Where Sam has a point is the fact that the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record has failed to report, since it first came to light in September of last year, that the City of Greensboro, sworn to by City Manager Mitch Johnson, admits that it has zero evidence of anything indicating any misuse whatsoever of the so-called "black book."It was big, bold headlined front page news when Ahearn initially reported the alleged improper use of the “black book”. The fact that Johnson later admitted in his answers to us under penalty of perjury that he had no evidence to support the claim has yet to even be written about in the News and Record even though I have had this document since August and The Rhino made the story front page news after I made a copy available to John Hammer.
There is no excuse for this if the News and Record intends to be considered a credible news source. Just like Mitch Johnson, it is time for John Robinson to go.
You will recall that the former police chief David Wray was driven from office in large part because of the purported misuse of this book. The News & Record previously reported city manager Mitch Johnson as saying that the former chief of police "knew the book was improper" and that the book was "shown to prostitutes and drug dealers across the county in an effort to get information on any officers who might be engaging in illegal activities."
None of these assertions has ever been substantiated and now that the City, through the sworn statement of the City Manager, says that they have zero indication that the book was improperly used, the best the N&R can muster is "The city manager recently said the city could not prove the black book was used inappropriately." [Emphasis added] Well, no. That misses the point and is journalistic prestidigitation intended to divert readers away from the truth and the News & Record's complicity in obfuscating it.
City Manager Mitch Johnson was not asked if he could prove that the black book was used inappropriately, he was asked to:
"State whehter there are any documents or recordings in the posession of the City that indicate any other use of the 'Black Book' other than to solve or prevent a violation of the law." [Emphasis added] [Source, p13 #10]To this the City replied, with the notarized signature of City Manager Johnson:
"Based on information and belief, the City of Greensboro is not aware of any documents or recordings in the possession of the City that indicate any other use of the photo array, an original of which is currently in the possession of the State Bureau of Investigations (sic), other than to purportedly solve or prevent an alleged violation of the law." [Emphasis added] [Source, p13 #10]The city manager was not asked to prove improper use of the line up book, he was asked if the city has anything at all that even indicated improper use. The City and City Manager say no.
This matters greatly. The N&R previously reported the City Manager as saying that the book was used improperly. Now the manager says he has nothing that would indicate that at all. Where did those previous assertions reported in the N&R come from? Was the City Manager lying or being misquoted by the media and why does the N&R seem hellbent on ignoring the now glaring contradictions, much less investigating the reason for the contradiction and setting the record straight?
Sam is right. If the N&R will not explain to the public why it reported the City Manager as saying something for which he now says he has no evidence, then the N&R is not merely tolerating but standing in defense of mendacity -- a stance that should lead to the editor's dismissal if the paper's owners have any concern for its credibility.
UPDATE: Ben Holder (at Guarino's blog) provides another example of the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record reporting City Manager Johnson implicating former Chief Wray with statements about the "Black Book" for which he says he now has no evidence:
UPDATE II: Here's another example of how the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record has left standing inaccurate reporting about the black book:"Wray countered in a written statement that the black three-ring binder had only been compiled and used to identify a suspect in a single case: A prostitute's complaint that a police officer groped and sexually assaulted her during a strip search last January.
But City Manager Mitchell Johnson said investigators concluded otherwise - that there were numerous instances of the book being shown to criminal defendants in an attempt to target black officers among the 19 pictured in the book. Defendants were told, in Johnson's words, 'If you ID an officer, we might help you out....' "
The book in question includes head shots of 114 black males, including at least 19 city officers. Wray maintains that the photos were assembled for one purpose only: A woman reported that she was sexually assaulted by an unidentified black policeman, and the 19 photos were of the uniformed black officers working that particular shift.If one were to go by the "official paper of record" for Greensboro, one would believe that there were indications of misuse of the "black book" and no evidence of a legitimate purpose when, in fact, the exact opposite is true. There is only evidence of its proper use and zero indication of its misuse, but the N&R seems unable to make that known for some reason. A newspaper editor content to let such a gross distortion of the facts stand on the record may be acceptable to his corporate bosses, but Greensboro deserves better.However, Bellamy said Tuesday that he has found no record of such an assault, whether in the form of a police report, a tape of the woman's statement or any previous computer search of the black officers on that shift.
