Police Accountability and Professionalism Community Meeting

8/8/2019 Police Accountability and Professionalism Community Meeting

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/police-accountability-and-professionalism-community-meeting 1/43

Thursday, January 13, 2011Bethel AME Church

Rev. Alphonso McGlen, Pastor



´Knowing the truth will set us freeµ

Presentation of the Fundamental Facts

Surrounding the Officers and Citizens

related to the abuse of police power.



WHO IS CH ARLES CHERRY?

Highly Respected Officer

in the Greensboro PoliceDepartment

Served the Greensboro

Community for more

than 23 years

Rose to the level of Captain.

An officer with

superlative evaluations

and ratings.



QUESTION??

WHY WOULD AN OFFICER

WITH SUCH AN

IMPRESSIVE RECORD BE

SUDDENLY FIRED?



The primary reason that former CaptainCherry was fired is because he helped filegrievances on behalf of other officers that

implicated the top leadership within thedepartment related to violation of department regulations and criminal law.

OFFICER JOSEPH PRYOR

OFFICER AJ BLAKEOFFICER FRANCES BANKSOFFICER ROBERT REYES



CAPTAIN CHERRY ASSISTED MANY

OFFICERS. WE WILL EXAMINE FOUR

CASES.1.) Officer Joseph Pryor

2.) Officer AJ Blake

3.) Officer Frances Banks

4.) Officer Robert Reyes



1.) OFFICER JOSEPH PRYOR

Officer Pryor was accused of

kicking/assaulting a suspect during anarrest.

In the course of the arrest where he was

accused of kicking a suspect, he fell

injured his knee while running and neverhad any contact and could not have

kicked anyone.



Officer Pryor Cont.

Officer Pryor requested that Captain

Cherry review his case file and uponfinding multiple errors in the case he

then wrote a memo.

The memo raised approximately 15

different errors related to theinvestigation against Pryor. This

launched a series of grievances being

filed.



Officer Pryor Cont. The errors raised implicated many top

Greensboro police administrators, the internal

affairs division (investigative arm of the police)

and the assistant City Manager

The assistant City Manager publicly

acknowledged that the investigation completed

by internal affairs was discriminatory and

incompetent.

And yet Officer Pryor was fired.



2.) OFFICER AJ BLAKE

After Officer Blake was falsely charged and

fired and eventually found not guilty in court.

Officer Blake was re-instated to the GreensboroPolice Department Upon his return, Captain

Wolfe spoke to Blake and called him

´a sorry shack of s-h-**-tµ.

Cherry assisted Blake with

filing a grievance.



OFFICER AJ BLAKE

Blake, being off duty, went downtown to

view a rally that was organized by agroup of young people. While standing

across the street from the rally

participants, officers approached Blake

and ordered him into a car.Captain Cherry assisted

him in filing a grievance



OFFICER AJ BLAKEBlake was taken to Assistant Chief AnitaHolder·s office, and was told that he was

going to loose his job and be suspend without pay because he was associating with a criminal (Jorge ´King Jayµ Cornell).Holder said that Blake waved at King Jay atthe rally.

Cherry assisted Blake in writing anothergrievance.



3.) OFFICER FRANCES BANKS

Officer Banks was approved for a transfer

to the investigation division by then chief,Chief Tim Bellamy. Captain Rogers

violated personnel privacy law by

getting Banks· file and comparing it to

another officer to evaluate the differencebetween Banks· training and the other

officer·s training.Captain Cherry

helped file a complaint.



OFFICER FRANCES BANKS

Captain Charles Cherry then wrote an

email discussing the violation of personnel privacy law, and Assistant

Chief Dwight Crotts then told Cherry

that it was unprofessional to send that

email.

Assistant Chief Dwight Crotts



3.) OFFICER ROBERT REYES

Officer Reyes reported an incident of a

fellow officer using excessive forceagainst a suspect.

After reporting the incident, he felt

retaliated against because his rating

decreased.He decided to appeal the decision, and

requested the proper information

needed for the appeal process.



OFFICER ROBERT REYES

Officer Reyes· request for proper

information was denied, and Reyes thensought assistance from Captain Cherry.

Once knowledge of Cherry·s assistance

was known, retaliation increased for bothReyes and Cherry.



Within all the filed grievances, there areclaims of violation of command policy andcity, state, and federal law.

The Beloved Community Center, the localchapter of the NAACP, the Pulpit Forum andthe Spirit of the Sit-In Movement Initiative

refer to this lack of professionalism andaccountability as a Sub-Culture of Corruption and Double Standards.



Let·s Review before moving forward.

Charles Cherry helped file grievances for:Officer Pryor - - - - March 10

Officer Reyes - - - - March 24

Officer Banks - - - - March 29-30

Officer Blake - - - - May 8On April 20, Captain Cherry was given a

Level (IV) Four Rating.



In a May 15 Command Staff Meeting of the

Greensboro Police Department, Chief Tim

Bellamy stated that all those making claims

of corruption and double standards can turn

in their badge, and ´get the hell outµ.

Cherry was present in this meeting.

This act was not only un-

professional but also direct

retaliation



Directly after that Command Staff

Meeting, Assistant Chief Dwight Crotts

told Cherry to stop filing grievances.Cherry responded with two (2) questions:

Has my work been Affected?

Have I broken any Rules?

Crotts answered ´Noµ to both questions.



On May 26, Charles Cherry was

recommended for psychiatric evaluation to

determine whether he was Fit-for-Duty.

Recall, Cherry received a Level (IV) Four

rating on April 20. On July 9, without the

psychiatric evaluation results, Cherry wasgiven a Level (I) One rating (which is

termination level) by Assistant Chief Crotts.



