News-Record.com

$249K for 16 weeks of work...? Although I think the
cost of the review is excessive I am glad it was done.

Now, do what the report recommends- rotating
shifts (which this current chief got rid of)
should be re-instated.

Not sure I agree about decreasing the size of
the gang unit as this is one place the city is being
proactive rather than reactive

And, in this day in age I can't believe promotion
procedures are not in writing. Come on

The report recommended returning to 4X4 shifts, not "rotating" shifts.

The Greensboro Police Officer's Association has been making these same suggestions for years. The city could have saved a quarter of a million dollars if they had taken the advice of the heavily represented Association.

Once again, the common sense recommendations of rank-and-file officers was flippantly ignored.

Greensboro does not need more police to sit around and talk. We need administration that
will use the people we have effectively.
City council just buys what they are told by the Chief. Open your eyes. No doubt the police will get what they want because they are a separate society from us. Just look at the different laws and treatment they receive that the rest of us do not.
If we commit a crime or are accused of a crime it is in the news that day. Also if a sanitation worker
is punished we all know about it. Not true with the
almighty police because they are better than the rest of us, at least they think so and are treated
that way. Just give them want they want it will
be cheaper than the show that will be put on.
Consultants why do we need council if they can't do the job and have to hire it out.

In my opinion this was a total waste of money. The current administration is going to do whatever it wants with the backing of the City Mgr. and current County Board. Already the GPOA is disagreeing with the report. Nothing was reccommended about the number of officers on administration leave (8 months of paid leave is absolutely unbelievable). Lt. Hinson remaining a police officer is a crime and a slap in the face to the public. The city of Greensboro needs to clean house, starting with the City Mgr on down. This report was a waste of the tax-payers money. What would you expect from a company that is led by a former police chief. Did you really believe he would be critical of the police department? This department is disfunctional.

I am the President of the GPOA and we do not disagree with the report. I have read the Executive Summary and agree with most of the recommendations, including the return to a 4/4 schedule (permanent shifts), a written promotional policy that is objective in nature, and the redistribution of manpower to allow for more cohesive units. Greensboro is the only police department that I could find that does not have a multi-structured promotional process tha ensures objective results; we currently take a written test and attend an oral board that does not count towards the final grade. Our membership (440 members of the department) has requested a change in the promotional process for some time.

The report was not intended to reinvestigate current or past allegations. The intention was to help create a blueprint for the department to follow to build on strengths and improve areas which directly affect morale and public perception.

John, in the "public perception" realm as mentioned by Wendy above, once again in todays lead story Amanda and Sonja again referred to Wray's departure as a resignation. Do they not know he was locked out of his office? Why could they not refer to it as a lockout/resignation just using a simple slash or quotes around "resignation". You would think the editor would have caught this. Purveying and acting on "half-truths" is at the very root of the GPD's troubles. Why can't the local newspaper maybe set an example aid the healing process?

The money that was spent on this report is money wasted.
Wendy Raines said: The intention was to help create a blueprint for the department to follow to build on strengths and improve areas which directly affect morale and public perception.
If you want to improve Public perception, GET RID OF JAMES HINSON. He is a disgrace to this city and to the GPD. It is time for the City Manager and the Police Chief to start listening to the people of Greensboro instead of listening to the hate group: Pulpit Forum.

John, the writers called Chief Wray's departure a resignation because that's what it was. You want to call it a forced resignation, which is fine, but the chief resigned, plain and simple.

"After the meeting, Bellamy said nothing in the report surprised him, and the department independently started work on some of the issues."

What this report shows more than anything is what a racket consulting is. The city spent $250,000 on overpaid consultants to package up a bunch of boilerplate on what the city administration already knows.

It's disgusting that taxpayers have to shell out twice for management -- in part because of a bunch of loudmouth bigots who constantly want to stir up suspicion and mistrust in this city. But you see that everywhere in America now. Management of most institutions is mistrusted by the public (gee, I wonder why?) and so they overpay these 'independent' third party consultants to justify management decisions that they have already decided to implement.

