New Hanover: Police reform measures come in wake of township racism probe
NEW HANOVER » Township supervisors have approved moving ahead with obtaining body cameras for township police officers to wear.
The move comes in combination with a number of other police reform measures Township
Manager Jamie Gwynn outlined during Thursday’s supervisors’ meeting, measures he would have taken, he said, “regardless” of the outcome of the investigation into racism in the police department.
In late June, Supervisors Chairman Charles D. Garner Jr. announced that the 11-month-long investigation into accusations made by two former officers had
uncovered “no evidence” to confirm any of the claims they made against Police Chief Kevin McKeon and Sgt. William Moyer by two former officers.
Garner’s statement noted “there were some reports of township employees making sporadic inappropriate racial comments in years past, which are being addressed with the individual employees.”
However, the investigation found “there was no suggestion that any member of the New Hanover Police Department, including any supervisor, had ever acted in a racially discriminatory manner in the performance of their duties as sworn law enforcement officers, or in their dealings with any person, including any resident, township employee or member of the general public.”
Nevertheless, said Gwynn, steps are being taken to move the department forward.
“The silver lining in all this is if we can become better, we should,” he told the supervisors.
The four supervisors who participated in Thursday meeting — Marie Livelsberger was absent — all agreed with Gwynn’s proposal that the township moves forward with obtaining body cameras for police officers to wear to record their interactions with the public.
“I very much support the idea,” said Garner. “We should move on this as soon
as possible,” said Supervisor W. Ross Snook.
Gwynn said it will take several months to implement but that the supervisors had “given me my marching orders.
“The chief recommended this and the police department supports it,” Gwynn said. “The chief presented data that shows that residents feel more safe when being pulled over by a police officer” if they are wearing body cameras.”
In addition to buying the equipment, the township must seek out and enact policies “so there is no loss of footage,” said Supervisor Kurt Zebrowski.
Township Solicitor Andrew Bellwoar said “we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There are certainly already policies out there, but we should start looking at those policies now and adopt policies that are specific to body cameras on police.”
That’s not the only policy change the township is considering.
Gwynn outlined a long list of “active steps to get better,” including having an insurance expert review existing policies and procedures and suggest changes; all employees, not just police, undertaking two training webinars on “respect and harassment awareness” as well as “valuing diversity for employees.”
Training for all employees will also include “uncovering implicit bias”; and for police, a two-part training on “anti-bias policing.”
McKeon recently sent four officers to “de-escalation
training,” in the last two months and other officers will attend as vacations and shifts permit, said Gwynn.
“We also want to look at our hiring policy to further promote diversity,” said Gwynn.
In that regard, he said he is reaching out to other municipal managers to discuss ways to make the pool of job applicants more diverse.
“We will continue to improve,” said Gwynn.
“If we just believe our local newspaper, we might believe our police department is something we didn’t want,” said Gwynn.
He read several letters from residents, including from “a retired Black female professional,” praising police officers for their professionalism.
“A lot of things we don’t share are positive,” said Gwynn, “and if you just look on Facebook, those comments tend to focus on the negative, but our police department is more than a few newspaper articles.”
One of those positive outcomes was a commendation presented to an officer Thursday night for an investigation into the sexual assault of a student by a teacher.
Gwynn was out of the office Friday and could not provide the particulars of that investigation or text of that commendation. The most recent news item posted on the department’s website is from 2018.
The most recent post on the department’s Facebook page is from July 4, wishing America a happy birthday.