PA attorney general shows interest in police racism probe
NAACP letter seeks more answers, makes requests
NEW HANOVER » The state attorney general’s civil rights division has taken an interest in the township’s investigation of racism in the police department.
Supervisors Chairman Charles D. Garner Jr. confirmed Thursday that the township has received a request from the AG’s office for information about the investigation, the results of which were announced late last month.
The investigation into allegations of racist behavior and language by Police Chief Kevin McKeon and Sergeant William Moyer found little evidence to significantly substantiate most of the claims, Garner announced in a prepared statement at the June 22 meeting.
The investigation took 11 months and, as of May 27, has cost the township $31,156, according to Township Manager Jamie Gwynn.
The allegations were made by two former police officers, Keith
Youse and Dennis Psota and were first made public in a series of news articles, including a Sept. 30, 2019 article in The Mercury.
Garner said the township received a request for information from the attorney general’s office “about 10 days ago” and that the township has not yet responded.
He said the board of supervisors needs to discuss the township’s response, which he said he hopes will occur at a closed-door executive session prior to the next public meeting on Aug. 6.
Also on the table for discussion in executive session is a response to a July 13 letter from the Pottstown chapter of the NAACP.
The NAACP got involved in the matter in October, 2019, about a month after the township announced it would investigate the incidents revealed in the news reports.
It offered to provide other witnesses NAACP members had identified who had more information to provide about inappropriate police department behavior.
The township’s announcement that the 11-month-long investigation had been completed came 12 days after a letter from the NAACP demanding an update on the probe.
The most recent July 13 letter, among other things, asked to see the list of witnesses interviewed by attorney John Gonzales, the investigator the township hired.
“Your statement indicates that the interviews he conducted were solely with current and former township employees. Racial remarks made within the hearing of township employees might well constitute a hostile workplace environment,” according to the letter. “But why was no one from the community interviewed?”
The letter also asked for a response on the observation that Gonzales was already working on behalf of the township when he was hired to investigate the police department and, as a result, might be biased in favor of protecting the township.
Garner confirmed that Gonzales was hired by the township’s insurance carrier for litigation pertaining to a dispute about ownership of Grandview Avenue prior to being hired by the supervisors to conduct the investigation.
Emphasizing that he is speaking for himself and not the board, Garner said he does not believe the board’s subsequent decision to hire Gonzales from among several attorneys who responded to a request to conduct the police department investigation comprised any kind of conflict.
“It’s not a factor at all,” he said, adding “although I guess I could see how some people could take that view and say he was ‘the township’s attorney.’”
The NAACP letter raised several other requests, including that the township make efforts to “assure racial and gender diversity within its currently all-white male police force and follow the lead of other Montgomery County municipalities in removing Article 120 requirements that make it more difficult to bring minorities onto the police force.”
The letter asks the township to follow through on its announced commitment to a “‘review of its existing policies and procedures which prohibit discrimination and harassment to make sure they are up to date’” and make available publicly an updated police code of conduct, crafted with community input.
The letter also requests that township police wear body cameras and that the township “institute and expand community policing to help build trust between the police and the community.”
Garner declined to comment specifically on any of those requests until the board has had a chance to meet and discuss them, but he did say “some of those things are things the supervisors have already discussed in the context of the investigation.”
“In my view, from reading this letter, I would say we have a lot of room for building common ground and to help bring the community together on this,” Garner said.