Reading the Greensboro Police Department press release about the response to 911 calls from the home of City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba brings to mind a similar police response in the classic movie Casablanca.
In Casablanca, the police captain says, “I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.” And then an employee walks up and says to the police captain, “Your winnings, sir.” Here is the link for those who want to refresh their memories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbPi00k_ME
I have to agree with the police captain, I am shocked, shocked to find out from the Greensboro Police Department that, when police responded to the call at the city manager’s house, everything was handled just like any other domestic disturbance 911 call in the city.
The truth is that the call to Jaiyeba’s home on Dec. 28 was not handled anything like a normal domestic disturbance 911 call in the City of Greensboro.
As city manager, Jaiyeoba is the direct superior to Police Chief John Thompson, which means Jaiyeoba has the authority to hire and fire the police chief. So, when Jaiyeoba called Chief Thompson, it wasn’t simply a concerned citizen calling, it was Thompson’s boss. Of course, as noted in the News & Record, most rank and file residents of Greensboro don’t have the cell phone number of the police chief.
The press release notes that Jaiyeoba didn’t ask for special treatment. Whether that is true or not doesn’t matter because, by making the call to his employee Chief Thompson, Jaiyeoba was assured of receiving special treatment, and he did.
Thompson spoke to the responding officers and told them that the watch commander, the highest ranking police officer on duty, was on the way.
This is in no way the normal way of handling domestic disturbance 911 calls.
And the Police Department covered it up. According to the Police Department, a police report was filed but it was not made available to the public “due to the sensitive information within it.” The sensitive information appears to be the name “Taiwo Jaiyeoba,” and perhaps the names of two of his daughters also listed as victims.
Lots of people whose names are in police reports would like to have that information withheld from the public, but that is not an option for the rank and file citizen. However, that is an option for the city manager, and the police report on the domestic disturbance incident was kept out of the public’s view for nearly a month.
Whether he specifically requested special treatment or not, Jaiyeoba, through his actions, made certain that he did receive special treatment because he is city manager.
It is up to the Greensboro City Council to decide if a two-tiered system of justice is what it wants for the City of Greensboro – one tier for the residents and taxpayers of Greensboro and one tier for senior city employees. It is clear from his actions that a two-tiered system is what Jaiyeoba expects, but is it what his boss, the Greensboro City Council, wants?
Sadly, from the City Council’s actions or lack of action it appears this is also what the City Council wants for its employee, the city manager.
The very least the City Council should do is define who receives this special treatment. Is it only available to the city manager or can assistant city managers expect the same special treatment? What about department directors for the City of Greensboro? Do they receive special treatment or will they be treated like the rest of the residents of Greensboro when it comes to police action? Will members of the City Council also receive this special treatment?
If we are going to have two sets of rules for police response, the residents of Greensboro have a right to know who is in that special treatment category.
Wow – reading the authors comments and complete lack of objectivity and quick inferences it is easy to disregard the article as anything more than gossip. While there could be more reason to question the facts as they are made available, forming opinions as facts at this point is misplaced. If I were the city manager and police were called to my house, I would tell the chief and the mayor as a heads up. If he requested or received special treatment is a second price the the puzzle that does need to be reviewed to ensure no favoritism. The chief calling the duty officer is appropriate rather than have a line officer have to make a call on the city manager and his family.
That’s the point…if he was treated as anyone else there would no reason to “make a call on the city manager and his family” the call would be to follow the protocol by including no official report in the computer system and doing it via paper and withhold filling the report within 24 hrs is not gossip these are facts
PLAGIARISM!!!
LOL
You are spot on John. There is definitely a two tiered- system in Greensboro. I believe most citizens are aware of that, especially when it comes to race. If you remember, a member of city council said we have white leaves and black leaves when discussing their new system of yard waste removal. Greensboro, the laughing stock of NC.
I believe that Greensboro CC and Guilford County Commissioners are viewed as objects of ridicule in Raleigh. This matters since the city and county look to Raleigh for assistance and funds.
Facts: we do not ask Raleigh for funds and the state made the decision long ago to not to allocate large sums the larger municipalities, hence you have Toyota in liberty and not the city because they would not lend us the money for incentives. NC is the laughing stock of most of the country because we could have regressive policies being imposed by a gerrymandered state legislature. We should be bucking policies set in order by some bumpkins who represent Towns of less then 15,000 who only have power through gerrymandering
You sir are a total moron. I again give you permission to speak.
