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10/20/14 APWA Willie Worley Jr. 198 College Hill Road B.C.C.I #3510 Clinton, N.Y. 13323 P.O. Box 310 Polkton, N.C. 28135 The Talk About Building Trust As I was reading a North Carolina newspaper (the Charlotte Post). It had an article in it's "Life" section about Charlotte Mecklenburg police chief Rodney Monroe. A lot of my political cartoons, and political journalism has been focused around the handling of his officers misconduct. Chief Monroe was recently asked in an article on Thursday, September 18, 2014 by Michaela L. Duckett of the Charlotte Post about holding law enforcement to a higher standard. His reply was, I quote: "Any time you are in a position of public trust, you have already elevated your status to say that you have this job based on the public trusting that you will do it for their well being and not for your own personal gains...Now that you are operating on behalf of someone else, the punishment should be greater. That's part of our accountability...We look to hold our people accountable...There has to be consequences. Unquote. Chief Monroe's statement was well spoken through this article. His words were those of hope in discussing accountability of the criminals working in our law-enforcement. The question is this. Is Chief Monroe sincere or is he just presenting a use of words that are rationalized? Police misconduct is nothing new to the CMPD. In 1997 local officials voted to establish a Citizen Review Board to investigate police misconduct. The decision was made after three African American residents was gunned down by Caucasian American CMPD officers in Charlotte North Carolina. Each case was separate. Although Chief Rodney Monroe was not in charge of Charlotte's police department during this time. He was aware of the 11 member volunteer board hearing 78 complaints of the police misconduct and siding with the CMPD each time. Police Chief Rodney Moore said this in an article of the "Charlotte observer's" Tuesday February 19, 2013 Opinion Page. He said he believes Charlotte's review board helps the public have confidence in the department's internal investigations. After all a perfect record can rightfully be seen as affirmation that Internal Affairs is making the right calls on misconduct. Chief Monroe's rationalization in this article is easily seen. 78 people complaints of police misconduct is a serious number. One person complaint is as well. We have allowed out minds to be overloaded with fictional drama's about police, crime, and prosecutors on T.V. series and movies. These programs are mostly told by the point of view of law-enforcement. They want us to see the bad guy being thrown in jail. They want us to view police as keeping the streets safe, our homes secure, and a force that is rooting out dangerous criminals, giving them the punishment they deserve. Given this image, we think we know how the criminal justice system works. We acknowledge the wrongs of law-enforcement as being right up until we or somebody we know becomes a victim of police brutality and abuse. Then we want to exercise our vocals, and expect national sympathy. We as African Americans must understand that we can't wait until a tragedy hits home. We must be on full alert at all time We must all be Black Panthers at heart by policing the police. I am not telling anyone to interfere in any law-enforcement acts of duty not matter the situation. As a citizen if you see a law-enforcement agent inflicting acts of brutality or abuse, you have a right to file a complaint of a "Federal Civil Rights Crime" with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Right Division. This is how you "police the police". When reporting acts of police discrimination always try to video the incident with your phone, or take pictures of the discriminatory act. If you don't have a video or camera phone. Always try to carry a pen or pencil, and paper. Always write the time, date, location, patrol car number and any other information that may prove to be useful. Look for my "N.I.A.A.C. 3rd Party Progeny Black Panthers Personal Intelligence Resource List" It is a guide that specifically give you instructions on (5.) how to "police the police" against committing "Federal Civil Rights Crimes." Willie Worley Jr. Minister of Self-Defense NIAAC 3rd PPBP
