Election Rhetoric so Low the Status Quo are Digging the Bottom of the Barrel.
Posted in Greensboro City Council
Nov. 3, 2007 at 11:50
by BrendaBee
This election is heating up now as it comes down to the wire and since the David Wray Disaster has been a focal point of this election some are still beating the dead horse of "Well, maybe he didn't do what they said, but David Wray was no saint". This is mostly on Joe's site since Joe has been so actively trying to determine the qualities of those running for office and now that he is making his determinations based on all his work his decisions are being questioned. I am so sick of this argument, but am willing to go one more time around for the benefit of any who may still be buying into this, so here goes:Nick, thinker (self proclaimed) and Cronies, not one of us has ever claimed David Wray was a saint. Many of us have however claimed almost from the very beginning of this disaster for the city that he was not guilty of the things he was being vilified for.
The first accusation was that he was a rabid racist. The FBI cleared him of that claim. Remember our mayor Happy Holiday proclaiming about the RMA report which documented all the ways that Wray was supposed to have been a racist saying, "Well, they (RMA) was wrong about that but they weren't wrong about everything." When brains were passed out old Happy was behind the door but he sure did take a second helping of gall.
Then it was "losing the trust of the city manager" but for what reason this "trust" was lost we were never specifically told. There was just a general claim that David Wray did not keep Mitch Johnson up to date on every little detail and workings in the police department. This may very well be true because no department head keeps the manager inform on everything. That would be impossible and would certainly very much over burden the manager if it were done. It is called delegation of authority. David Wray was the Chief of Police not Mitch Johnson! David Wray had the training and expertise to do the job of the Chief of Police,whereas Mitch Johnson from what I have been able to decerngiven his actions in this and other areas has no particular training in anything. Certainly not management!
When questions were asked David Wray answered them as best he could. The "Black Book" and "Secret Police' were claimed to have been the big lies told by Wray. Those of us who know something of how police work is done understood the so called "Black book" to be an ordinary line up book of which it is common practice in police departments to make up and use. David Wray kept saying he had no knowledge of a "Black Book" being used to target Black police officers and he didn't because there was no such thing. At some point this line up book was discovered and determined to perhaps be what all the fuss was about. The Police Chief told his staff member to "secure" the book for further investigation. This is standard procedure also and the word "secure" is the standard term used to mean keep it in a safe place where we can get it if and when we need it. The person given this charge had an insecure office so he put it in the one place he knew it would be safe and that was the trunk of his police car. He undoubtedly had a great many things in his truck that he didn't feel were safe in his office, but these were never mentioned. Police officers routinely use their police cars as offices since they spend a great deal of time in them. The SBI report finally cleared these two items up for the public when they found no "Black Book" and no "Secret Police". These things were/are figments of an over zealous reporter's imagination that the Black officers who were looking to make a killing suing the city hopped on and ran with.
That there were mistakes in day to day management that David Wray was probably guilty of no one disputes, not even David Wray I am sure. He was an honest man given a very difficult job and doing it as best he could under the circumstances. Which to my mind was DAMNMED WELL! No one is perfect. David Wray was the last hope the residents of Greensboro had for a decent police force. He was a highly trained officer of law enforcement. he was one of the more upright and ethical officers faced with a mutinous group of unethical officers bent on having their way regardless of the good of the department or the city. In fact, several of these officers were and are outright criminals who still are employed by the city. David Wray knew of these people but knew also because of the political climate in Greensboro he would have to have not just proof of their criminal behavior but overwhelming proof before he could rid the department of their influence.
David Wray was aware of the growing criminal activities in Greensboro and in order to provide the best possible police protection under the circumstances of being undermanned he had to make some unpopular decisions. He did so and took the flak for his actions while standing pat on his decisions.
He went to rotating shifts which no one likes because they are miserable for the workers. However, every organization that works around the clock in order to have the best coverage at all times of the day and night are on rotating shifts. All hospitals operate on rotating shifts and most police departments in the country operate on rotating shifts. If this is not the case the older and most experience personnel choose to work daytimes leaving the younger and less experienced for the unwanted night shifts. This is just plain human nature. Would you volunteer to work when the rest of the decent world is asleep? IO say "decent" world because night is when the scum comes out of hiding. Damned tooting you wouldn't and neither would I. That is one reason I did not go into the medical field or police work as a career choice. But it just so happens that the most crime happens at night just when the older and more experienced police officers are needed. When Greensboro was a sleepy little city the police department could be a bit laid back, but Greensboro is no longer Mayberry. The gang problem did not just erupt out of the cold, it has been here for sometime. David Wray was working to keep it under control and that is one reason he had to stretch his limited man power by going onto the rotating shift work schedule. He angered a lot of the pampered, obese (Potato Hastings) and moonlighting officers who wanted to keep their side jobs of guarding properties AT NIGHT. That was the bottom line of all the complains from the cry babies in the police force. They weren't at all losing sleep because they were not sleeping at nights, they were instead working the extra job and then coming in to the police department sleepy the next day! You and the "thinker" seem to rely heavily on "what other police officer's" tell you as being gospel, well I got this from another police officer so you should really buy into it.
In short, not one of David Wray's defenders claim he is a saint and that he did not make some mistakes as do all of us on our jobs. In my career I would have hated to have had anyone looking over my shoulder and second guessing every decision I made. Moreover, in David Wray's case he had someone countermanding his decisions. I refer to the Morton case where a police officers slugged a handcuffed prisoner. Internal investigation c learned him of the serious charge and just recommended a slap on the wrist. This was a very, very serious breach of police procedure and that man does not belong on the GPD or any other police force. Wray fired him and Mitch Johnson rescinded Wray's orders. My cousin who was a Police Chief of a large northern city could not believe this action. He told me that any officer under his command who had committed that actions would not have been investigated at all but fired on the spot! It happened that it was a Black police officer and a Black in custody but I wonder what would have come of the case if it had been a White Officer instead. Actually, I don't at all wonder because I know; there would have been a riot in Greensboro's streets called out by the PAC, the Black Pulpit Forum, no doubt our state representatives the criminal Earl Jones and Alma Adams and Lord only knows who else. And you know well that I am speaking the truth here. But when our Police Chief did the right thing in this matter our city manager cut him off at the knees for it. Johnson was pandering to the minority community. Just as he was pandering to the minority community when he gave, yes GAVE, a minority contractor $83,000 for a job that the contractor had bid in for $30,000.
Now if you want to discuss bad management and bad decisions you might want to take a closer look at this and other Johnson Antics.
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