TermLimits is spot on, as to influence the city of Greensboro has under this Ruling Set Of Goony Birds. One just has to look at the death of Greensboro as the heart of ACC & NCAA basketball championships in this area. We remember when tourney time came year after year and the joy it brought to Greensboro. With the power and influence of these clowns we are now lucky to be thrown a ACC championship once every ten years. Their ineptitude is only outweighed by their graft.
A two tiered system of justice! The elites have things handled differently than the way things are handled for us “little people”. There, fixed it for you.
Shame, shame, shame! Lead by example someone said! I thought the law, guidelines and others apply to everyone!
Same thing playing out with Fani Willis in Atlanta. Were our City Manager ethnically aligned with the oppressor/colonist class, this would have been handled with intense transparency and decisively by our elected and (other) appointed officials. And he would have been dispatched summarily, like the City Manager in Summerfield has been, although the latter hasn’t committed any acts of domestic violence that we’re aware of.
Hopefully, we are past “Peak Woke”, and are starting to return to the application of a uniform code of conduct that all in our community are obliged to adhere to, and that public officials who behave badly suffer the same sanctions, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, or reproductive organs.
Greensboro employees must be spineless to accept any position within its government. There should be a notation in each job description to this fact. Send this City Manager to Casablanca where he’ll undoubtedly feel more at home.
Spineless-NO Many feel they can make a difference. Unfortunately the cowardly Mayor and city council rule the roost. People in authoritative positions need to step-up to the Mayor and council without fear of reprisal and do what is best for their subordinates. (IE-police Chief)
We already know who is in the special treatment program. All, if not most, of the city council ! Especially if you happen to have land that the city wants, a building the city wants or most recently, a second job that caters to the violent members of Greensboro and/or the homeless. Mainly if it involves money . And this will continue till people are held accountable for their actions. I can not believe that every dang one of them were re-elected.!!
Great summary of the special treatment the city manager received. Now let’s press to have him fired for abuse of power along with the long list of other reasons he needs to be replaced.
Your late this thing has been wrapped up this was the last hurdle. Go find something else to do
Please don’t forget this is the same Greensboro City Manager Taiyo Jaiyeoba that showed no mercy and approved the firing of 25-year Decorated Veteran and Hero Fire Captain of the Greensboro Fire Department for a non-violent and non-criminal Facebook Post!
It is also the dynamic duo of Greensboro Police Chief John Thompson and City Manager Taiwo Jaiyeoba that choose not to pursue criminal charges against two black off-duty Greensboro Police Officer’s attempt to rob a known drug dealer near Golden Gate Drive at 5:30 am in the morning on Feb. 10, 2023!
And all this is happening under the auspices of our Mayor Nancy Vaughan and our useless Greensboro City Council! The whole bunch are partners in crime and should be punished for their neglect and criminal activities!
Jim Donaldson
And THAT is a Crime that will NEVER be forgotten or forgiven by those who know and love that Hero!
John. I pay taxes WHICH pays the salary of all the ones mentioned in your post. So we the citizens of Greensboro are their bosses. I want the Chiefs number, he’ll it should be published for all citizens to have. They all work for us. From queen nancy all the way to dog catchers I’m thinking at the very least the manager and chief need to go. This week.
Well said and spot on!
Sad Sad, well city council said it was nothing to see as far as video, just a family matter and personal so I like know why about too wks ago same thing happened to a guy I know and they took him to jail, why want it just a family matter and personal, why was he was arrested!! Well guess he didn’t have police chief number. Guess we do have too sets of rules.
I agree with everything you’re saying. I am concerned as well and would like to see the city council be more transparent. Did he or didn’t he is another question to ask. I’m speaking of the city manager. If his daughters were claiming abuse #1- has there ever been police reports about it in the past? Where are his daughters now? Why aren’t they speaking out to help untangle this? Did they use the word killing in the police recording?
Just wondering.
The report stated “Assault”- why was he not arrested?
FIRE THE CITY MANAGER!
Fire AND bring the whole gang of thieves up on charges!
I had the feeling that the public didnt get all of the facts of this matter, and I still do not think we have all the facts of any of these matters. I want to find out all of this, including who is behind this and what the point of it is.
