Two of the Vance County Coalition Against Violence’s efforts to reach out to the Police Department could be merged, but first the coalition has to decide exactly what it wants from a citizen group working with Chief Glen Allen.
Margaret Ellis and Cathy Ringley reported Thursday night on a recent meeting between the police chief and a coalition committee assigned to work on the formation of a citizen advisory board to the police.
Before meeting with Allen, they said, the committee decided not to pursue the model set by Durham, which has a citizen advisory board that reviews police actions, hears complaints and maintains an often-antagonistic relationship with the police.
“We decided, both from our standpoint and the police standpoint, that this is not really a direction that we want to go or need to go,” Ringley said.
Instead, the idea for the Henderson group is to support police initiatives and allow more feedback from the citizenry to the police.
The chief put together a similar proposal in 1998, and he gave Ellis a copy for the committee to review.
Allen has entertained lots of good ideas to reduce violence over the years, Ringley said, but none has survived the budget process.
One place for the coalition to show support, Marolyn Rasheed said, is in advocating that the City Council unfreeze police positions. A few more officers could make a big difference, she said.
Ellis said the coalition could appear before the City Council to request that the police jobs be unfrozen.
But several coalition members questioned the abandonment of the Durham model.
“There should be in place an advisory board,” Deryl Von Williams said. She said it’s important to support the police, who provide a thin line of community protection, but they need oversight. She said she has a file of improper actions by the Henderson police.
Coalition members also expressed concern that the advisory board would fail in its goal of rebuilding trust in the police if the board did not serve as a watchdog.
Peter White, a minister and retired state trooper, said it’s fine to make the coalition’s group a support panel instead of a watchdog, but in that case it shouldn’t be called an advisory board. That term refers specifically to the watchdog-type group.
Ellis said the advisory board committee, which includes Cliff Rogers and Nancy Smith, will review Allen’s 1998 proposal and the feelings expressed Thursday night before recommending how to proceed.
Ellis also addressed the plan to launch a community patrol group, an effort led by White.
“It sounds to me like they’re both one and the same,” Ellis said of the advisory board and the community patrol, suggesting a merger of the groups to prevent duplicating efforts and stretching the coalition’s membership too thin.
Those two committees will meet to discuss a merger, perhaps at the next coalition meeting, set for Thursday at 6 p.m. at Gateway. The coalition is experimenting with a new schedule: Instead of holding a full meeting each week, the gathering every other week will be devoted to committee meetings.