GPD Sexual Assault Case Part of a Pattern

One of the accused officers in the GPD sexual assault case is Allen Wallace.  I was reminded yesterday reading comments at Ben Holder's blog that Wallace was the subject of one of the segments in the Jerry Bledsoe series.  And today, Ben provides a list of previous infractions or personnel actions involving this officer:

10/06/00: Administrative Investigation Sustained: Divisional Reprimand Recommended by Captain A.C. Stewart, Appealed and Disciplined reduced to first level Reprimand by Assistant Chief A.L. Scales.

8/31/01: Administrative Investigation Sustained: Discretion (Photos on Website) First Level Reprimand.

3/14/02: Violation of D.D. 1.512, Duty Responsibilities. This is just entirely too long to rehash. read Bledsoe's story here for full recap.

3/25/03, Counseling for improper driving.

9/15/03: Counseling for parking Ticket Violations.

My summary of the Bledsoe installment that discusses Allen Wallace is found here.  But the point is that Wallace's actions-- whatever they may have been-- in the alleged sexual assault case did not occur in a vacuum.  Yesterday, I pointed out that Chief Bellamy must satisfy a greater-than-50% standard of administrative proof before taking any personnel action.  Of course, many would argue, as Ben seems to, that Wallace's employment history should be taken into account.  We should be reminded, however, that North Carolina is an employment-at-will state.  This means employees can theoretically be terminated at any time, for any reason, as long as there is no discrimination.

In today's paper, we heard from the GPD and the deputy city manager:

"They will be held accountable for their mistakes," Assistant Chief Ron Rogers said Saturday...

Deputy City Manager Bob Morgan said the city will be vigilant about correcting issues exposed by the six-month controversy.

"We will do a thorough investigation," Morgan said. "We stand ready to make a tough decision, the right decision, based on the facts."

To what extent should we feel reassured that any discipline meted out will not be a mere slap-on-the-wrist?
 

Comments

[Roger Greene]

""They will be held accountable for their mistakes," Assistant Chief Ron Rogers said Saturday..."

I hate the term 'mistakes' being used for willful acts of wrongdoing the perpetrators know is wrong, but won't refrain from doing nonetheless. Mistakes are made by well intentioned people who arrive at wrong decisions. This is hardly the case here. Sorry, but one of my pet peeves. The high schools and folks involved with youths seem to propagate this regularly.

[Joe Guarino]

That is a very good point, Roger. Whatever truly happened, it hardly appears to be an innocent mistake.

[Stormy]

It is interesting to read that the black ministers will not accept the Bellamy Administration's claims that no files or records relating to the TRC were destroyed, and are calling for an investigation of GPD. Heck, they now have control of the command staff, so where is the problem? I suppose that Tim Bellamy has to follow the company line here if he wants to remain in charge.

So, now that GPD has spent much time and effort to determine that the reports of destroyed files were false, does anyone think that the city will demand to have the name of the "whistleblower" revealed? Probably not. So, they keep getting away unchallenged, as GPD continues its descent into a second-rate law enforcement agency in an incompetent and corrupt city government.

[Joe Guarino]

I agree with you, Stormy. But I also agree with Rev. Headen when he says our police department needs some outside investigation. It does, big time, but for reasons other than those Headen would claim.

And I agree with Rev. Brown when he expresses serious doubts regarding the department. But it should be noted that today's GPD is precisely what Rev. Brown helped create.

Again, it was a terrible, terrible thing for the Pulpit Forum ministers to have made false accusations.