Consultant reports are just a bunch of phony window dressing invented by the lie industry -- otherwise known as public relations and marketing..

John, you again are blind to this issue. That's like running a story on rape and saying the Miss XYZ participated in forced relations with the assailant Mr. B. using( or in this case abusing) your literary licence to transpose the passive person into the active person for whatever propagandive value it may serve. This is Propaganda 101 right out of Pravda.

Show me the document that says the chief did something other than resign and then we can talk.

So, John you're saying Mitch did not lock Wray out of his office?

So, using Robi-logic; if a "written" confession is obtained via torture, the only thing that matters is you have a signed document and the way it was obtained is not relevant?

Okay, John Robinson Himmler

All of this is a waste of money - how about help the poor or homeless etc.
Rakestraw mentioned that there was no information about the officers on paid leave. I would think that should be a huge issue in the department.
As for David Wray yes he did resign and for Hinson he should be fired. Maybe the next book will be about how Hinson has run the police department - oh that's right there is a police chief.

Lets pay to investigate that issue. (Hinson)

Yes the W is for WRAY and Proud of it!!!

what i think about hiring more people. i think its uncalled for.. how about clean the bad cops out b/c there are still some in the gso p.d. and start a more sophisticated law bidding department again. in my eyes i cant trust the police like i cant trust the goverment. in well known fact, "some people with badges live and sleep with the badges, that make them do stupid things, and the people of gso are tired. so i ask u this. after the black book scandal and etc.., what would u do jeopardize a soldier ready for war and put him/her in a battle that the general cant even handle. think about that Bellamy. or should i say bail -lem- out. more money to waste. when gas may reach 4.50 before the end of the summer beginning of fall u dont know.

I’m sure there’s plenty of blame to go around, but it should start with the man in the mirror.

If anyone else posting here is concerned that Greensboro is in an out of control downhill spiral, I remind you that we voted these people in, and are responsible for their impact on us all. We are the only ones who can change it.

Greensboro is my home and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. But reported behaviors of the city council, the city manager and police department are concerning, at best. Fixing the problems will not be easy or fast. I suggest we, the citizens, reclaim our city by attending the council meetings, educating ourselves on the issues and demanding accountability.

I invite each and every one of you posting here to join me at the meetings. We need to start “packing the house” with participants and show our town’s administrators that we care, are not just a silent population, but are prepared to take action – with our votes.

The next city council meeting is scheduled for July 15 at 5:30 pm at the Melvin Municipal Office. I do not know the procedure for attendance (who can and when), but I certainly intend to find out.

You can view the meeting schedule, agenda and video of past meetings at:

http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/citygovernment/council/

If hospitals operated in the fashion of the GPD
all of the patients would be dead by the early morning. Critical deadwood employees refuse to operate except in daylight due to "busy" janitorial, security,wayward teen home, auto garage, landscaping etc private businesses. Hence report stating too much day GDP. Christine

Total waste of money. Cookie cutter report.
Chief is an incompotent and Mitch ain't much better.

Wray was told ( the tape ) resign or be terminated.

First, this consultation was not requested by GPD, nor did anyone with GPD interfere in any way with the report. Second, this was paid for by seized assests from the vice/narcotics division, not taxpayer money. Third, this consultation was not about reinvestigating previous incidents, but assessing current structure and practices.

Many responders here just want to rehash all the drama of the last several years. Save it for Jerry Springer, none of that is relevant to this review. Some think a former Police Chief will be biased, but who else would be in such a good position to see flaws in structure or procedure? The rest of what's been posted is either wild paranoia or flat out denial/disdain without merit.

I agree, however, that this money was not well spent. That's because the most pertinent issues have been discussed among rank and file officers for many years now. Complaints and suggestions for improvement have fallen on deaf ears for far too long. The patrol schedule could be easily adjusted for peak call times by simply adding one or two officers to squads working evening hours. The only way to implement this is by going back to a 4/4 fixed schedule with three shifts. GPD has been short of personnel for at least a decade. Streamlining special divisions is a start but more needs to be done. The only way to accomplish this is with more sworn and civilian personnel. The promotional process has been archaic for as long as I know, and it could have been fixed a long time ago by simply looking at what our neighboring police departments have in place.

