Meet the six people recommended to join Fayetteville's Community Police Advisory Board
The Fayetteville Community Police Advisory Board has six vacancies, and the City Council is scheduled to vote Monday on whether to appoint six nominees to it.
The board, which has nine members plus an alternate, was created in 2021 to recommend improvements of Fayetteville Police Department policies to the city council and to improve community relations.
Six vacancies opened up in late 2022. The council’s Appointments Committee met on Feb. 22 to nominate candidates.
Here’s your guide to the board’s potential four new members and two potentially returning members.
Returning: Debra Slaughter
Debra Slaughter, a resident of District 2, is seeking a re-appointment. She works as an office administrator for Operation Inasmuch, a nonprofit serving the homeless, Slaughter said in a March 1 interview.
“Having been in that position, not in Fayetteville but in the Washington, D.C., area, I think I have a little more empathy for those who come through our doors,” she said.
Slaughter moved back to Fayetteville in 2006 to take care of her mother, who was sick with lung cancer. She said she considers her work on the board her “civic duty.”
“I think we serve an excellent purpose when it comes to monitoring and ensuring that what the Fayetteville Police Department is doing is in line with established procedures, not just locally, but statewide and nationally,” Slaughter said.
She wrote in her application that she wants to address the expansion of the Police Activity League program, outreach to elementary schools and equity in police stops.
“My primary concern in this area is the fact that a lot of citizens view our police officers as the enemy, when in fact the vast majority of our officers are prior military men and women looking to continue serving the community where they live,” Slaughter wrote.
New: William Grace
William Grace is a District 3 resident who serves as the coordinator of his neighborhood watch, he said last month.
“I’m a lifelong resident,” Grace said. “I’m hoping that I can basically just bring a regular citizen’s point of view to the board.”
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He said he would like to take measures to mitigate speeding and reckless driving in Fayetteville and improve community engagement with police.
“You don’t actually see them in our neighborhood very often,” Grace said. “Even without calling 911, it would just be nice to see the police ride through or just see a presence.”
Returning: Gregory Perkins
Gregory Perkins is seeking re-appointment. He could not be reached for comment. He wrote in his application that he is a District 2 resident who teaches at Walden University, an online university based in Minneapolis.
Perkins is also a veteran who served in the military for 22 years, working in various aviation-related positions, according to his application.
“As a former Visiting Lecturer to the North Carolina Justice Academy facilitating Community Policing Practices, I believe that our officers can show real concern while maintaining control of the situation,” he wrote.
Perkins is a volunteer chaplain for the Fayetteville Police Department and holds a master’s of social work and a bachelor's of science degree in sociology, according to his application. He wrote that board members should first ask police leadership, the city manager and the mayor what their objectives related to the Police Department would be.
New: Bridgette Navejar
Bridgette Navejar, a District 5 resident, moved to Fayetteville in November to be closer to her sister, niece and nephew after retiring from the Army, she said last week.
“I really wanted to set roots here and get involved in the community,” Navejar said.
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She served 20 years in the Army, five years as an enlisted soldier and 15 years as an officer, Navejar said. She holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and three master’s degrees in criminal justice, human resource management and military operational arts and sciences. Navejar is also a second-year law student at the University of New Hampshire’s online law school, she said.
“I have a lot of experience in different communities, and I think that the combination of my occupational background and my education will help bring potentially new ideas to the board,” Navejar said.
She said her focus as a board member will be civic engagement and improving community relations with the police.
“I think many of society’s ills can be resolved through active community engagement,” she said.
New: Johnathan Pratt
Johnathan Pratt is a District 7 resident who works as a superintendent at the Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery on Bragg Boulevard, he said Thursday. He is also working on obtaining his Ph.D. in higher education at Fayetteville State University.
Pratt said he has extensive experience in education and has worked with many types of people in sensitive situations during his time at the cemetery.
“I think that goes hand in hand with dealing with people that are on one side or the other,” he said.
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Pratt said he believes police should work more closely with local elementary schools to instill trust among Fayetteville’s younger residents.
“I’m not talking about indoctrination; I’m talking about being comfortable with the police,” he said. “I think if kids feel like they can call the police as kids, then they’re going to feel like that as adults.”
Pratt also wrote in his application that he hopes to address de-escalation techniques and improving relations with underserved communities.
New: Charmetri Wrice-Bulluck
Charmetri Wrice-Bulluck, a District 3 resident, could not be reached for comment. She wrote in her application that she is a veteran and former adjunct professor of social work.
“I would help to improve the relationship between the police and the community that I reside in,” Wrice-Bulluck wrote.
She said residents and officers both need to educate themselves on the dangers of stereotyping and she would like to see increased training on diversity and abuse of power for Fayetteville’s police.
Wrice-Bulluck holds a doctorate in educational leadership from Fayetteville State University, two master’s degrees in human services, health and wellness and social work and a bachelor’s of science from Liberty University, according to her application. She served in the Army from 1985 to 2008.
Public safety reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at ABSolomon@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville's Community Police Advisory Board to gain six new members
