Public missing from public forum on search for new Durham police chief
The city of Durham has asked the public to say what it wants in its next police chief — one step in a months-long process to replace Chief C.J. Davis, who will leave in June to lead the police department in Memphis, Tennessee.
But Tuesday’s public forum, which was moderated by the city, a consulting group and two former police chiefs, lacked one key party: the public.
“Clearly, feedback is not coming in at the rate we thought it was going to be,” James O’Donnell, a human resources manager with the city, said as the forum came to a close.
The forum was one part of the search and hiring process, which is being run by the consulting group Developmental Associates, with decisions made by City Manager Wanda Page.
Steve Straus, the president of the group, said recruitment would move forward in a series of stages, slowly narrowing candidates until only a handful remain.
Straus said the public will get to meet the final few candidates before the new chief is chosen. He expects a new chief to be named by early October.
The forum was moderated by O’Donnell, as well as Pat Bazemore and Kerr Putney, former police chiefs for the Cary and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police departments who now work with Developmental Associates.
Larry Smith, a spokesman for the Durham County Fraternal Order of Police and a former Durham deputy chief, was the only member of the public to speak at the virtual forum.
“One of the things that I think the police department is really looking for is a chief that can come in and be an advocate,” he said. “Durham has a real struggle with recruiting right now. Staffing is way down. And as we have talked to officers who have left the Durham police department, it hasn’t been as much about pay as it’s been about support.”
Though others did not choose to voice their comments, a few members of the public left comments in the Zoom chat or on the Youtube livestream.
But the staffing shortage raised by Smith was a recurring theme.
Bazemore said feedback sessions with officers found they are regularly being asked to work on their days off.
“There is not a work-life balance for them,” she said. “They are mentally exhausted, physically exhausted. And one of the things that they brought up is that when they really are just exhausted, that we are putting them in situations where they may not make the best decisions.”
And if officers are only interacting with the public during emergencies, like responding to 911 calls, it becomes more difficult to form strong community relationships, she later added.
The Durham Police Department had 71 vacancies among its 556 allocated sworn positions as of April, The News & Observer has reported.
But last week, a majority of members on the Durham city council pledged to cut 20 of those vacancies and shift them to a new safety and wellness department being created in the city budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Among those who voiced their concerns in the chat Tuesday, O’Donnell said one said they’d like to see a chief who supports advisory boards that represent the whole community, another voiced concerns about whether new tech jobs in the Triangle could impact Durham and a third said they’d hope the chief will be one who “believes in Black Lives Matter.”
Another attendee expressed concerns over whether the Basic Law Enforcement Training had been sufficiently updated to reflect new communication strategies and modern policing techniques.
Members of the community who would like to voice their own feedback can do so by completing either survey listed here, calling 919-560-4273 or attending the next virtual forum on Wednesday at 1 p.m. To join the forum go to durhamnc.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=6340
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