What if a Greensboro Officer stopped a car the City Manager was driving, and he was Intoxicated. Does the Officer call the Chief and ask if he should arrest him? No, he is arrested like any other citizen would and go through the court process. So in this case, it wasnt handled like the everyday domestic where people are arrested and put in jail on a 48 hour hold. Special treatment. He needs to go along with the soft Chief who continues to not take care of the violence in the City.
I still haven’t seen an explanation of what happened.
How a domestic violence call, with injuries, does not warrant a charge is puzzling.
Rules for thee, but not for me. . . .that’s the policy of sitting council members. Remember this incident when you vote.
MC and others who are calling for firings and other actions, you are on the right path, but unfortunately that path leads to a moated brick wall behind which the City Council live, They don’t care (my opinion) and throw the occasional bone to the peasants.
This incident (one of who knows how many) is, as I predicted, being juggled and given lip service in the hopes it will simply be forgotten. And the worst part is it looks like they may win again.
Personally, I believe the only way for the citizens of Greensboro to get any true justice in this is for an outside, independent party with full authority, not controlled by the City Council to step in and investigate. The final authority should stay with the Council, but investigation and it’s result be done in the open and the results published uncensored and whole.
Just sayin’
interesting, state law says in the cases of domestic violence, police must decide who the aggressor is, take that person to jail. gpd has the same policy. were these laws and policies followed?
If you’re in, you are in; if you are out, then tuff s^&t. Guilford County gets their cue from Washington.
What are you gonna do abbout it?
I started reading The Rhino back in the late ’90’s. Greensboro’s drought, the city’s utter incompetence and lack of preparation warranted some tough questions and some real journalism. And The Rhino provided it when our local paper had abandoned real, tough, hyper-local investigative expertise. You followed that with some great local reporting… interspersed with rumors, gossip, and funny stories. You held local government to account. Yes, you were ridiculously right-wing, but most of us could live with that, because the paper was entertaining. And there was REAL reporting inside it. Opinionated? Sure… but most of us could decipher the facts from the opinions given.
Then, time went by… scandals came and went. You kept us abreast of the police scandal involving Chief Wray… although as time has gone by, that now looks like most of it was clouded in yellow journalism, embellished and colored to keep people interested… when in fact, the scandal was much less than it was made out to be.
And suddenly, the business model didn’t work anymore. The papers disappeared and The Rhino almost went away. It was sort of sad… even to a moderate, liberal leaning educator. It meant Greensboro didn’t have anyone really keeping tabs on local government, local events, and local controversy. Even Roy Carroll couldn’t figure out a way to make it work as a real paper. So, bring on the website.
And here we are. Many of us have almost forgotten the important role that The Rhino used to play in local politics, government, and news. And then… BOOM… up pops a news story in my email. What? From The Rhino Times? Really? And so I bit. I went there. I read this article about our city manager. And instead of any semblance of journalism, I end up reading about what must be your favorite topic — trying to find the city’s next scandal. Only, from everything I’ve read, you seem way out of your depth.
First — the city manager is of course, the police chief’s boss. But, instead of thinking that this “should be handled as any other call”… the fact of the matter is, this is anything but. This is a call to the police chief’s boss! Secondly, you say that if you or I were in a police report, it’d be public information. And you’d be correct. However, who’s going to read it? Who’s going to be interested? The fact is, ONLY if you’re the city manager (or another higher up in city or county government) are people going to read about it. It is not surprising at all that 1) the boss called his top cop to inform him of the fact that a 911 call was placed and responded to; 2) the police take their time and DO NOT make everything public immediately, as they need to make darn sure that they are crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s, since quite obviously the press will be all over this. And without a doubt, The Rhino Times.
And something else — it doesn’t mean there’s a cover up because we don’t know all the facts yet. Let’s let this play out. The mayor and city council requested the body cam video… and judge has ruled that it will be made public soon enough. So, although the wheels of our justice system can be slow, they are indeed working. Even when it comes to our town’s top official. It is interesting however, that you seem to want “justice” here… you want the LIGHT of justice to shine upon these low-down scoundrels who are seemingly getting treated different from the rest of us.
Sort of makes you think about someone else in politics who seemingly gets treated differently from the rest of us. But that’s okay by you. Right?
They requested it for them selves to see (not public) they said it was nothing for us to see just family matter, judge made the ruling that it should be made for public see.