When Cherry went to appeal the rating,

Chief Bellamy raised his rating to Level

(II) Two.H

is psychiatric evaluationproved that Cherry was indeed Fit-for-

Duty.

This is when the process for firing theofficers escalated because of the

grievance filed and who they

implicated.



Then the Department made claims that

Cherry was lying in the grievances that

he was filing.Th

is claim was false!

Assistant Chief Anita Holder advise

Cherry to take an early retirement

(claiming medical reason). This advicewas a violation NC Retirement Law!



When the fit for duty evaluation was

found to be without basis the GPD raised

a number of false allegations againstCaptain Cherry.

Why was Captain Cherry fired?

Because he challenged the GPD·ssubculture of corruption and double

standards by filing legitimate

grievances.



Jorge and his family

made a decision to

move from New York

City to Greensboro in2002 to get a new

start.

He was a member of

ALKQN in NY, but forthree years he had no

activity with the

ALKQN in NC

Who is Jorge

Cornell?



Because of the

discrimination and

abusive treatment of

latinos, he made adecision to organize a

ALKQN chapter.

Between 2005 to 2008 he

independently sought to

work with certainmembers of the police

force, but was continually

frustrated and misled.

Who is Jorge

Cornell?



Jorge Cornell came to the attention of the

Beloved Community Center and the

Pulpit forum in 2008 when he announcedthat he wanted to promote peace

amongst street groups.

Within days after contact with the BCC a

warrant appeared for his arrest. Thecharge had no basis and was eventually

thrown out of court.



Between June and November of 2008

members of the ALKQN came under a

withering assault of arrest, harassment,profiling and arrest on false charges.

At one point, Jorge was charged with

seventeen felonies all of which weredismissed or eventually defeated in

court.



In a meeting with former

Chief Bellamy,

Assistant Chief Crotts,

and CaptainWolfe,community members

asked why the police

department was

targeting the ALKQ

N when they are not

known to be a violent

group in Greensboro?



The response given by Chief Bellamy:

´They [ALKQN] are the most

organized group!!!µ



One time the Police claimed they had a

warrant for Jorge·s arrest, and they were

going around to members of his Nation·s

jobs questioning Jorge·s whereabouts.

Jorge went to turn himself in, and there

was NOW ARRANT on record for him.



These charges have made it difficult formembers of the ALKQN to get and keepemployment and housing.

One example police went to a city worksite where a member of ALKQN was working andlied. Saying that the city forbade them to be oncity property because they were a gang. The CityManager overturned that decision.

Officer AJ Blake internally complained about Anti Latino tactics. He said that the Gang Unitstactics were overbearing and over-reaching.



Attorney Anita Earls of the Southern LawCoalition in Durham, NC, formally of the U.S.Department of Justice, thought it proper to file aTitle (VI) case against the Police Department for

discrimination and harassment. The case ispending.

The Beloved Community Center, NAACP, thePulpit Forum, and others have had to offer

financial assist to the ALKQN because they havebeen bled dry of resources because of bailbonds, payment to lawyers and unjustified courtcost.



AJ Blake was an

upstanding police officer

with eight years

experience.

His story is a long one

beginning in January of

2008 when he was falselyarrested and charged

with assaulting a two

females at a police party.



BACKGROUND:

Officer Blake attended a police sponsored

birthday party for one of his fellow officers.

There was a drinking contest, and mostly

everyone was intoxicated. Blake and his fiancé

got into an argument, and they were leaving.

Another female claimed she witnessed Blake

kick his fiancé when leaving, and went after them

to assist.



In District Court, Blake·s fiancé testified

that Blake did not kick or assault her in

any manner. This testimony would have

dismissed the second charge.

With heavy police influence the judge

rendered a guilty verdict, and Blakeappealed the decision.



All the while, Blake was suspended withoutpay, and he and his daughter facedenormous hardships as he lost his home.

With the assistance of the NAACP, the PulpitForum, and the Beloved Community Center,Blake made the case that he was being

singled out because of his race. At one timehe was accused of being the leader of the

ALKQN.



Before the Superior Court proceeds

began, the community pleaded with

Chief Bellamy to delay Blake·s

termination hearing until after the appeal

process. He rejected this advise, and

fired Blake anyway.

Blake was found NOT GUILTY of all

charges in Superior Court by six men

and six women, six white and six black.



The Interim City Manager reinstated

Blake and the GPD.He was met with

extreme hostility and malicious public

denouncements, eventually the GPD

sought to fire him again for something

that the Interim City Manager already

made a ruling on. Sadly, Blake wasterminated again.



There has been no

change in the Police

Department because

the core leadershipremains

In addition, the

rushed decision by

City Manager Rashad Young to hire a new

chief did not help.



11 Discrimination

Complaints from 5

different persons

against Chief Miller(also on Rashad

Young·s desk)

Set up arrest of two

law abiding citizensat Fairview meeting

What·s Going on

with the New Chief?



I appears that all of the issues related to

Police Professionalism and accountability

are complex to the contrary, they are

made to appear complex. The issue is that

the top leadership of the Greensboro

Police department have had for a long

time,´a subculture of corruption anddouble standards.µ



This struggle will be long and it will be difficult,

but if we persevere to the end we will make

Greensboro a much better and compassionate

city.The immediate future

1. Attend the annual´Pulpit ForumµKing DayWorship

Service January 17th 6:00pm at Trinity AMEZ Church.

2. Lets Build together for a large community meeting inlate February.

3. Continue to file title VI cases and support legal cases.

Police Accountability and Professionalism Community Meeting

Documents

Transcript of Police Accountability and Professionalism Community Meeting