I’ve gotten some screen time over at the Troublemaker in response to my recent post on Greensboro Police Chief Ken Miller. Ben Holder has been digging into Capt. James Hinson’s moonlighting activities, which have now drawn the attention of City Council member Nancy Vaughan.

For those looking in from the outside, there are two issues: Hinson runs two group homes in the same division where he is patrol captain, and there have been 40 911 calls in which one of the group homes “was referenced,” with “most reports about missing teenagers,” the N&R reports. The other issue is whether or not Hinson filed required outside employment paperwork, and Troublemaker is asking the council to release that paperwork.

Hinson’s operation of a group home within that has drawn police response within his division seems like an obvious conflict of interest to me. Here’s Miller’s response:

Police Chief Ken Miller said Tuesday that there have been no allegations of a conflict of interest regarding Hinson’s two jobs.

If one did come to light, it would be investigated, he said.

“Our employees are taught rules of conduct,” Miller said. “We talk about abuse of authority. We may not use for personal gain our positions.”

Now there are allegations, and it will be interesting to see how the City Council handles them. In video posted over at Roch 101, Troublemaker welcomed the opportunity for the City Council to prove him wrong about Hinson’s moonlighting activities—- which he acknowledged would be a victory for them. Maybe they will —but I’d be surprised. My sense is the view that this is a larger effort at gov’t transparency deflects the real issue —continued problems within the police department.