By Ray Gronberg
gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648
DURHAM -- City Council members aren't pleased to see a recently resigned Durham Police Department officer indicted on a charge of selling crack, but for the most part are taking solace because the department addressed the problem on its own.
The indictment Wednesday of former Officer Sherrod Peace on federal charges capped an investigation that police said began in October, after someone tipped off Police Chief Jose Lopez about possible illegal activities.
Peace's indictment was the latest in a four-year string of incidents that have landed Durham officers in hot water and cost several their jobs.
The good news, to council members, is that problems are coming to light and being dealt with.
"Most of the stuff we've found out about has been through people tipping us off or telling us about it," Councilman Farad Ali said. "That's very encouraging."
Some members believe problems are inevitable on a force with 500-some officers.
"I regret all these episodes, but to me, it's the nature of the beast," Councilman Howard Clement said. "You have a large department, a lot of people involved, you're going to run into these kinds of situations. It's just the fact that when you have a whole lot of people, you're going to have episodes that are unpleasant."
"I'm much more concerned about the response," added Councilwoman Diane Catotti. "The fact is, we're getting them reported and dealing with them when they come up. That's what I want to see."
But other officials acknowledge the incidents take a toll on the city's image.
"You can make the argument that one is too many," said Councilman Eugene Brown, who added that Wednesday's indictment "hurts to the core."
"I talk to everybody, not just the Police Department, about a credibility bank account we all have," City Manager Tom Bonfield added. "We have to continually make deposits into it. Unfortunately, the withdrawals can be larger than the deposits. And it reflects on us all, not just the Police Department."
Peace's indictment -- the result, according to several sources, of a sting operation -- came only about four months after a department overtime scandal forced a deputy chief into retirement and prompted the firing of a line officer.
The department in 2008 forced out two more officers after an investigation turned up still-unexplained misconduct unrelated to an initial, unproven allegation that they'd engaged in sexual misconduct with a prostitute.
That same year the supervisor of the department's investigation of the Duke lacrosse case, former Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, retired after being accused of sexually harassing a fellow officer.
The city paid an $11,500 settlement that year to a freelance photographer who said he'd been roughed up in late 2006 by one of the Police Department's then-captains.
And officials are still dealing with a trio of civil-rights lawsuits stemming from the lacrosse case.
That case sparked questions about how well department higher-ups were supervising their officers. They were voiced most loudly by Raleigh attorney Joe Cheshire, who said in 2007 it looked like police commanders had "Pontius Pilated" the investigation, leaving it to Gottlieb and a junior detective, as it started going off the rails.
The more recent problems have at least one former officer saying commanders need to exert a firmer grip.
"In a situation like this where there's a series of incidents, you need to go back to basic ethics classes with an emphasis on individual responsibility and supervision of your personnel," said former DPD Capt. Andy Miller, head of the N.C. Sheriff Police Alliance.
Miller said commanders have to stress "accountability at the supervisory level," and added, "You need to know what's going on with your people."
He also said he supports Bonfield's plan to have outside consultants come in and assess commanders holding captain's rank and above.
Miller stressed, though, that he thinks "the majority of the members of that Police Department are honest, hard-working individuals [who] perform far beyond expectations day in and day out."
Support for the command-staff assessment also came Friday from Mayor Bill Bell.
"It's always good to do an evaluation from the outside rather than inside," Bell said. "As long as you bring in a reputable firm to do it, it benefits us all."
