Let your voice be heard on police standards


Today’s the chance for the public to comment on the Henderson Police Department in its effort to maintain approval from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.

An assessment team from the CALEA arrived in town this weekend to examine the Police Department’s policies and procedures, management, operations, and support services. The report from the team will help determine whether the Henderson department receives accreditation for another three years. The department first received accreditation in 2002.

The CALEA team will meet with the public today at 6:30 p.m. at the Vance County Senior Center, which is across Wyche Street from the police station. People are invited to speak for up to 10 minutes.

People who can’t make the meeting may phone in comments this afternoon from 1 to 5 p.m. at 432-6891. Again, the limit is 10 minutes.

The other option is to submit written comments to the CALEA at 10306 Eaton Place, Suite 320, Fairfax, Va. 22030-2201.

Police Chief Glen Allen advised in a news release this month that the comments should address the Police Department’s ability to comply with the CALEA’s 446 standards. The standards are available for review at the police station; call Capt. Charles Crumpler, who is leading the effort to maintain accreditation, at 431-6059.

According to the CALEA Web site: “In the Commission’s view, the standards reflect the best professional requirements and practices for a law enforcement agency. The requirements in each standard provide a description of ‘WHAT’ must be accomplished by the applicant agency, but allows that agency wide latitude in determining ‘HOW’ it will achieve its compliance with each applicable standard. This approach allows independence and is the key to understanding the universal nature and flexibility of the standards approved by the Commission for this manual. Compliance should never be limited to a single means of achievement. Consequently, compliance is always attainable.”

The CALEA assessment team consists of Maj. Robert Dupree, deputy chief of the Peachtree City, Ga., Police Department; Lt. Jesse Valdez of the Deer Park, Texas, Police Department; and Lt. Robert Rappoport of the Rockville, Md., Police Department.

The association lists the following benefits of accreditation: “formalize essential management procedures; establish fair and nondiscriminatory personnel practices; improve service delivery; limit liability exposure and strengthen defense against lawsuits; solidify interagency cooperation and coordination; and increase accountability throughout the agency.”

Henderson has one of 26 accredited municipal police departments in North Carolina.

Much has happened regarding the city’s law enforcement since the department’s initial accreditation:

* The city opened the police station at Embassy Square in early 2003.

* The police force has operated for a couple of years with four frozen positions, limiting the number of officers on the streets. Allen also has complained about the low pay for his officers, who regularly leave for higher-paying jobs after they get their feet wet in Henderson.

* The city suffered a terrible year in 2003, when property crimes jumped more than 22 percent and the number of the most serious crimes overall rose 19.9 percent after back-to-back annual increases of more than 5 percent. The biggest contributor to the rise in crime was vehicle break-ins.

* City police aligned with the county Sheriff’s Office and federal authorities to launch Project Countdown, which brings the tougher, quicker federal justice system to bear on repeat offenders who use weapons or deal drugs.

“Every day, police officers encounter more and more frequently offenders that are armed,” Allen said in a recent interview.

* The Rev. C.J. Dale has lodged repeated complaints against the Police Department since the start of 2003. He has accused the police force of racially motivated actions and has called for Allen to resign. In response, Allen and District Attorney Sam Currin III asked for a State Bureau of Investigation inquiry into several cases, but the SBI refused to get involved, noting that none of the complaints could lead to criminal charges against officers.

* The Vance County Coalition Against Violence formed in the fall through the combined efforts of the Vance chapter of the NAACP and the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a good idea that citizens are coming together in a grass-roots effort to combat violent crime,” Allen said. He’s hopeful that the group will bring about changes that will help keep crime in check.

* The Vance Organization to Implement Community Excellence formed this year as an offshoot of the Coalition Against Violence. VOICE aims to bring together all agencies involved in fighting crime and the causes of crime and to work together to bring money into the county for those purposes.

* The crime rate turned around in 2004, when the overall number of serious offenses fell 23.2 percent and property crimes fell 22.8 percent from 2003’s swollen levels, according to preliminary figures Allen reported Feb. 21. The crime figures were the lowest since Allen became chief.

“We were really pleased to see that for the eight-year trend, the crime rate is down,” Allen said.

But he didn’t take credit for the decline. “We’re going to be the last ones to say, ‘Pat the Police Department on the back.’ We’re not patting ourselves on the back because crime rate is down. The same factors that cause crime rates to go down cause them to go up. So many factors are beyond our control.”

Mayor Clem Seifert echoed those sentiments: “We would like to think those numbers are a direct result of proactive measures our police force has taken. But when they go up, it’s not the responsibility of the police, so not all of the going down is them. Some of it is just the way things tend to fluctuate.”

Allen said the annual fluctuations are exaggerated in Henderson because of its size. In Raleigh, for example, 200 more thefts would be a statistical blip; in Henderson, those 200 thefts would represent roughly a 10 percent increase in crime.

On the positive side in 2004, aggravated assaults and vehicle break-ins declined dramatically. Regarding the assaults, Allen said Currin’s office has focused more on prosecuting repeat offenders, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office brought federal indictments for some gun and drug charges. “Some people who were committing a lot of crimes were put in jail last year,” Allen said. “When major offenders are in jail, crimes aren’t committed.”

Regarding the vehicle break-ins, the chief said the department worked hard to increase awareness of the threat. He said up to half of such thefts occurred in cars that weren’t locked.

Reports of shoplifting rose sharply in 2004, but that doesn’t mean the crime was more common. Allen said several merchants instituted more aggressive theft-prevention programs; it’s likely they were spotting a higher percentage of shoplifters than in previous years.

The most worrisome trend may have been an increase in weapons and drug charges brought against juveniles. “The illegal use of weapons is a problem here consistently,” Allen said. “Juveniles not immune from that problem.”

* A report has circulated in the media this month that Henderson is the most dangerous North Carolina city with at least 10,000 residents.

The Shelby Star recently did a study based on FBI crime statistics and found that Holly Springs is the safest town and that Henderson is at the opposite end of the spectrum. The story was picked up by Triangle television stations and Raleigh’s News & Observer.

The Shelby newspaper’s study was based on violent crimes, which declined in Henderson in 2004. Allen, who knew nothing of the study, said it likely used 2003 figures.

“Violent crimes are the ones that get attention,” Seifert said. “We have a small number of violent crimes, so they fluctuate a lot. We hope to make progress in the long term.” For example, while overall violent crime declined in the city in 2004, the number of murders increased from one to four, a 300 percent jump.

“As far as community perception, disorder sometimes bothers people more than actual reportable crimes,” Allen said, citing “vandalism, graffiti, loud music, bawdy houses, juveniles out late and disrespectful, basically just rude behavior. … Disorder is hard to measure.”

Still, those perceptions are not what CALEA accreditation is all about. The association is looking for procedures and operations and comments on those areas, not whether the public thinks the police are doing a good job.867 mp3 5309dip 730 mp3 dipinsignia 8g pilot mp3mp3 737 ross ricksaint diablo mp3 750mp3 crack abee75d mp3 leoabeja mp3 miope Map