The city manager got this one right.
“The next chief should be fully invested in the community,” Doug Hewett was saying Friday in revealing the final candidates to succeed Chief Gina Hawkins, who is retiring in January after five years on the job.
Yes, without question, Hewett got it right.
And the city manager has found Kemberle Braden or James Nolette to fulfill that investment. Both are assistant police chiefs under Hawkins, and one will be named as the next police chief in the ensuing 18 days.
“I hope to make the decision before the end of the year,” Hewett says.
Hewett says he conferred with the Fayetteville City Council, city staff and residents in his search for the next police chief, and his process included candidates nationwide.
Those residents were Jimmy Buxton, Sheila Cuffee, Brian Pearce and Dr. Lionel Cartwright. Also participating was Deputy Chief Scott Oosterholdt with the Raleigh Police Department.
“Overall, from the feedback,” Hewett says, “the desire was to make Fayetteville a safe place to live.”
You may wish to give that some thought.
Crime statistics, according to the Fayetteville Police Department as of November, speak for themselves — 42 homicides to date, including four in the past four days, up from 33 in 2021 and a 9% spike; felonies, with 782 arrests, up 23%; aggravated assaults up 9.8% with 896 reported; a total of 3,164 personal crimes, an increase of 5.3%; property crimes of 9,295, up 29.90%; and motor vehicle thefts up 36.92% over the last quarterly report.
Difficult times for Hawkins
Truth is, it’s just the tenor of the times when it comes to crime, and anyone in law enforcement will tell you that you cannot arrest your way out of criminal conduct.
Nevertheless, these have been some troubling times in this city when it comes to the Police Department, and particularly for Hawkins, who came to this city from Jonesboro, Georgia, where she was an assistant police chief
There was the Jan. 8 shooting death of Jason Walker in west Fayetteville by an off-duty deputy sheriff, where Hawkins and the Police Department drew criticism for not arresting and charging the deputy; although exonerated, Hawkins faced the city Ethics Commission after police officers filed 13 complaints against her with a Wake County lawyer; and the death of 22-year-old Jada Johnson by an officer on July 1. The woman’s family claims the young mother was suffering from a mental health crisis, and that officers used excessive force that led to her death. Johnson, according to an autopsy report published by numerous media outlets, was shot 17 times, including a .40 caliber bullet to the head.
And then there was May 30, 2020, when Hawkins held police officers at bay while protesters attempted to burn the downtown Market House, damaged it to the cost of $84,000, as well as surrounding businesses, in protest of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a police officer in that city. Hawkins has defended her decision, saying it’s better to protect lives at risk than property.
Mayor Mitch Colvin defended the chief’s decision in a NAACP Fayetteville chapter mayoral debate in June with challenger Freddie de la Cruz, who said then he decided to run for mayor because of Hawkins’ decision.
“This is not the 1960s where we turn dogs and water hoses and unleash fury on citizens who are behaving or misbehaving,” Colvin said. “There’s a process. Our police officers came home safe that night. We didn't have any police funerals to attend and nor did we have any citizens’ funerals to attend. But we did have 62 indictments to hold people accountable who acted outside the bounds of the law ... We were commended by people across this country, Republican and Democrat, for how we handled it with no lives lost.”
Hawkins, without comment, announced her retirement on July 16. It is effective Jan. 17.
Veteran police officers
Braden or Nolette will take her place as the 25th police chief, following in the footsteps of people to include Hervey E. Keator (1973-1976); Danny Dixon (1976-1984); Ron Hansen (1984-2000); Tom McCarthy (2001-2007); Tom Bergamine (2007-2012); Harold Medlock (2013-2016); and Hawkins.
Both are veteran police officers, and both have a wealth of experience with the Police Department, Braden with 27 years and Nolette with 23. Each hail from policing pedigrees, Nolette the son of a former 36-year police officer in Providence, Rhode Island, and his stepmother a retired detective in Providence. Braden’s father is a former police officer in his hometown of Providence, Kentucky. His brother is a former Kentucky state patrol officer, Braden says, and recently was elected sheriff in Webster County, Kentucky.
“I have roots that hold me here,” Braden, 48, told the City Council on Monday evening.
He is married to his wife, Elizabeth, and they raised a son and a daughter here.
“Like assistant chief Braden, I've been with the Fayetteville police for a long time, and we've worked various places throughout the organization that prepared us to be at this point in our careers,” Nolette, 47, told the City Council.
He is married, and the couple is raising their 11-year-old son. He is devout in his Christian faith at Village Baptist Church, where his wife, Robin, is a preschool ministry coordinator.
“I'm humbled by the opportunity to stand before you,” Nolette told the City Council, “and humbled by the opportunity to lead this amazing organization.”
Braden and Nolette faced questions Tuesday night from residents and others calling for police accountability and transparency in a city that earlier in the day saw its fourth homicide in four days, and 42nd homicide of 2022.
Keep in mind the city manager’s words.
“Overall, from the feedback,” Hewett says, “the desire was to make Fayetteville a safe place to live.”
The candidates fielded an array of questions from an estimated 100 submitted, according to Hewett. Those questions ranged from their leadership strategies to training police officers to challenges police departments face nationally to violent crimes, homelessness, mental health, morale in the Police Department, police officer retention, building trust between the department and residents, and community engagement.
Both candidates stressed accountability with the public.
“I believe in accountability,” Nolette told those Tuesday in attendance at City Hall. “It’s relationships based.”
Braden would agree with his fellow assistant chief, and he would recall Bob Weathers, a former police instructor who imparted a lesson Braden always has remembered.
“We are here to do enforcement of the law,” Braden said, but it’s “not necessarily an arrest every day. Bob Weathers said to help more people than you arrest. That’s my approach.”
Weathers died at age 74 in 2009 after 25 years with the Police Department.
Braden and Nolette said they are in this city to stay.
“Neither one of us are going anywhere,” Nolette said. “It’s the best scenario.”
May 30, 2020
There was no question about May 30, 2020, when downtown got out of hand at the Market House.
I posed that question to both candidates about how they would have handled the evening that has divided this community.
“As a police chief, we always evaluate what we do,” Nolette said after the forum. “I think things should have been done differently. But on that day, we handled it the way we thought appropriate, and she (Hawkins) was the leader that day.”
Braden says he was out of town when the situation escalated from Skibo Road to downtown but he arrived later.
“There were people there with guns,” he said. “The best thing would have been not to let them take the Market House,” in the first place, and police should have interceded before the crowd and the tensions were developing. “But it’s hard to take back something you gave.”
Epilogue
One, some police officers say, is old school — a cop’s cop. One is a square-jawed policeman with an assuring way of reason, calm demeanor and a mitigation style of his own in crisis.
“She promoted them to assistant chief, and that is a testament to Chief Hawkins,” Hewett would say at forum’s end. “I see elements of Tom Bergamine and Harold Medlock in them.”
Meanwhile, crime never sleeps.
“The next chief should be fully invested in the community,” Hewett says.
The city manager has found Kemberle Braden or James Nolette to fulfill that investment, and one will be the city police chief with our hopes for better days and nights to come.
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Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