Again, all of these issues have been hashed and rehashed by rank and file officers that are knowledgable and well intentioned. It seems to me that when someone gets a high level promotion though, that they won't implement something unless they can somehow put their own stamp on it and make it their own. It's typical red tape and politics found within any large organization. Let's focus on changing things for the future instead of getting distracted by old drama that isn't all resolved yet anyway.

In almost every situation, managers can get the answers from employees on most issues and ways to solve problems within an organization. Unfortunately, they fail to listen. In this case, having an outside organization make public the strengths and weaknesses, should confirm what employees have already said and cause management to take the appropriate action. What I fear is that some councilmembers will focus on the many good areas of GPD and decide that little if anything needs to be done. Another potential problem is that there will always be those within the organization who will resist change that is not their idea. I watched the
entire presentation by the consultants and was quite impressed - they know what they are doing. Hopefully I am wrong, but if this runs true to Greensboro, the consultant's report will serve only to create more friction, since there are too many folks with their fingers in the pie. Council and especially the City Manager should stay out of the way and let the Chief and his staff along with input from all GPD employees review the report and come up with their action plan for implementation of necessary positive changes. If any of you commentators are talking strictly on what you have read in this article, I strongly suggest that you watch the consultant's presentation and then make you comments.

To John, who said "Nothing was reccommended about the number of officers on administration leave (8 months of paid leave is absolutely unbelievable)...."

The report does make recommendations regarding the officers on leave. It says that the resolution takes much longer than the city's policy and that the department needs more staff deal with the problems in a swift manner.

There is all kinds of specific info in there. Check out Chapter 8.

This report is a gigantic waste of $ 249,000. The damn problem with the GPD is the same as with the Council and Mitch Johnson- Political Correctness. Until Mitch is gone we will NEVER heal as a community. He has caused more trouble than anyone in the history of Greensboro. For whatever reason he has five council people totally snowed.

And I might add, you have the same problem with the N&R. You don't even reckonize your biases. I wonder and if you really understand what I'm trying to say.

Your turn now, give some sarcasm

Amanda, since you've entered the kitchen here, so to speak, and in light of the N&R's recent "bandwagon de jour" concern for "transparency", (see Editor's Log) any uneasy feelings, reservations or hesitancy, referring in your piece, to Wray's employment cessation as a "resignation"?

Favoritism and race factors in promotions within the Greensboro PD...nah...but maybe...ask the woman that was recently booted out of her job one month shy of a full retirement after some apparent favortism on the part of the Chief Bellamy. (Read the latest Rhino, as the N and R apparently dared not touch the topic).

Favoritism and race factors in promotions within the Greensboro PD...nah...but maybe...ask the woman that was recently booted out of her job one month shy of a full retirement after some apparent favortism on the part of the Chief Bellamy. (Read the latest Rhino, as the N and R apparently dared not touch the topic).

I thought I would take a moment and weigh in on some of the comments I have read.

“Rakestraw mentioned that there was no information about the officers on paid leave. I would think that should be a huge issue in the department.”

I am pretty sure I saw a section in the Executive Summary that mentioned the process of investigating officers on paid leave is extremely slow and needs to be fixed. Note: Just saw Amanda’s comment.

“What this report shows more than anything is what a racket consulting is. The city spent $250,000 on overpaid consultants to package up a bunch of boilerplate on what the city administration already knows.”

Have you read the entire report? Did you miss the inefficiencies that were pointed out in the department? Also, this study clearly outlines what appear to be issues. If those issues are not resolved then that goes back to management…

Someone previously mentioned that the gang unit should not be reduced. I will be the first to say that a gang unit is important and that I am not an expert when it comes to running a police department. What I will say is that this firm has worked with a lot of cities, big and small, and if they are making a recommendation their must be validity. If the unit is currently 17 strong and some of those officers could be put to better use, is that not what should be done? I agree that Greensboro needs to be proactive, but if things need to be reevaluated to better the department and the citizens I can’t see many people being against that.

