RFP Staff
♦ According to Salisbury Police sources the Salisbury police will open a part-time police substation in the West End on Tuesday August 12th. The substation will operate twice a week at Hall’s Gym at 1400 West Bank Street. The idea is to build community trust and deter crime.
The new part-time police substation will be staffed by community relations officer Reuben Ijames only on Tuesdays from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m and on Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Community residents can speak to the officer about their neighborhood crime concerns. City staff and other officers may be present at the substation from time to time.
Presently the Salisbury Police Department is understaffed with between 65 and 70 police officers on staff. One of the department’s largest challenges is the lack of enough patrol cars on the street, leaving some neighborhoods unprotected should emergencies arise elsewhere in the city. Homicides and violence are on the uptick in Salisbury and are on a pace to surpass last year’s statistics.
Spoke over the past weeks with activist William Peoples and others involved in the West End community and they were greatly dissatisfied with the response of city hall to the shootings, break-ins and violence in the West End. They felt the police response to West End community was only for publicity purposes and inadequate. The area requires reliable patrolling as does the rest of the city. City Hall has their own agenda and turned a deaf ear to the community.
Wednesday Chamber Meeting at the Miller Recreation Center
With the increased violence occurring throughout the City, County and East Spencer, coupled with the inadequate response by our City Leaders to our concerns, The Chamber has joined with the West End Community and West End Pride Organizations to organize a Community Town Hall Meeting. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 23rd from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Miller Recreation Center on 1400 West Bank Street across from the Hall’s Gym.
Leaders/Hosts that the Chamber formed an alliance with for this important game changing meeting will be Dee Dee Wright of the West End Community Organization, and Shirley McLaughlin of the West End Pride Organization. The meeting will kick off with a Gang Awareness presentation from Clee Atkinson, Jr., Master Trooper, NC State Highway Patrol and Gang/Terrorism Liaison with NC State Bureau of Investigation. This will be followed by a short presentation by Alex Clark, who will share the personal story of his 18 year Federal Prison incarceration for selling and distributing drugs.
After these presentations, we will move into a Q & A session where we encourage attendees from the various Communities to share their concerns and priority areas of focus. We will then have each attendee complete a written survey to gauge where our priority areas moving forward will be. Once the information is compiled, we will hold a follow up Town Hall meeting within 2-3 weeks to ensure we’ve captured the priority areas accurately.
Once we’ve created our priority list, we will then meet with City Leaders, the Police Chief and Sheriff to share the areas WE feel need addressing. Each Church, Greek Organization, Neighborhood Group, and others can then take these priority areas back to their respective organizations and implement interventions and solutions as they see fit.
This is an important meeting of all members of our various Communities that will lead us on the path to controlling the direction and success of our Communities. We look forward to seeing at the Miller Recreation Center on July 23rd at 6:00 p.m.
A video discussing this upcoming event:
