Any story that uses the word “kerfuffle” is a must-read. So, wade through the first half of this one to get to the amazing revelation that a 2008 internal report from a Durham staff inspector had identified bigtime problems with the administration of the Durham cops’ moonlighting program.
Yes, the same program that we now know resulted in officer Alesha Robinson-Taylor being paid $62,000 in overtime. She has been fired in the wake of the investigation. It took a Durham blogger to get to the meat of the report, which was given to reporters Friday. The Herald-Sun says the release of the report resulted in a “kerfuffle” Monday over redacted portions of the report.
City attorneys tried to redact parts of the report before allowing its release, but they only blacked out the text in the electronic file officials e-mailed reporters Friday.
The actual text could be uncovered by copying the blacked-out sections into another program. The blogger, Kevin Davis of Bull City Rising, did so over the weekend and found that Robinson-Taylor, before becoming the coordinator, had been among a group of five officers the staff inspector singled out as having been unusually well positioned to capitalize on moonlighting opportunities.
And, incredibly, top Durham officials, including the city attorney and the city manager, say they didn’t know of the report until very recently. Had they read the report, one presumes they would have questioned Robinson-Taylor’s role as coordinator.
Both Baker — the former city manager who hired Lopez — and Bonfield said they hadn’t known of Hampton’s report until about two weeks ago, when local media outlets started asking for it.
Before that, “no one in the Police Department shared it with me,” said Baker, who was still city manager when Hampton was probing the moonlighting operation at Lopez’s request.
What a bureaucratic mess.