For those that think the study was a waste do you think the department currently has issues? If so, have those issues not existed for quite some time? If these issues have not been fixed what makes you think they were going to get fixed without getting outside consultation?

The report is completed and paid for so hopefully the GPD will start moving in the right direction: a direction that will help make Greensboro an even safer place to live as well as a direction that will make the department a better place to work.

Ryan Shell

unbiased said:
Let's focus on changing things for the future instead of getting distracted by old drama that isn't all resolved yet anyway.

That really doesn't make any sense.
That is like saying; Let's start rebuilding the house before putting out the fire.
The "old Drama that isn't all resolved yet" has got to be resolved. Mitch Johnson has got to go, James Hinson has got to go. And since Chief Bellamy is not taking care of these problems (James Hinson and his gang), then Bellamy is also part of the problem. He must go as well.

And to John Robinson:
If you show me that David Wray wouldn't have resigned if he had NOT been locked out of his office, then we'll talk. There is no way you can put the monkey on the backs of your readers on this one. Jerry Bledsoe took the time to investigate the real story. If the N&R had done the same, you would not have to keep answering these questions concerning your bias.

You have it backward. I don't need to show you what might have happened if something else had happened. He resigned. You say he was forced to resign because of this and that. Fine. In the end, he resigned.

NO, NO, NO.
I don't have to show you anything.
The N&R is the one who has printed stories relating to the GPD and David Wray, which are now causing people to question your bias. It is up to you to show that the N&R is not bias.
Sorry bud, the monkey is on your back.

Oh, people have been questioning what they call our bias since way before David Wray was even chief.

All I am saying here is that the official documentation shows clearly that Wray resigned. Why a few of you insist that it be logged in as qualified in some way is interesting, but irrelevant for the discussion at hand.

How can you say that David Wray's FORCED resignation is "irrelevant for the discussion at hand"? Is the discussion not about a report which reports the good and bad with the GPD? How can this be "irrelevant", when some of the very ones who caused David Wray's FORCED (and unjustified) resignation, are still working for the GPD? And those same GPD officer's character is in question because of their affiliations and relationships with known drug dealers, prostitutes and criminals. So the question should be; How can we discuss problems in the GPD without including the FORCED resignation of David Wray and these officers who have proven to be liars and troublemakers? I dare to say if David Wray had NOT been FORCED to resign, we wouldn't have had to spend money on this report.

Real,

The amount of rumor and innuendo with Wray's tenure is endless. So many people want to take one side or another and just dig their feet in. Fact is they were both wrong. Wray was a poor chief that destroyed morale across all racial lines. He bumbled the Hinson issue until it became the farce that it is now, when earlier decisive action could have resolved things long ago. He pressed on hoping to make a huge arrest when his own hand picked men could not find evidence for a case. Hinson probably did a bunch of things that were at least unprofessional, if not "shady".

As for his resignation, Wray is a big boy that would not be "forced" into anything that he didn't want. IMO, he saw an opportunity to quit and be free of a required internal affairs statement (that any officer would be obligated to make) that would not be favorable for him. Everything that we have read in the Rhino is a completely biased version of events straight from his mouth. That doesn't mean that I think Hinson acted appropriately or in the most professional manner, but if there is no evidence for a criminal prosecution the only thing left is internal discipline. I'm waiting for something myself...

