Should Durham residents be informed of all crimes happening in their communities?
City Council member Howard Clement said he believes they should.
Clement, who is also one of the co-chairs of the Crime Cabinet, has publicly voiced criticism of Durham Police Department Chief Jose Lopez and the department for failing to immediately use local media to notify all residents of the recent spike of robberies in the past month.
"I am troubled by what appears to be the lack of transparency on the part of the police department and its management team," Clement told The Herald-Sun Jan. 31. "This runs counter to what Mr. Lopez said during the interview process [when he] met with citizens. A key [phrase], and what impressed me, was 'expanding on transparency.' I'm going to hold him to that standard."
Additionally, residents and other city officials raised questions because the media bulletins were issued Jan. 20, two days after the murder of graduate student Abhijit Mahato.
Ellen Reckhow, chair of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, said Partners Against Crime has computerized listservs of residents in an area, and often times crime patterns are posted on that listserv about crimes that have occurred, which could have been a better means by which to notify residents.
"I wouldn't say that I criticize [DPD], but just that they should have used a reverse-911 system in notifying the residents," she said. "I talked to the police chief after a meeting a week ago on Monday and suggested that they should've used the code red alert system or the Partners Against Crime listserv."
But Lopez said the criticism charged against him and his department is not fair, adding that the majority of the recent robbery victims are Hispanic and generally live in the same area.
"[The crimes] were very much localized," he said. "Because they were localized, we also localized our notification and attention."
To inform the local community affected by the recent string of robberies, DPD gave out crime-prevention leaflets in both English and Spanish, worked with El Centro Hispano-a Hispanic community center-to reach out to the non-documented population and used a reverse-911 call in the affected areas.
Lopez also personally appeared on two different Spanish-language radio shows,
"We were putting it out there where it needed to go without putting a big blanket up and have everybody be afraid because you could get robbed," he said. "Many say we should use [the reverse 911] for these instances, but how effective would it be if we used it for everything? You get automated calls at home, but after a while you get tired of them. We're not going to abuse the automated calls by using them at every instance."
Lopez said the last thing he wanted to do was to alert the muggers that DPD was conducting investigations.
"If you were a robber, what would you do? You'd move to another community where we're not watching you," he said.
Lopez said crime was getting out of control after the two January homicides and DPD needed to crank up police presence and get the message out.
He noted that the Mahato homicide did not fit the pattern of robberies.
Crystal Brown, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Council and a third-year law student, said although DPD's failure to immediately post bulletins is problematic, the lack of sufficient security measures might be a bigger issue.
"I would blame the security measures more than the bulletin," she said. "The security is not taken with the seriousness that it should be taken. This is a wake-up call for everyone at Duke."
She added that better lighting and a better campus structure are two possible ways to improve safety.
Lopez said if presented with the same situation again he would follow the same course of action, adding that the misconception in this community is that you must post bulletins through established media sources to speak to the community.
Instead, he said he speaks to the community personally.
"Decisions like this need to be made by individuals who have all the facts in front of them and you have to do it prudently," he said. "I was looking to help the community. I wasn't looking to sell newspapers or get Nielsen ratings on TV. I don't have to speak to the community through the media. I don't need a little man."
Some council members-including Mike Woodard and Cora Cole-McFadden-have said they trust Lopez's judgment.
Others, such as Mayor Bill Bell, council members Diane Catotti and Farad Ali, have yet to say anything about DPD.
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