Cops in Black and White, Part XLVIII

Jerry Bledsoe resumes his series in the Rhino Times with an installment that discusses the interrogations of David Wray and his officers by Risk Management Associates (RMA).  The following represents a summary.

Once again, we are struck by the image of Wray having the rug pulled out from beneath him by Mitchell Johnson and Linda Miles. 

The segment begins with Wray's interrogation, which began as an ambush, as previously described in another installment.  The questions Wray faced from Michael Longmire of RMA were quite confrontational and adversarial.  Longmire attempted to ridicule and rattle him by citing the derogatory terms officers from an opposing faction called him and those in the command structure supporting him; and by suggesting that the loyalty of his supporters in the department suggested they did not have the city's best interests at heart. 

(Of interest is the fact that Blair Carr was the assistant City Attorney working with Longmire on the interrogations, and to some extent fueling the fire.  Recall that Carr was recently cited with a DUI charge during mid-day, with an astronomically high alcohol level.)

Wray felt that Longmire and Carr assumed the claims of the black officers were true.  He said that much of their questioning was based on strands of information that had been taken out of context; and when he attempted to respond to their queries, they did not want him to provide that context.  He felt they twisted things, and would not accept his explanations.  He said, "There was no listening to reason, no seeing it from a broad perspective."

Wray also felt the city legal department and RMA had spent inadequate time analyzing the situation-- really, just a few weeks-- and that they were relying on "half truths, falsehoods, innuendo and supposition".  It was apparent they had not reviewed the critical records that had been provided.

Carr told him he might have to take a polygraph.  (Ironies abound.)

The officers in the command structure and Special Intelligence-- including Brady, Sanders Lojko, and Gerringer--  were being swarmed with surprise, ambush interrogations and polygraphs; and they all knew little about what the others were saying.  They were becoming very concerned, and began acting defensively.   Wray saw that Brady was very upset after he was treated poorly during his interrogation.

Said Wray of the ordeal to which he and the others were made subject: "You have to recognize that trying to do the right thing isn't enough.  You're not dealing in an environment with ethical people...

"We'd been operating in good faith.  We all thought we'd been working for a city government that had a great deal more honor than it did...

"All of us felt like we were in the midst of fighting a battle and the city manager and city legal had just pulled the air support and switched sides.  There were too many bullets coming from too many directions.  Suddenly you're not just dealing with the problems in front of you.  You've got problems behind you and beside you.  And the whole time you're thinking that you were dealing with a mission.

"The top priority that had been given to me was to insure the integrity of the organization.  But they're operating on innuendo, lies and political correctness... Nobody told you the rules were going to change... We kept thinking cooler heads are going to prevail, and it just didn't happen."

Comments

[Stormy]

This segment of the series, Bledsoe repeats some of the material previously covered, but we are beginning to see some of David Wray's emotions and feelings being exposed about what happened to him and his command staff.

Recent events have seemed to provide some reinforcement about what really happened to Wray and the others. It would appear that a conscious decision was made to not only move David Wray out of department, but really his entire command structure. It's almost as though there was an internal revolution. And, now who is in command of GPD and why?

It is clear that this all had a purpose and was driven by Johnson and Miles, but the question still remains as to what purpose? Mitch Johnson and Linda Miles were and are lightweights. They were doing the bidding on others to keep their jobs. The question is who and why.

Information abounds that GPD is out of control, and for the most part ineffective in its role as public guardian. there likely are still some honest law enforcement professionals at GPD, but for how long as they see what is happening? There are many questions about the people in command positions there now. Greensboro's police department may sadly be beyond redemption.

[Joe Guarino]

Stormy, I agree entirely. The status of the GPD at this point is extremely tenuous.

And you are right that we are exposed to a more raw display of Wray's sense of betrayal than we had been in other segments.

Most of us have had the experience of being betrayed. It is an awful thing to go through. But a betrayal this public, at this high a level, and at this degree of inappropriateness could only be made possible by very weak political leadership. And unfortunately, that is what we have had in Greensboro; and that is why the GPD fiasco occurred.

[Brenda Bowers]

"..very weak political leadership" Oh yes. I can't help but wonder just what is going to happen to Greensboro as a city. Surely no large corporations are going to want to relocate or start up here with the way things are. Our growth and jobs and prosperity will suffer. Decent people are getting out of the police force as soon as they can get jobs elsewhere I am sure. I know I would be on my way out the door because in that atmosphere lying low just won't be safe enough. That of course will leave the residents of the city even more at the mercy of criminals. I know from a couple of my neighbors who are city employees that many in other departments are looking for other jobs, and naturally these are the cream of the crop as the lazy and incompetent have it made with a government job. There seems to be no end to what two slimy little petty people as Mitch Johnson and Linda Miles haver been allowed to get away with doing, and only a handful of us even making any noise about it. In fact, even some of whom I consider "good" people are willing to see this injustice prevail and "move on" just to have the outward appearance of peace while the criminals operate under cover and under protection of those who are supposed to be protecting us.

I guess I am now at the point of being with David Wray and his command staff in hoping and wanting to believe that saner heads will prevail. But so far there are no saner heads in Greensboro so I can't see any hope except for the Feds. coming in and cleaning out the mess. Will this possibly happen in time?

