Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 27, 1990 TAG: 9007270696
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK and JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Jon Chace, regional director of the Justice Department's Community Relations Service in Philadelphia, said his office is conducting an "assessment" of the NAACP's complaints.
If the assessment determines a need for an additional inquiry exists, Justice Department officials may come to Roanoke to hold discussions with community leaders, Chace said.
Evangeline Jeffrey, president the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Roanoke, announced Wednesday that her group has called for a federal investigation of what it claims to be a pattern of excessive force and racial slurs used by city police in arresting some blacks.
But instead of investigating specific incidents, the Justice Department will try to address racial tension in the community - if it exists - through mediation and discussion, Chace said.
"Investigation is not the appropriate description of what we do," he said. "We do not fact-find, hold hearings or lock anybody up."
Although claims by the NAACP suggest that the civil rights of some blacks may have been violated, Chace said his department is not authorized to address those concerns.
"If the NAACP wants a federal investigation to determine if there have been violations of the law, they would take those issues to other units," he said.
However, Jeffrey said Thursday that the inquiry could provide a basis "to go into some criminal litigation."
If that is the case, Jeffrey said, the NAACP will contact the appropriate agency after the Justice Department's inquiry is completed.
Chace said it could be as long as a month before his department's assessment determines whether there is a need to "take a little closer look" by holding discussions in Roanoke.
The assessment is usually done in telephone conversations with government officials and community leaders, Chace said. Of all the complaints the office receives, fewer than half are pursued beyond the assessment stage, he said.
In many of the cases of community racial tension mediated by the office, the most important step is getting everyone together to discuss the issue, Chace said.
"Often the source of tension is perceptions," he said. "By a process of discussion . . . we can lower the level of tension."
Chace said there is "no set list" of city officials the Justice Department plans to contact. "Every community has its own chemistry and profile, and we try to approach the issue by bringing in a broad range of folks."
At a news conference Wednesday, the NAACP decried what it called a pattern of excessive force and racial slurs used by police after black suspects have been arrested and handcuffed.
Although the allegations include at least eight cases over the past six months, the accusation of a police beating of a William Fleming High School coach and counselor last weekend has become a rallying point for the NAACP's cause.
John Canty, a dropout-prevention counselor who also coaches football and wrestling at Fleming, said he was beaten and called racial names by police when he tried to assist two teen-age girls charged with trespassing at a Northwest Roanoke Hardee's restaurant.
Authorities have said Canty was arrested after he impeded police and resisted arrest.
While saying that he knows of "no pattern" of excessive force, Police Chief M. David Hooper welcomed an investigation Wednesday by a third party.
At a news conference Wednesday, Hooper said he took the allegations "quite seriously" and joined in a request for an inquiry of the issue.
Meanwhile, city officials reacted to the NAACP's allegations with concern and caution.
Vice Mayor Howard Musser said he had "no problem" with a Justice Department inquiry if that is what the NAACP wants. But Musser said he has confidence in Hooper and the Police Department to "take care of the problem if there is one."
Musser said he worried that a steady campaign of unfounded, emotional allegations about police mistreatment of blacks might create racial unrest in the city.
"One of the ways to create racial unrest is to keep charging racial discrimination. If you say it enough, there well could be racial unrest."
Musser said he has confidence in Hooper and does not believe the chief will allow his officers to use excessive force or to mistreat blacks.
Councilman James Harvey said a federal investigation could "clear the air" about the allegations, but he added that the "community and city" ought to be able to determine if there is any basis to them.
"I think maybe different groups could meet with city officials and review cases factually to see if there is a problem," Harvey said.
He hopes NAACP officials and others will "stop, take a deep breath and make sure their facts are straight before they start making statements" that could stir emotions.
"If there is a problem, I want it corrected," he said. "If there is not a problem, it does no good to make statements and allegations."
by CNB