Wednesday, December 31, 2003
The head of the Winston-Salem City Council's public-safety committee is suggesting that the search for a new police chief be broadened in the wake of the Darryl Hunt investigation.
"Cities of this size, usually they do advertise jobs like that," said City Council Member Vivian Burke, the committee chairwoman. "If I were the city manager and I knew what was hanging over this city, I would do everything I possibly could to say ... I'm going to do the very best job of getting a chief if it means going to the outside or the inside."
Police Chief Linda Davis announced last month that she would resign at the end of February; she has served as chief since March 1999.
City Manager Bill Stuart has said that the search is at first being limited to candidates within the department. He said he would see how that goes before deciding on anything else.
Yesterday, he declined to say whether the Hunt case would affect the search, nor would he say who or how many people from within the department had applied. State law does not require Stuart to say who has applied for a municipal government job.
After about 18 years in prison, Hunt was freed a week ago pending a February hearing on whether his murder conviction in the 1984 death of Deborah Sykes should be overturned. Police charged a new suspect last week, Willard E. Brown, with the rape and murder.
The case of Hunt, who maintained his innocence from the start, has been racially divisive for years, with many saying that police and prosecutors ignored evidence that tended to help Hunt.
Burke said she has told Stuart that she wants the search for a new police chief to be fair, and that he should "make sure that we do not have anybody with any baggage that could create some unnecessary problems, because the eyes are on the Winston-Salem Police Department ... and now the national eyes are on the Winston-Salem Police Department."
"The choice is going to be his in the end, but with a city of this size I would feel more comfortable, if I was in his position, that I would go further than the city. I would advertise it externally."
Community leaders reached yesterday said they had no opinion on whether Stuart should expand the search to include outside candidates. They said that the most important thing is getting a chief who is accessible.
"One of the things that's important is to protect the partnerships that have been built and the progress that has been made," said the Rev. John Mendez, the president of the Ministers' Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity, referring to crime-reduction efforts between police, the community and clergy.
"I would be in favor of looking inside, and particularly somebody who can protect those partnerships that have been built and can move this process forward," Mendez said.
Stephen Hairston, a retired Winston-Salem police sergeant who is the president of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County NAACP, said he has no opinion on whether the search should be done internally.
But, he said, the city needs a chief who can "get out in the community and communicate well with the community."
"We need somebody who is real visible to the community, and especially in some of these poor communities, high-crime communities," Hairston said. "That means getting out of the office, parking the vehicle ... and talking to the people."
• Patrick Wilson can be reached at 727-7286 or at pwilson@wsjournal.com