Fremont Police under scrutiny - Wayne-Wilson News Leader, Fremont, NC

21 February 2008 — After a brief agenda in front of the Fremont aldermen Tuesday night, a full audience of citizens aired concerns about the police department for the board.

The first order of business was a vote on an issue the board had discussed previously. In September 2004, the board approved a connection to the force main at the intersection of Airport Road and Aviation Road. This month, the contractor came back to the board with plans and specifications for an office at that location, and wanted to receive the board’s approval to tap on for employee bathrooms in the office.

Town Manager Kerry McDuffie noted that the company would pay for all of the costs to tap onto the system and that the only involvement the town would have is supervision of the installation process.

The board unanimously re-approved the force main tap.

The board also made a formal request for a road name change discussed in earlier meetings. Changing Blank Street to Memorial Church Street was unanimously approved in an effort to reduce confusion and maintain one street name on the roadway.

Mr. McDuffie added that he had talked with the Department of Transportation on the issue, and they had expressed no issues with the name change. However, formal approval is a required part of the process of changing the street name.

The board also discussed street sweeping in the city limits.

Currently, the town sweeps all curbed and guttered streets every Friday, other parts of town every other Friday.

However, since the end of December the town’s street sweeper has been broken. The streets weren’t swept at all between the end of December and last Friday, when sweeping resumed. The town noted that they received no citizen complaints during the gap.

The staff then proposed that the town consider sweeping once a month rather than once a week, unless circumstances require an additional sweeping.

Reducing the frequency of sweeps will reduce costs to the town of employee time, gas, and wear on the equipment.

Alderman Leroy Ruffin said that he felt that reducing sweeping was not the way to go to make a good first impression for Fremont.

“I think you should use it more,” he said. “A lot of people are coming into Fremont, I think that we need to keep it clean. Instead of stepping back, I think we need to increase it.”

After some discussion, Alderman Leon Mooring suggested that the town sweep at least once a month, but increase the frequency if it is deemed necessary. The board consented.

The largest portion of the meeting was spent listening to citizen concerns during the public comment time.

A number of citizens came before the board with complaints about police officers harassing them or their family members.

After her father expressed concerns to the board for being reprimanded by the police for standing in his own yard, Tierra? Lane asked the board how the department had the right to tell people where to stand.

She added that she had been pulled over for speeding and detained for half an hour by an officer before receiving a warning ticket.

Tina Barnes told the board that her son had been harassed by the department. She said she freely admitted that her son had broken the law on one occasion, but said that did not warrant what she called harassment by the police both before and after the incident.

Several other citizens made similar accusations of being told not to stand somewhere or being pulled over unnecessarily.

Mayor Jones told the citizens that he appreciated hearing their concerns, but urged them to directly report the incidents to the police chief.

“You told us enough here tonight that we can sit and think about it,” he said.

“How many complaints do you have to get before you do anything?” asked Ms. Lane.

After the crowd dispersed, Chief Ron Rawlings addressed the board, and said that he needs the citizens to come to him with complaints, and he will investigate any issues.

“I can’t fix a complaint if they don’t tell me,” he said.

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Issue of 21 February 2008

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