New Chief announced in Chapel Hill

From a May 14th, 2001 WRAL story:

Fayetteville has a new police chief. Some people are happy with the decision, while others are not.

NAACP Director Raymond Shipman says he is disappointed with city manager Roger Stancil's choice to hire Thomas McCarthy and not Michael Boykin, the second candidate under consideration. He says he hopes McCarthy will prove to serve all Fayetteville's citizens.

"Being inclusive in all of his dealings and making sure the persons under him are inclusive in their dealings with people or fair in their dealings with people," Shipman says.

Many residents would say that the community is divided, but businessman Mike Lallier is certain that it can come together and move forward. Lallier met with McCarthy as a member of a diversity assessment team.

"I think the proof will be in the pudding," he says. "In six months time, people will look back and say this was a tremendous hire or they won't, but I think if they give the Chief time to do his job, they'll be impressed with the outstanding person he really is."

Issues involving race are not new to the Police Department or Fayetteville. Ron McElrath, the city's human relations director, says what is important now is the effort to remove existing barriers through communication.

"I think there's going to be dialogue between community leaders and chief, and where there are still concerns, I think they'll be dealt with expeditiously," McElrath says.

He says McCarthy has a reputation in his current position in Gaston County as being very sensitive to the black community. Stancil says his experience of developing strong relationships with minority communities definitely played a part in his decision to hire McCarthy.

and a Feb. 8th, 2006 Fayetteville Observer article:

The NAACP said Tuesday that it will join law enforcement and county agencies for a public forum to talk about community relations issues after the deaths of two black men late last year.

The forum, to be held at Fayetteville State University on March 14, will be done in a question-and-answer format.

The issues raised in the forum will be discussed in a series of study circles, made up of people in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.

The idea for the forum and study circles came after several recent incidents involving law enforcement, including the deaths of Jamale Davis and Calvin Wilson, according to Raymond Shipman. He is president of the Fayetteville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

On Nov. 3, Jamale Davis died of cocaine ingestion while in police custody. Calvin Wilson was shot to death by a Fayetteville police officer the same day. The officers involved in the incidents are white.

The State Bureau of Investigation has investigated the deaths. Neither case is closed.

The forum will allow people to ask those questions in a non-threatening environment, Shipman said. They also can ask about employment and health and education issues, Shipman said.

The local law enforcement agencies will be represented, as well as the city of Fayetteville, FSU, Fayetteville-Cumberland County Human Relations Commission, the NAACP and the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners.

Fayetteville police Chief Tom McCarthy said he plans to talk to people about what it means when an officer is undergoing an internal investigation and about how personnel laws work.

“As a team we can get far more done than as an individual,” McCarthy said.

After the forum, the questions will be presented to the study circles so they can be discussed and, if necessary, changes can be made.

The forum will be from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Shaw Auditorium at FSU. All are welcome, and anyone who doesn't get a chance to ask a question can go to the NAACP office on Murchison Road.

For more information, call the Human Relations Office at 433-1696 or the NAACP at 484-6166.

Interesting bookends. I didn't find any references to the resolution vis-a-vis the NAACP's concerns - maybe someone locally connected to that organization can fill us in.

A quick search of newspaper reports over the last few years seems to indicate a record of community service and outreach that will serve our community well.

Former CHPD Chief Gregg Jarvies is sticking around Spring Lake a while longer:http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2009/09/02/930224You might recall that Jarvies was pulled out of retirement to lead the Spring Lake PD through an ethics crisis that allegedly implicated many in the SLPD, including their then-Chief (ie not Jarvies).

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7004261&rss=rss-wtvd-article-7004261