Big plans, little ego
This week's column.
Shaven-headed and plain-spoken, Tim Bellamy charmed a full house at the Central Library during his official coming out Thursday as the new chief of police in Greensboro.
Even the attorney for the man Bellamy succeeds, former Chief David Wray, who resigned under pressure last year, had kind things to say about the new boss.
"Tim's a good man," Locke Clifford said following a news conference announcing Bellamy's elevation from interim chief to chief.
"David Wray wishes him the very best."
As City Manager Mitchell Johnson said at last week's announcement, Bellamy appears to be "the right man at the right time for the Greensboro Police Department."
Yes, two other finalists for the job dropped out of the running.
Yes, the results of a long-awaited SBI investigation are pending and overdue and could thrust the department into deeper turmoil than it already has weathered since Wray's bitter ouster.
Yes, a more open and public selection process would have been preferable.
And yes, a "social capital" survey found low levels of trust in the Greensboro police, the lowest among all 21 cities who took the survey.
Add to that the similar euphoria that greeted Wray's naming as chief in the summer of 2003 — and that Wray, like Bellamy, had been a long-time veteran of the department — one might wonder if Thursday's wide smiles and standing ovation were misplaced.
Probably not. Unlike Wray, Bellamy has had a year-long audition for the job.
His steady leadership under fire as interim chief has been almost universally praised. His fans cite his even-keeled demeanor, his sense of fairness, his long experience in the field and his organizational skills.
As for his critics, well, it's hard to find any.
Bellamy's ascension to the permanent post isn't a surprise. He is well-liked by the City Council, even as it wrangles with uncharacteristic division in its own ranks. Several months ago Councilman Mike Barber wondered aloud whether the city should go ahead then and name Bellamy the new chief to speed up healing in a department racked by charges of racism and corruption.
Morale seems to have improved on Bellamy's watch and he has made it clear that he doesn't mind taking creative chances. Thus, Bellamy's dramatic reversal of an unpopular rotating schedule that he says will provide more police on the street and provide the officers with more favorable shifts. And thus his intentions already to reorganize the command structure of the department.
Some have argued that the department would have been better served by bringing in new blood and fresh eyes from outside; sometimes that is the best course to take, especially in a department shaken so thoroughly by internal discord.
But if something is working, why change it?
That's not to say this will be easy. Bellamy's honeymoon will be over in a hurry if ever he has one at all.
There are vacancies to fill among his top commanders.
There are new systems for accountability to create.
There is renewed trust and good will to build.
"The No. 1 objective for that individual will be going out into the community and bridging that trust ... to (get) involved in meetings like this with the people out in the community who say, 'I don't trust the police,' " the city manager said at a recent community meeting on the social capital results.
Bellamy also cited among his priorities domestic violence, gun violence and "juveniles in the criminal justice system," word choices that suggest holistic approaches to combating juvenile crime beyond simply locking people up.
Noting a year's worth of tumult in the department that tested him the first minute he stepped in more than a year ago as interim chief, Bellamy said, "I was able to experience this job in its toughest moments .... at least I hope so."
Pairing big plans with a conspicuously understated ego, he seems poised to do just fine if he continues to take his responsibilities more seriously than he takes himself.