Another PD debate
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on February 3, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
William Goodman responds to Charles Wright's request for CALEA Accreditation in the Goldsboro Police Department at a Monday Goldsboro City Council meeting.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Charles Wright asks that the council have a meeting with representatives from CALEA so that accreditation standards may be put in place in the Goldsboro Police Department.
A city resident asked Goldsboro City Council Monday night to ask the city's police department to pursue a national certification, which he said he believes would not only improve the department's relations with the community, but would also hold the department more accountable.
Charles Wright stepped forward during the public comment period to call for the Goldsboro Police Department to undergo the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies national accreditation process.
Wright suggested the department sit down with commission representatives, and take a look at the set of standards.
"This is a group of standards of the highest certification set by CALEA," Wright said. "Adopting them would relieve any gray areas in policing policies and how the police and community interact, such as when a community member makes a complaint."
Wright appeared before the council in 2009 to request the police department undergo the accreditation process, which would require the adoption of some 189 Tier I standards, and no action was taken on the matter.
This time, Wright said, it could be different.
"I think I saw the lightbulb come on for a few of the council members tonight, so we'll see where it goes," he said.
The standards address six major law enforcement areas, including the role, responsibilities and relationships with other agencies; organization, management and administration; personnel administration; law enforcement operations, operational support and traffic law enforcement; detainee and court-related services; and auxiliary and technical services.
Wright said he is suggesting the standards not as a reactive measure to anything going on within the community or police department, but rather as a proactive measure to set standards into place for any future cases.
"There's no ambiguity in these standards," Wright said. "Once they're put into place, it can prevent a lot of finger-pointing in cases that have gray areas. There's no special treatment or deviation from the standards."
Wright said when he originally requested the standards be adopted in 2009, only five police agencies in North Carolina had adopted CALEA standards. Now, he said, there are 70, and 15 are in the process of adopting the standards.
"Goldsboro is traditionally slow and conservative," Wright said. "When I asked for this in 2009, it was just beginning across the state, and now we're in the middle of the growth of agencies adopting national standards. I don't want Goldsboro to be at the end of this process."
Wright said adopting standards like this should be a natural progression for a community that is growing like Goldsboro.
"When I spoke with (Chief Jeff Stewart) about it recently, on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of liking the idea, I would say he was about a 5. He was lukewarm to the idea."
Councilmember William Goodman said he supports Wright's idea.
"It's something good that will impact the police department and the community and give us some accreditation," Goodman said.
During the public hearing following Wright's comments, Dave Parker, who lives at 307 Balsam Place, presented the council with a petition signed by residents of Balsam Place.
The public hearing offered residents the opportunity to comment on proposed sanitary sewer line improvements along the street, beginning at its intersection with Amherst Road and ending at the terminus of Balsam Place.
Parker's petition calls for the council to reevaluate its assessment process when determining how residents pay for sanitary sewer improvements along roads by their residence.
Currently, residents pay for their own frontage of their property at a rate of $17 per foot. Parker presented another option to the council, which the petition calls for, which would see the cost divvied up at equal rates among property owners in the area, regardless of how large their property is.
"I come not to oppose resolution 2015-13, and I'll make that clear -- we do not oppose the resolution to improve sanitary sewer lines down our street," Parker said. "What I'm proposing is for the council to look at their assessment process. The letter I've provided to the council I gave all my neighbors. It's North Carolina General Statute, special assessments, Article 10, 168-218: Basics for making assessments."
Parker told the council his proposed payment method of dividing the cost equally among each property owner who lives on Balsam Place is legally allowed under the statute he presented to the city council.
Council decided to defer the issue to its law and finance committee after hearing Parker's arguments.