Public Input Sought on Police Investigations

Office of the City Manager Dec. 31, 2007
Contact: Derwick Paige, 747-7473

Acting on a recommendation in the Sykes Review Committee, an independent security consultant will hold an open forum Tuesday, Jan. 8, to collect public comments about Police Department criminal investigations. No members of the Police Department or their representatives will be present.

The forum will be held 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Hanes Hosiery Recreation Center, 501 Reynolds Blvd. (at the corner of Reynolds Boulevard and Akron Drive). The forum is to collect comments only about the department’s Criminal Investigation Division (detectives), and not about patrol officers or other aspects of the department. In particular, victims of crimes that have been investigated by the Criminal Investigations Division, and people who were suspects in crimes investigated by the division, are urged to attend.
Individuals will be allowed up to three minutes to discuss their experience with the Criminal Investigation Division. Separate follow-up meetings will be scheduled by the consultant, if necessary.

In the report of its investigation of how the police handed the Debra Sykes murder case, the Sykes Review Committee recommended that the city bring in an outside expert to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the Criminal Investigation Division.
In November, the city hired Risk Management Associates, a security-consulting firm based in Raleigh, to conduct the review. The public forum is being held as part of that review.