Looking back on the Charlotte Protests, through the eyes of a police officer
It’s been nearly two months since the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott led to a week of protests. I spent a few of those nights on the streets, documenting what I saw and heard. In addition to people like public defender Toussaint Romain, there were a few people who stuck out to me as figures who were trying to accomplish good in an otherwise chaotic situation.
One of those people was Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department Major Mike Campagna. I saw Campagna, then a captain, out on the streets every night, trying his best to work with the protest leaders in keeping the peace and facilitating their needs as a group. I knew when the dust settled, I wanted to eventually sit down with Campagna,
At the time of the protests, Campagna was in charge of the Central Division, which encompasses uptown and part of South End. Campagna, 47, is a Charlotte native, has been with CMPD for 24 years, is married, and has a son in college and a daughter in high school.
We met at CMPD headquarters recently. Here’s part of our conversation.
Wednesday night, the second night of protests, saw the most violence, looting and property damage in uptown. What was the beginning of that night like?
We were in Marshall Park, and there was a large group, maybe a thousand people. Some of them went up McDowell towards Little Rock AME Zion Church, and there was another group who went down Third Street, and we knew they were heading towards EpiCentre. When we got to the EpiCentre, the group went inside the EpiCentre which I believe was closed down. I went inside with them, just to monitor and see how the tone and tenor was and they stayed on the first floor for a little while, then they went upstairs. And they went upstairs to where the Kandy Bar (nightclub) was they started breaking out the windows.
The Kandy Bar had had some controversial stuff go on and we were aware of that, but that act of breaking out the windows and breaking into the building changes it from a protest to criminal behavior. That was a turning point. We had the Democratic National Convention (in 2012) and other protests around town in the past, but we had never experienced that in the city of Charlotte.
Moving to Thursday, there was a noticeable difference in the organization of the protests. What was the difference?
The difference between Wednesday and Thursday was, I think a lot of people in Charlotte looked at what they saw on TV and said, “Whoa, hey, this isn’t our town.” Some of it was an organized group of clergy, some of it was just people saying, “Oh, I need to go downtown and help,” and they showed up and were the driving force in keeping things on track.
You were at the front of the protest lines helping to facilitate the protesters as they marched through the streets, doing things like stopping traffic and making sure the march moved smoothly. Was that a part of the plan?
Sometimes you saw crowds in the intersection and nobody really knows where to go, and these organizers really helped to say, hey, we’re gonna go here, we’re gonna turn right here, and made people feel comfortable. My perspective wasn’t, oh, I’m part of the march, but I didn’t want to say you keep marching because that sounds like I’m telling them what to do. It was more like as a group, let’s keep marching.
Moving forward, what are some ways the community and the police can come together and bridge some of these divides in our community?
I’m a Charlottean. I love this town. I have never found a reason to leave. It’s a tragedy that has created this need (to protest), but I’m glad people are taking the energy from it and moving in a positive direction. What we have really tried to do is bring all these groups who I had a connection with, try to come together to form a network of their own. There are a lot of people that want to do things and I think it would be great if they all came together and moved in the same direction.
You have recently been promoted from Captain to Major. What will you be doing in your new role?
I am in charge of training and recruiting. We have some new positions that the City of Charlotte has awarded us this fiscal year. The struggle for us is having the department reflect the community. (Law enforcement) is and always has been a white, male-centered profession. We are trying to break that down, but we can only hire those who apply.
We need more young people saying “I want to devote my life to this service.” Young people in particular in the black community, but also the Hispanic community, the Asian community, and women. We need people of all backgrounds.
Photos: Courtesy of Mike Campagna; Jonathan Lee
This story was originally published November 16, 2016 at 8:02 PM with the headline "Looking back on the Charlotte Protests, through the eyes of a police officer."