Greensboro has been dealing with its own cop cam controversy this week. Quick catchup—-the Greensboro City Council made public footage of GPD officer Travis Cole engaging Gboro resident DeJuan Yourse on his mother’s front porch and escalating the situation until ultimately assaulting Yourse before arresting him.
At special meeting called to release the video to the public, the council also passed a resolution asking prosecutors to reconsider filing assault charges against Cole and requesting the state to revoke his law enforcement certification.
Now it has come to light that Cole was promoted while he was under internal investigation, a fact that did not sit well with some council members:
Councilman Justin Outling called the promotion “unfortunate timing.”
“The city is re-examining the best way to handle such issues going forward, given due process and other legalities,” he said.
The explanation was little comfort to people already skeptical of how the police department handled the matter.
By the time Cole’s raise kicked in on Aug. 1, three levels of commanders — an acting supervisor, a sergeant and a lieutenant — had reviewed the incident, presumably watching the same body-camera footage the City Council made public Monday.
Here’s what struck me at the bottom of the N&R’s article—none other than Deputy Chief James Hinson takes credit for getting Cole off the streets once his case worked its way through the investigative process.
You might not remember but then-Lt. Hinson was the focus of the GPD controversy several years ago. I won’t go into the details, but Hinson’s off-hours activities became the focus of a Rhino Times investigation by Jerry Bledsoe. Put it this way–it wasn’t pretty—drug dealers, strippers, etc.
Whether you believe what you read in the Rhino is one thing. But here’s one true thing—Hinson sued the city, eventually settling for $25,000.
Now Hinson is deputy chief and was reportedly in the running for chief after then-Chief Ken Miller departed for Greenville. Bottom line here—in the private sector, sue your employer and then consider your odds for promotion. All due respect to the officers who perform their jobs with courage and dignity, the police department is a government bureaucracy like any any other, where a lot of things just don’t make sense.