[Stormy]

I watched the movie called American Gangster last night, and after I finished it, I was struck with the ironies that abound. Frank Lucas grew up in Greensboro and went to Harlem, where he became the drug lord of New York. The story reveals how the dirty cops in NYPD were getting rich by demanding protection money from the drug lords to let them stay in business. Ultimately, it took one honest cop to bring Lucas down, and 150 dirty cops with him, practically the whole drug enforcement division.

Do the irony abound here? Is 2008 Greensboro becoming a microcosm of 1970 New York? Do we have a huge drug problem in Greensboro, and do we have a lot of dirty cops that associate with the drug lords? What happened to Frank Lucas when he was released from prison in the early 1990's?

It was interesting to note that in 1968 a honest NYPD cop found $1 million of crime money, unmarked and laundered, in the trunk of a car. Against advice of his partner, he turned the money into HQ. The honest cop was ostracized by the entire department for doing so, but in the end, it was one honest cop that brought the whole thing down. Moral of the story is do we have one honest cop to bring down the house of cards in Greensboro? We may have had some in David Wray and his command, but they were set-up and pushed-out, with the help of former cops in RMA, before he could expose the corruption. The government leaders that enabled and allowed this are part of the cancer in Greensboro, and they continue to live large here.

[Fred Gregory]

Actually Lucas didn't grow up in Greensboro. It was Goldsboro.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lucas_(drug_lord)
The movie had it wrong. But your point is still well taken, Stormy.
Check Ben Holder's Wed. blog post on the GPD. You won't read about it in the N & R

[Joe Guarino]

Brenda and Stormy, I agree that what occurred with the GPD fiasco can be a major harbinger of Greensboro's decline as a city. Thanks for your comments.

And Fred, I continue to appreciate the contributions Ben is making. We had another charade this week with the Pulpit Forum ministers and its 50 boxes of files. Fortunately, these political figures were quickly discredited, largely through local blog conversations and posts.

[Doug]

What does RMA stand for? Is it Risk Management Associates? I'm floored that they'd behave so unprofessionally, if that's who it was.

[Joe Guarino]

Yes, Doug, that is what RMA stands for. And many of us continue to be floored by the whole series of events.

[Stormy]

I got a good laugh in Bledsoe's article this week, when Wray related Longmire asking him about whether he ever was a detective, and how could he successfully supervise them, if he didn't know the job. I do not think that Wray said it, but he thought he should have said to Longmire that since his highest rank was captain, how could he evaluate Wray's performance as a chief? Excellent point. Those guys were cops before, but with what we have seen of some of the captains and chief that Greensboro currently has, is that to be considered impressive? RMA is just another group of people, that happened to be cops, that are willing to pimp themselves for money.

[Doug]

I thought RMA was an insurance-type company. Now I'm wondering if they're a security company a la Blackwater, if they're all ex-cops.

[Doug]

I apologize for that last post. I don't know anyone that works at RMA, and I assumed (yeah, I know) based on items in the comments above that everyone at RMA was previously in law enforcement.

I am curious to know more about them, and what they do, though. It seems an odd choice when looking for impartial analysis of a specific issue to hire a "risk management" (whatever that means) company.

[Joe Guarino]

Stormy, that WAS an excellent point about a captain evaluating a chief.

Doug, RMA has a website that lists its menu of services. You might consider checking it out to satisfy your curiosity. But what happened in Greensboro with RMA was a mess.

[Stormy]

Do not forget this report in the News-Record in Eric Townsend's article of 10/7/08:

"Longmire says he and his company have nothing to apologize for; they treated Wray no differently than anybody else they interviewed.
...
That is a common investigative tactic, Longmire says.

The report, he says, is the careful handiwork of trained investigators who used assertive, but not excessive police tactics to ferret out the truth.

The way he sees it, if Greensboro residents don't understand that they had some serious problems in their police department that now have been set right, that's their problem, not RMA's."

Yeah, right, Longmire! You treated Wray and his command staff the same as you would treat common criminals. And, do you think that I believe that you have set the problems in GPD right? Not only no, but .... no. But, you got your big, fat consulting fee didn't you? As I said before, Longmire and RMA are just pimping their law enforcement experience for money.

[Stormy]

In another Michael Longmire story, appearing on Office.com's Internal on Affair News on 12/2/05., an article by Eric Townsend appeared entitled "Greensboro, North Carolina Hires Consulting Firm To Review Charges Of Internal Racism"

So, we are to believe that RMA's involvement wasn't based upon racism of Wray and his command staff?

This biased article by Townsend comments on members of the command staff leaving in face of the investigation. Townsend leaves the reader with the suggestion that they are leaving before negative action is taken against them.

In another story on Officer.com, it lists the famous quote by Longmire, which is still unproven, and we have not seen any evidence to support this statement, which has been widely distributed in law enforcement circles.

"But in his report on the "black book," Michael Longmire of Risk Management Associates said the belief was "every prostitute, every junkie, just about anybody in Greensboro or Guilford County or surrounding counties that might have information about the inappropriate activities of a black Greensboro police officer has been shown some kind of a book or lineup or something."

So, after all of this, where does David Wray go to get his reputation back and get another job in law enforcement? I think that the day is coming that everyone asks about...why doesn't David Wray sue? He surely has the goods to prove that his livelihood was damaged by RMA and the City of Greensboro.

[Bubba]

"So, after all of this, where does David Wray go to get his reputation back and get another job in law enforcement?"

He goes to Bledsoe, the Rhino, and us.

He's obviously not going to get any justice from the Cabal unless we force them to do so by exposure of their activities.