Charlotte civic and political leaders are willing to give the city's new police chief a chance to prove himself despite a checkered administrative history.Darrel Stephens, St. Petersburg, Fla.'s
city administrator and former police chief, was named to the top job in Charlotte Wednesday by City Manager Pam Syfert. Stephens is highly regarded as an administrator, but his tenure as St. Petersburg chief
took a beating when riots rocked that city after an officer killed a black motorist.
"I think we need to treat this as a new start, what this chief does from Day One," said
Anthony Fox, vice chair of the Citizens Review Board, which was formed in 1997 after a string of fatal shootings of black civilians by police. "It would be premature for us to judge him
before he has a chance to work in Charlotte."
That seemed to be the general tone after Syfert announced Stephens' selection from a list that
included Michael Berkow, chief of the 35-officer police department in South Pasadena, Calif., and Larry Snider, Charlotte-Mecklenburg's deputy chief and supervisor of the
homicide division. Stephens, who is expected to earn a six-figure salary, supervises a force of about 750 officers in St. Petersburg. Charlotte has about 1,800 sworn officers.
"I don't know all the facts in St. Petersburg, but he was hired and the city manager is confident in the decision she made," said Eric Douglas, president of the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Black Political Caucus. "The best we can do is welcome him to Charlotte and take a wait and see attitude.
Community activists presented City Council and Syfert a list of qualities a new chief should possess to succeed in an increasingly diverse city, said Sam Smith, chairman of Public Safety
issue Action Team formed by the Community Building Initiative. All three finalists met criteria for dealing with diversity issues on the force and in the community, including hiring and
retention of minority officers and demonstrating effectiveness in working with people of different ethnic backgrounds.
"I feel pretty comfortable with all three of them as it relates to our criteria," he said Tuesday. "It's absolutely critical that the person selected have been in a diverse force in a diverse
community. If you pick a top cop who hasn't, it would be a big mistake."
Charlotte has grappled with the relationship between police and civilians especially African
Americans for most of the decade. A spate of shooting deaths led to black-led protests that culminated in the formation of the Citizens Review Board over former chief Dennis
Nowicki's objection as well as the installation of video cameras in police cruisers. On the other hand, Nowicki expanded the community policing program where officers interact more
with neighbors in the communities they work. Douglas hopes Stephens continues along those lines.
"We need to judge him on his performance in Charlotte," he said. "I hope he's sensitive and
committed to community policing. It's a great way to communicate between citizens and the police. I hope he'll do things that are preventative crime measures like DARE (an anti-drug program for students)."
Fox said he's confident Syfert made a good decision in Stephens, especially when African Americans participated in the selection process.
"We need to look at the process we went through to select a police chief," Fox said. "Citizens of the African American community were tapped to be a part of the process, including
(Assistant City Manager) Vi Alexander Lyles. With that level of involvement you'd think the process was scrutinized pretty thoroughly."
Charlotte civic and political leaders are willing to give the city's new police chief a chance to prove himself despite a checkered administrative history.