Charlotte leaders vow to ‘reimagine’ CMPD, launch community models to curb violent crime

City leaders are embarking on an ambitious 90-day plan to reimagine the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, capping off more than a month of community outrage after officers used chemical agents against peaceful protesters in uptown.

By August, a City Council committee intends to review the role of police officers, incorporating perspectives from a wide swath of local activists, law enforcement experts and Charlotte residents. That includes scrutinizing how CMPD’s directives — including duty-to-intervene, de-escalation and chokehold policies — align with the national “8 Can’t Wait” initiative aimed at ending police violence.

”There will be potential policy changes and budget adjustments,” City Manager Marcus Jones told City Council members during their virtual strategy session Monday. “I know the Council wants action.”

In September, the Safe Communities Committee will bring recommendations to the full City Council, while also delving into police transparency issues and selecting other CMPD procedures to evaluate.

City Council, for example, would still need to assess CMPD’s policies for interacting with peaceful demonstrators and people with mental illnesses, according to Jones.

The Safe Communities Committee is also supposed to be reviewing the June 2 protest incident in uptown, City Council member Malcolm Graham told his colleagues on Monday.

Peaceful marchers on 4th Street — demanding justice following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis — were boxed in and targeted with tear gas, stun grenades and pepper balls by riot-control police officers. A State Bureau of Investigation review used street camera and bystander video footage to determine protesters had two escape routes, though they were filled with smoke. The review did not conclude whether the officers followed laws or policies during the incident.

Still, some council members have interpreted the SBI report as settling the issue of whether department policies were followed.

“There were some other issues surrounding that night, so that’s what I’m still waiting to understand,” Graham said. “If no policies were violated, what happened?”

‘Recipe for disappointment’

Some City Council members said the proposed 90-day timeline to rethink CMPD is too drawn-out — and perhaps, too ambiguous to yield tangible change — as police departments across the country face a barrage of criticism.

”I still don’t think we’re getting it,” said City Council member Braxton Winston, who last month successfully led a budget maneuver to prevent CMPD from buying chemical agents in the new fiscal year.

Winston said elected officials don’t need to see more studies conducted on violent crime or presentations on policing tactics, like those discussed Monday. He instead pressed Jones for clearer guidance on rerouting CMPD’s budget to more “appropriate places,” such as social services.

Charlotte’s current strategy could evolve into a “recipe for disappointment” amid impassioned pleas for social change, City Council member Ed Driggs said.

“There is really no good answer out there waiting to be found — somebody would have found it by now,” Driggs told his colleagues. “We really need to think big picture, keep it simple, and do something soon.”

Mayor Vi Lyles said the city council faces greater scrutiny than it did following the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in 2016. Now, Lyles said, Charlotte’s response to police reform will be measured against other major cities across the country.

“This work is complicated,” Lyles said. “It’s going to be difficult.”

A new way to curb violence

In a separate discussion Monday that framed violence as a public health crisis, Jones announced Charlotte would launch several community-based pilot programs this fall. The programs are referred to as “violence interrupters.”

A street outreach program, slated to start in neighborhoods surrounding Beatties Ford Road and Interstate 85/Sugar Creek, would focus on the diverse needs of residents there, Jones said. Outreach workers would help at-risk individuals connect with social services and mentors, among other resources.

”It’s so important to have the individuals on the ground be involved,” Jones said. “We would be working with individuals who are already in the community, because they have the connections.”

There would also be a hospital-based violence interrupter pilot, Jones said, to help victims seek professional counseling and support. Jones said upward mobility fellowships will launch this fall, too, with an emphasis on funding to spur economic growth and build infrastructure.

City Council in January was urged to pursue community-based models to curb violent crime in Charlotte. Four geographic areas account for 8% of the city’s violent crime, despite comprising less than 2 square miles, Jones said.

Those “durable hotspots” — vulnerable to housing instability and illegal drug activity — encompass Interstate 85/Sugar Creek; Beatties Ford Road/LaSalle Street; Nations Ford/Arrowood Roads; and Sharon Amity Road/Central Avenue.

Council member Larken Egleston has said a violence-interrupter model could have prevented fatal shootings on Beatties Ford Road during recent Juneteenth celebrations.

”We can’t wait,” Egleston said. “I think there is an urgency that we take action.”

The city is on pace to have another deadly year, with 55 homicides recorded so far. In 2019, the city had 108 homicides, the highest figure since the early 1990s.

This story was originally published July 6, 2020 at 10:43 PM.