Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 10, 1993 TAG: 9301100033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT MATTHEWS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SALEM POLICE FAILING IN EFFORT TO HIRE BLACKS
Despite two years of stepping up efforts to increase the number of blacks in the Salem Police Department, the city has no more than when it began.One.
Officer Kenneth Beaver has been on the force for 12 years.
But Police Chief Harry Haskins says he would like his 57-officer department to reflect the city's black population of about 5 percent. To attain that goal, Salem would need three black officers.
Since 1990, the city has set aside $3,500 specifically for police to recruit minorities. The department sent brochures to historically black colleges and universities, and officers have visited job fairs.
Though two black officers have been hired, each has left the force, and the pool of candidates remains shallow.
Blacks don't apply, Haskins suspects, because larger localities may be offering better incentives.
But community activist Emerson Gilmer thinks he knows the real reason blacks don't apply: A decade ago, he said, Salem was known "for being a backward redneck town."
A resident of Salem for 30 years and one of the leaders of a group that has successfully campaigned to put more blacks on local government boards, Gilmer said the city deserved that reputation then. But things have gotten better.
However, "until they improve that image, nothing will change," Gilmer said.
In March, the Police Department hired Thomas Drummond, who had been a security officer on the campus of Norfolk State University. Drummond quit in June because he did not like the area and was homesick, Haskins said. Drummond could not be reached for comment.
Curtis Ingrahm was hired by the city in September after being recruited from Virginia State University near Petersburg. He was fired last week.
Haskins said Ingrahm was fired for unexcused absences and for not following directions - charges that Ingrahm denies.
Ingrahm's stint in Salem was marked by controversy from the outset.
A Salem police officer - who asked not to be named - called the Roanoke Times & World-News in November claiming that Ingrahm was being given preferential treatment by Haskins.
Haskins emphatically denied treating Ingrahm differently than any cadet.
Haskins said Ingrahm - who is married and has a child on the way - was very low on cash.
To help the new officer make a smooth transition, Haskins called people around Salem to help find Ingrahm a place to live, Haskins said.
Morris Elam, a real estate developer who helped settle Ingrahm in an apartment, said Haskins previously had approached him on behalf of another cadet and that his request to help Ingrahm was not unusual.
While still a cadet, Ingrahm was caught by a Salem officer driving with expired 30-day vehicle tags, Haskins said.
He was placed on probation for that offense, but more trouble followed.
Ingrahm went to his home in Philadelphia for the holidays. While there, he said, he got into a car accident during an ice storm and could not return to work on time. Ingrahm said he phoned a superior officer, described the predicament and was given the OK to return as early as he could. He returned three days later.
Haskins said the department wouldn't have had a problem if Ingrahm had called a supervisor each of the three days he missed work.
Haskins said no one heard from Ingrahm until he returned. And when he did return, he was suspended. Two days later he was fired.
Ingrahm "is a fine man," said Haskins, and evaluations from his field officers during the past month have been "favorable."
"Breaks my heart to let him go," said Haskins. "But I'm not going to let this loss interfere with our efforts."
The department has begun another search and now has on file two black applicants it would be interested in hiring in the near future.
Memo: CORRECTION