issues locally, statewide and nationally," he
said. "With the election hold up, we can't do anything
else. We've just been frozen."