Greensboro Police Chief Should Be Elected
Dear Editor,
I have spent the past 10 years trying to get the attention of our mayor, our City Council, our chief of police and our news media to enforce all traffic laws in Greensboro to no avail!
Needless to say, our streets are very dangerous, many have been injured or killed, and our city is not safe for our citizens. Obviously, Mayor Nancy Vaughan is oblivious on how to make our city safe again? Her comment, “You can’t police your way out of crime,” says it all on her failures to make Greensboro safe.
I hope Zack Matheny can make a difference as our new District 3 city councilman in leading our city to be a safe place, and, yes, our citizens and business leaders want Greensboro to be a safe place.
Since our city leaders have proven they can’t get a grip on crime or just can’t quite find the right police chief, is it time to have a Greensboro police chief that is elected by its citizens? Why? An elected Greensboro police chief would serve at the pleasure of its citizens. If he didn’t protect these citizens, he would be gone. This has worked well with our Guilford County Sheriff’s Department, as we have had outstanding leadership there for decades with individuals like Sticky Burch, Paul Gibson and BJ Barnes. Please consider this thought, we need action and we need it fast.
Jim Donaldson
I believe there is a reference to Don Quixote here, something about tilting at windmills.
Agreed!!!!!
Well, after the election of every single incumbent to the City Council in 2022 – I’d say this letter will fall on blind eyes, or at least be totally ignored. Hope we all enjoy the ride down the sewer. (4 more years of this total unadulterated BS.
There are traffic transgressions that really need to be policed, like running red lights, failing to yield, and abrupt unsignalled maneuvers, and there are transgressions that don’t need to be policed. Driving sensibly at 50mph in a 35 zone is generally completely safe – BECAUSE THE SPEED LIMIT IS TOO LOW!
The speed limits in Europe are higher, despite their narrow congested roads. With our wide and free flowing roads, the speed restrictions are absurd. For the most part they are determined by the political clout of the neighborhood, not the evaluation of a road traffic engineer.
I drive fast and safe.
So can you (unless you’re stupid).
Austin Morris – You’re probably one of those fools that I encounter every time I’m out and about. So, why don’t we just do away with speed limit signs, since most folks are ignoring them, like you.
FJB, I’m not taking sides, but have you ever driven in Europe on the autobahn? There is no speed limit there, however I’m not sure about other areas.
Because Speed Limits are necessary. Excessive speed can in itself cause accidents, but those limits are much higher than the low limits customarily imposed on us here in NC. Most posted speed limits can be upped by at least 20mph, or even made unlimited in some instances, as the brief experiment on Montana Interstates proved (no increase at all in wrecks or fatalities).
And if I’m a dangerous fool, how come I haven’t had so much as a fender bender since 1983 (when I came to the US)? And I drive about 35,000 miles a year.
Well, they can’t be elected because of the very thing you are up in arms about: The Law.
https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/sessionlaws/html/1959-1960/sl1959-1137.html
The pesky old Greensboro Charter specifically states that the Chief of Police is an employee of the City Manager. The Law sucks when you don’t like what it says I guess.
Seriously though, and I could be wrong, but typically sheriffs are elected and only the charter of a municipality, when approved by the state legislature, authorizes the municipality to hire a police force which is then vested with roughly the same authority as the sheriff and his deputies. See Article 4 of the Greensboro City Charter. Cities cannot simply do what they want in a lot of aspects. Actions have to be approved by the state legislature to give the city the authority to enact something. Most of that is spelled out in the large charter document so they don’t have to call on the state every day to get business done. But when something new needs to get added, that’s when Greensboro’s chickens (AKA council) come home to roost because the state legislative body tends to hate those 9 ridiculous individuals. That is also why Tai created and filled that intergovernmental liaison position.
Jim, would you like some cheese to go with your whine?
With the way the blind or asleep voters keep re-elect useless council members, I doubt that making the chief of police an elected position would make any difference. Might even make things worse.