Either way, this consultation is not supposed to, nor can it possibly, reinvestigate all that stuff. What happened is indeed history, and what will or can be done remains to be seen, but this report addresses many and much more important issues for GPD to worry about. One possibly crooked officer does not make a department. Not even three or four (considering the alleged sexual assault incident) should make people believe that the other issues addressed in this report are less relevant. A few officers that acted poorly (or criminally) should not distract from a report that will help GPD to operate much more efficiently for the entire city for years to come.

unbiased
I sorry, but you are wrong. David Wray was probably one of the best police chiefs this city has ever seen (and for the record, I do not know David Wray personally). And if morale was low it was only because people don't like change. But David saw that change was needed for the overall good of the GPD. He saw a change in schedules was needed and some of the police officers didn't like the new type of scheduling, so they raised a stink. After the change had been made some said they liked the new schedulling better, but that didn't stop the few trouble makers from continuing to raise a stink. So I will agree that there was some low morale, but I will not agree that David was the cause it. He only tried to make a change that would make the department better in the long run.
As far as the way he handled James Hinson; how can you say he bumbled it, when he was FORCED to resign before he could finish with the Hinson issue? Seems to me you can blame Mitch Johnson for not allowing David to do his job.
And as far as what has been writen in the Rhino, has anyone been able to disprove any of it?

So, Unbiased, you are claiming that if David Wray wasn't locked out of his office, he would have resigned anyway, perhaps at a later date?

Who would not resign from GPD force? It is so out of control. Some of them are, but not all are so untrustworthy. All the things that needed to be finished when Wray resigned have yet to be finished. That is the key to the issue and will not ever be finished because of the system and lack of support in the departments that are responsible for overseeing these issues. Until they are straightened out the morale is low for the citizens of Greensboro.
Tie up the loose ends that were left undone and maybe that will start a new beginning.

Real, the schedule was only a fraction of the reason Wray destroyed moral. He was (is) full of himself and was condescending to everyone under him. His "my way or else" attitude caused a divide across racial lines between the pro Wray people more concerned about their career, and the anti Wray people that had to keep good ideas to themselves or suffer the consequences if he didn't like them. He alienated some top commanders, and turned an upper level supervisory postion into his personal PR and photo op assistant. He had a huge photo collage of himself put on the wall outside his office, full of his most poignant poses and thoughtful expressions. Unfortunately he treated his own people behind closed doors entirely differently. That made him just a plain old pompous fake.

All he did to the schedule was go from three shifts to four, the rotation was completely unnecessary. This report even shows that the new 2nd and 3rd shifts split the heavy call load time instead of the old 2nd shift covering that time entirely. All that ever needed to happen was to assign an extra officer or two to the old 2nd shift, 4pm-3am, and like magic the man power issue would have been greatly improved. Wray insisted though on making everyone rotate, without a care in the world about the disruption of personal lives (daycare) or the well documented health effects. With a rotating schedule you can't assign extra officers to that shift unless you pay extra for officers to sign up and work it (which is happening now btw). When the schedule was changed some upper level supervisors didn't want to appear like they were caving in to the rank and file by returning to the old 4/4, so they came up with an inefficient 5/4 that is easily discredited in the consultation report. Change will always happen, but when you squash people, alienate and divide them along the way, you are clearly not a good leader. I can tell you with utmost confidence that the vast majority of the department does not miss him one bit.

With Hinson, it's not that Wray was not allowed to finish what he started. What he started hit a dead end and should have ended a full year before he got locked out. He was beating a dead horse, and in a clumsy way tried in vain to dig deeper in order to hit the jackpot with a huge criminal case. Wray should have dealt with Hinson early on with decisive internal discipline. A severe demotion for whatever directives he was in violation of would have been a start (like associating or dealing with known criminals). Ironically, it was Wray's fear of racial backlash that kept him from acting early on. He was afraid to rustle that hornet nest without concrete evidence of criminal activity. Problem was nobody could ever find it. Wray's ego kicked in at that point and instead of reeling it in and dealing with him internally, he pushed on trying for the home run. It was obviously a complete waste of time and resources, because we see what ultimately happened.

Skeet Club, Wray may or may not have resigned without the lockout. Once that happened he saw the writing on the wall, knew he was going to have a hard time explaining questionable tactics (like what he did with SID) and was going to get called on withholding the whole truth (or outright lies) behind those tactics. He CHOSE the route of least resistance. Why would he give up a better retirement benefit unless there was going to be some hard consequences?

