Outgoing City Council Leaves Unfinished Business at Police Department

There has been much discussion over the last several weeks regarding the Aquatic Center boondoggle.  The outgoing City Council has been determined to ram through this particular proposal, regardless of how poorly conceived or dishonestly packaged it may have been.

But Ben Holder reminds us today that there are a number of pieces of unfinished business the incumbent City Council leaves behind at the Greensboro Police Department.  He seems to be hinting at information he might be sharing in future posts.

Recall that, during the special meeting called to discuss the reinstatement of AJ Blake, the council gave the police chief certain instructions.  But we have not heard a peep since then.

Here are some obvious police-related issues:

1. What is going to be done to improve control of crime conditions in our city?

2. How are we going to deal with high-ranking minority officers within the department who made false accusations against fellow officers, and who threw the department into turmoil literally for years?

3. How are we going to deal with officers who have associated themselves with criminals, assisted them, or who have likely committed criminal acts themselves?

4. How are we going to deal with officers who have had illicit sexual relations while on duty, for instance in police vehicles; and how are we going to deal with officers who have had sexual relations with subordinate officers?

5. How are we going to make it up to David Wray and the officers beneath him who were unfairly stigmatized and harmed-- financially and professionally-- because of the city's actions during the course of the GPD fiasco?

6. How are we going to handle all the lawsuits?

These are all issues on which the outgoing City Council has, for the most part, punted.  The new City Council, led by mayor-elect Bill Knight, will have an opportunity to deal with these challenges. 

One cannot expect that everyone will agree with each move the new Council makes.  But I sure hope we will see a vast improvement over the previous Council with respect to how it handles the police department.  

I hope we will see an improvement for the sake of the citizens of our city.

Comments

[Brenda Bowers]

The only thing for the new council to do is uphold the laws which have not been upheld for years. This will of course cause riots in the East end as mass firings take place in the GPD. But I believe the majority of Greensboro residents will support the rule of law finally. BB

[Stormy]

The city council was too busy trying to build a "community pool" to deal with tough problems. It's more fun to spend the taxpayers' money on a fun things.

[Joe Guarino]

I agree, Stormy.

Brenda, it would be a remarkable thing if the city actually fires even at least a few of the offending officers.