Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ For days now I heard from our friends in city hall and the Salisbury Police Department that Chief Collins was going to be bounced after the election. Too much heat and too many complaints were being directed at him, his performance, and the lack tangible police presence throughout the city, now a hotbed of violent and property crime. My email box filled up with Collins’ email “resignation” posted below.
I regard Collins as someone lacking good judgement. He shows no real knowledge about statutes, law enforcement, the practice of veracity, or knowing anything about basic first amendment rights, or the proper care of K-9’s. Rory was a “yes” man at the right time 5 years ago when a former city manager looked around for a chump who would follow a script.
In Collins 5 years of service the Salisbury Police Department became pretty much a non-factor in quelling crime. The city became overwhelmed by a heroin, meth, and crack epidemic, the proliferation of street gangs, a backlog of unsolved murders, a rising tide of violent and property crime branding Salisbury, N.C. as a per capita dangerous city. The department became a sideshow of police brutality cases, a lack of case clearance, and zero transparency (they hide crimes and cook the stats). According to Collins 75% of its officers left within a few short years for better pay elsewhere. Now there’s a sexual harassment case going on against several of the department’s policemen.
There was never any lowering of crime in the West End. If police don’t show up on a call, they don’t file a report. No report–no crime. Ask William Peoples about it.
Some areas of Salisbury have virtually no police patrol. Meanwhile house break-ins, physical assaults, car stealing and vandalism are common throughout the city. Bullets go ripping into occupied and unoccupied houses on a regular basis. Pizza deliverymen are losing pizza, wing orders, and cash almost every week. Does anyone recall Salisbury’s “Great Train Robbery of 2013”?
Is it any wonder that working class people of all races are stampeding out of the Bury and unloading their houses? Crime was the number 1 issue in the city council race.
As for Collins alleged academic background someone might want to investigate how he obtained his alleged Livingstone diploma within an extremely short period and based partly on his alleged Marine Corps service. Also several attempts were made to obtain public information requests for his city gas card and city credit card records. Of course city hall has refused to answer.
On the plus side, the Chief’s resignation will likely bring a lift in morale among many police employees.
Yesterday’s email from Collins:
“From: Rory Collins
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2015 11:23 PM
To: Police Users
Subject: Retirement
Friends,
It is with a bit of anxiety, and also with a lot of joy and excitement, that I announce to you my decision to retire from the law enforcement profession. I plan to make this official on Monday of next week by submitting a 30 day notice prior to retirement.
This decision has not come easy and is something I have considered strongly for some time now. After much thought and prayer, I am making this decision 100% on my own, as I simply feel the time is right to begin that next chapter of my life. That chapter, I assure you, will be one that involves much less stress than the chapter I am now choosing to close!
One thing I can share, without a doubt, is that, during my time as your chief, I have stood on my values and made decisions which were based upon the high standards that I have always tried to uphold for our agency. Many of those decisions, which I had to make during the course of my chief tenure, were very difficult and life-changing, but each were made with this same standard in mind and based solely upon what I believe to be right.
I have also stood firm in many situations in support of this department and the great work that you all do. As you know, I have had many situations in which some from our community have alleged wrongdoing against our troops, our department, and certainly myself! In those instances, I have been able to stand firmly against them and produce evidence to counteract those complaints. As I’ve said many times, as long as we are doing the right things, for the right reasons, right will always prevail.
Throughout my career, I have truly been blessed to work with some of the finest men and women that the policing profession has to offer. I am extremely proud of our department and each one of you. I firmly believe that, though we have a lot of young and developing officers among our ranks, our agency is stronger than it has ever been in many ways! We also have a very strong and well-developed leadership team, who are highly capable of carrying on with our goals/objectives and daily missions. Lastly, our agency has enjoyed a significant reduction in citizen complaints over the past 4.5 years and our crime rate continues to trend downward each quarter. I have every reason to be very proud of your accomplishments and totally confident in your continued successes!
I want to wish each of you the best. For those of you who have been my support and backbone over the last several years, I truly thank you. I pride myself in being able to leave our agency knowing that I gave my best each day, that I let the Lord lead my tenure here, and that I never wavered from my values and principles no matter the person or the situation.
I will continue to pray for your safety, as I have done regularly.
Sincerely,
Rory Collins
Chief of Police
Salisbury Police Department”