"If one were to go by the "official paper of record" for Greensboro, one would believe that there were indications of misuse of the "black book" and no evidence of a legitimate purpose when, in fact, the exact opposite is true. There is only evidence of its proper use and zero indication of its misuse"
ReplyDeleteThe heart of the matter and a point I've made before. Recall how Ed Cone was confronted with this in the past and still insisted that the burden of proof was on David Wray even when all of the actual documented evidence supported Wray.
Unbelievable.
The RMA Report states that the "black book" was shown around town to get information on black officers. They did not cite any documents to prove that was the case; just a matter of fact. So, is RMA subject to a libel lawsuit? And, why aren't they in Wray's lawsuit as co-defendants? As I recall, Mitch relied upon their statement in the report in his accusations.
ReplyDeleteIf the RMA mentions an improper use of the "black book", then Mitch Johnson lied under oath when he said that there were no documents or recordings in the possession of the City that indicated an improper use of the "Black Book" unless he wants to now claim that the City doesn't have the RMA in their possession, which would also be another false statement under oath.
ReplyDeleteThis is a little fact that is being missed by a lot of people.
"The RMA Report states that the "black book" was shown around town to get information on black officers." -- Stormy
ReplyDeleteDoes it say that? I know that PI Longmire says he was told that as a premise for a question, but I do not recall if that was ever actually asserted as fact in the RMA Report (although it was reported as such in the N&R). Can anybody quote this assertion from the RMA Report?
Below is the portion of the legal report that includes information about the black book. It is located on page 31.
ReplyDeleteg. Failure to Disclose Information that Would Dispel the Myth That a "Black Book" Exists-
It has been rumored that investigators with the Special Intelligence Division created a book containing pictures of all of the African-American GPD Officers. It was further rumored that Special Intelligence was indiscriminately showing these pictures to suspects and informants. It has not been confirmed that a 'blackbook' exists. However, Officer Sanders did cause 5 photo line-ups to be created in 2002. These line-ups contained the pictures of Officers Hinson, Fulmore, Snipes, Rankin and Allen Wallace. Each line-up contained an individual officer. Given the fact that Hinson, Rankin and Snipes were implicated early in the investigation of the 1997 bachelor party, it was appropriate to show line-ups to bachelor party attendees in an attempt identify the officers involved. However, any other display of such line-ups without an underlying allegation thereafter would be inappropriate.
It has also been learned that in February 2005, Officer Sanders during a sexual assault allegation, had 19 line-ups created containing the photos of 19 African-American officers-separate and apart from the 5 created in 2002. Again, each individual line-up contained the photo of an individual officer. These line ups were placed in a black notebook and Det. Sanders ultimately gave gave the notebook to Deputy Chief Brady. A female prostitute had alleged that an African-American officer had sexually assaulted her in the back of a marked patrol car. Creating line-ups to depict all African-American officers who were on patrol during the time of the offense is an appropriate investigative tool.
Information about the black book is on page 26 of the RMA report. It is provided below.
"Was there a "black book" containing photographs of police officers used for some purpose by this perceived secret unit? Although the Chief avoided responding to this serious allegation in his press statement, he was aware of the fact that his Deputy Police Chief had at the time facilitated the creation of a black notebook with 114 color and 114 black and white photographs, including 19 GPD officers. The book was created by Sanders' unit to investigate a criminal allegation of misconduct by a GPD officer referred to his intelligence unit by Deputy Chief Brady. Policy provides for the notification of the Chief of Police of all complaints received against officers, suggesting that Wray directed Brady to refer this case to Sanders. The suspected officer was black, but his identity was unknown to the complainant/victim. When Sanders first attempted to have a civilian GPD officer create these "line-ups", she resisted. Sanders or Fox contacted Brady who called the supervisor of that employee and directed the creation of the requested line-ups.
Criminal investigations sometimes require the use of these types of identification processes to determine the identity of a suspect. In a memo to Chief Brady dated in July 2005, Sanders describes the existence of various photographic line-up (sic) of officers he was familiar with or used during his investigations, including the ones described above. The perception of the minority officers is supported by the fact that they were the focus of Sanders' investigative efforts and photographs of a number of them were shown for various reasons to people in the community.
By the time of the press conference on June 17, 2005, Wray had all the facts. He knew, or should have known, that Hinson and several other minority Greensboro Police Department employees had been the focus of the special unit working within the Intelligence Section and commanded by Deputy Chief Brady. This special unit within his department had at the very least become the perceived "secret police unit" investigating black officers and there was a "black book" used by this unit that contained officer's (sic) photos. Wray knew or should have known that this Special Intelligence Division had crossed the line of appropriateness."