He is not anywhere near as close to the right side of this issue as he likes to portray in the Rhino. If he was he would still be here. Nobody can prove tabloid rhetoric false when those writers have lawful protection from revealing notes and sources (as was recently affirmed in court). Wray knows this full and well so he's just doing his best to protect and defend his reputation. His ego can't help it.

Unbiased, where have you been all our lives! This is the kind of stuff people need to know.

You do seem to contradict yourself above when you kind of took Wray to task that he was afraid to "rustle the hornet's nest without concrete evidence of criminal activity", but you seem to fault him with trying to get it. (hit the "home run").

Regardless, thank you for posting this.

It's not really clear, at least to me, why Wray thought the shift scheduling changes needed to be made. Can you shed any light?

Also, seemingly the most damning charge made against Wray has been the implication that he was a racist, do you feel that's true?

Skeet Club, Wray never needed concrete evidence of criminal activity in order to deal with him internally. If there are reasons to think Hinson violated directives, he could have been disciplined well before the rest of the drama panned out. If there was concern that he broke laws then it's wise to hold off on the internal stuff until criminal issues are resolved. Like I said above, evidence of criminal behavior was never found. Once that was realized Wray should have given up on the cloak and dagger routine with SID, stepped up and acted like a strong chief and disciplined Hinson regardless of the racial fallout. I hope that makes more sense to you.

With the schedule, a lot of supervisors felt pressure to address the call load/lack of manpower issue. Wray made a change he thought could improve the situation, but you can only cut the pie so many ways. It comes down to "man hours" - how many officers (x) hours worked during a shift. The old 4/4 schedule was set up exactly in line with the call load as described in the consultation report, but all shifts were staffed equally. The best option would have been to pare down or eliminate special squads (as this report also recommends) in order to fully staff patrol. At the very least 2nd shift should have been fully staffed or assigned extra officers. If there is a rotating schedule, then those extra officers end up working 3rd and 1st shift on a regular basis when they aren't needed.

Fact is, and this is from face to face conversations between Wray and patrol line-ups, he didn't care what officers thought. He looked down on them as the dregs of the department instead of the backbone and face of the department. Maybe this was because he only spent a year or so in patrol before being "fast tracked" up the chain of command. Maybe this was the reason for his condescending attitude. One way or another, he ignored concerns that he viewed as selfish. Instead of listening, even to his own command staff, he made decisions based on his opinion only. Look where that got everybody...

As for Wray being racist, I have no idea. I never saw anything that he said or did that would be obvious proof of that.

So you're saying Wray should have forgot about criminal charges, just diciplined Hinson internally no matter if Joe Williams and Nelson Johnson were waiting in the wings, knowing Mitch would support him? Okay.

So Wray made scheduling changes he thought were needed, it became obvious the changes were not achieving what they were supposed to do, and, out of his arrogance, he refused to change back to what they were?

If Hinson was in clear violation of directives there would very little Mitch Johnson could, or would want, to do about it. He would get wrapped up in the racial political stuff, but so what. If Wray is right about Hinson and can back it up then that is the kind of thing Chief's are supposed to deal with. If Wray goes too far, abusing the purposes of SID in the process, and keeping Mitch Johnson uninformed about it, there is very little justification or solid ground he can stand on at that point.

The schedule was discussed ahead of time, and once it was in place there was no doubt, despite any concern or criticism, that it would not change. Officers would have been happy just to fix the shifts and stop rotating (which has no effect on the call load anyway) but Wray didn't care about them. He thought it made everyone more well rounded, but officers handle all types of calls no matter what shift, just at different frequencies. Just because a 3rd shift officer doesn't respond to bank robberies doesn't mean they don't know how to respond and assist with a perimeter and locating suspects. It's just like a gas station robbery at 4am. Just because a 1st shift officer doesn't handle many DWIs doesn't mean that they forget how to handle them, it's like riding a bike. Wray didn't really understand this much because of his own lack of experience in the field, and his lack of interest in the getting to know the patrol squads and everything that happens during all the shifts.

I think I'll have to end it here, I've said about all that I can. Again, I want people to focus on what this report says, because it is full of good ideas that have been brought up before from educated and well intentioned officers that do not have enough rank to make things happen. I said before that this money was not well spent because they are ideas that have been already suggested, but it will be well spent if the right people finally listen and changes are made for the better.

What is the purpose of the SID? This was another thing that is kind of murky and gets mentioned frequently?

unbiased
You obviously work for the GPD and you should change you name to "Ax to Grind". Because you obviously have an ax to grind with David Wray.
You say: Nobody can prove tabloid rhetoric false when those writers have lawful protection from revealing notes and sources. Wrong "Tabloid rhetoric" can always be proven false with FACTs. And so far NO ONE has given any "Facts" that even come close to discrediting what Jerry Bledsoe has written. The Truth will always win.
You also said "All he did to the schedule was go from three shifts to four, the rotation was completely unnecessary." The part about the rotation is nothing but your opinion. It is funny how other PDs have rotating shifts and they work great for those PDs. Once again your opinion proves you have an ax to grind with David. Because the fact is; rotating shifts do make for a better well rounded PD, and a better well rounded police officer.
Your "ax to grind" attitude also reveals itself when you say "Instead of listening, even to his own command staff, he made decisions based on his opinion only. Look where that got everybody... ". Let's look at the PD that David took over when Robert White left. It was very lax and a degree of discipline was needed to get the department back to where it needed to be. I would dare say "what got everybody where they are" is Mitch Johnson not allowing David to do his job.
You said "Ironically, it was Wray's fear of racial backlash that kept him from acting early on." Basically David was damned if he did and damned if he didn't take disciplinary action against Hinson. But David DID take disciplinary action against Hinson. Didn't Wray put Hinson on disciplinary leave (or something to that nature)? But then Hinson went to his racial gang (Joe Williams and Nelson Johnson) and Spinless Mitch got scared and FORCED David to resign and Hinson got put back on duty.
By the way, as I mentioned, I do not know David Wray personally, but I have spoken to several retired police officers (and I'm not talking about officers who had any involvement with any of this). And you are on the wrong side of this issue. If Wray had been left alone to do his job, we would not be in the situation we are today.

UnB, you also seem to fault Wray for not dealing internally with Hinson, implying he had plenty of material to work with, and this would have avoided all the botched future criminal investigation fiascos. Are you at liberty to discuss what this material might have consisted of? We've maybe heard some of it in Bledsoe, but you seem to be closer to this.

The report did not address whether or not the current Police Management is capable of understanding much less implementing the proposed plan. Not to worry, Mitch will take care of it.

Keeping It Real,

Unbiased has a very real grasp on the situation at GPD under Wray. I agree that s/he has knowledge and expertise that would indicate that s/he works for or has worked for the agency. I was a police executive for 12 years (not with GPD) and am a criminal justice professor who teaches police administration and management. I am familiar enough with Wray’s style to agree with Unbiased’s assessment that Wray was a poor leader. He violated nearly every tenant of good leadership with his autocratic style. He was referred to as “King David” by many of the troops because of his “my way or the highway” attitude and his snobbish style of dealing with people. His “photo-op” way of dealing with the public came across as insincere at best and more like elitist and condescending. The joke at the time of his forced (since that seems to be an issue with you) resignation was how much the city was going to have to spend to remove the throne from his office.

When confronted with the Hinson issue, he was placed in a position where his fear of being politically incorrect caused him to try to get more evidence of wrong doing against Hinson than he really needed to fire him. It is ironic that his attempt to be politically correct got him labeled as a racist. (I don’t believe he was at all.)

The bottom line is that if Wray had shown some respect for the employees of the department in his years as chief, he would still be there today. The alienation of his staff through his demeaning leadership style put the employees in a position where they were ready to jump on any bandwagon just to get rid of him. That bandwagon just happened to be the whole black book issue.