Saturday, February 28, 2009

CMPD's Major Vicki Foster

Since his arrival in Charlotte nine months ago, Police Chief Rodney Monroe has relied heavily of Charlotte Police Major Veronica "Vicki" D. Foster.



Recently Foster served as spokesperson for the chief and defended the Chief's efforts to disband the Charlotte Police Reserves stating changes were necessary to provide a more cohesive police department.

"We're putting the focus back on where the reserves (are) working, which is at the neighborhood level," said Maj. Vicki Foster, during a live interview with Charlotte's WSOC Eyewitness News.

Foster went on to say "the department expects to lose a few officers because of the change", but she doubted it will be a large number.

But Cedar Posts has discovered that, Major Foster who was asked by Chief Monroe conduct a lenghty review of the reserves, may have an axe to grind regarding the Reserve's lucrative "Secondary Employment" Opportunities.

It is well known to members of the CMPD that Major Foster is running a side business called MVP Protective Services, LLC based out of her University area home.



MVP web site states: "We have uniformed and non-uniform police officers on staff for any need that you may have. We provide marked (police) and unmarked vehicle escort and transportation" services at our client’s request.

The web site also provides a "North Carolina (License #1400 GP)" however a check of several State of North Carolina licensing agencies show none that use a six digit code such as 1400 GP.

It doesn't take a lot of creative detective work to come up with a pattern of shadyness.

The odd facts that seem to make big loopy circles all led back to Rodney Monroe and the Washington DC Metro Police Department where partner MVP partner Melvin Key once served as Captain.

In 2006 Foster and the Key formed MVP Protection Services, LLC. Foster has recently claimed she only processed the paperwork for MVP, but the Secretary of State documents show she is a partner/member in the corporation with Melvin E. Key.



As recently as October the MVP site featured a photo of Foster and Key, photos that have since been removed.

It appears that Ms. Foster's involvement with MVP Protective Services, LLC is contrary to CMPD directives covering secondary employment, 300-007 and particularly interesting is VI. G. "Command personnel may not engage in law enforcement secondary employment without the prior approval of the Chief of Police".

Major Foster's partner Melvin Key, a police officer also lists himself as a real estate agent with a firm named Long and Foster.

Foster lists herself as the President and CEO of Gold Star Realty, Inc. Gold Star has an active brokers license with the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.

It is no surprise that Foster owns at least 4 condominiums in the Charlotte area. Cedar Posts has not looked beyond Mecklenburg county.

One located at 6834 Vernon Wood Lane, Charlotte and those in the photos below.


2954 IRON GATE LN CHARLOTTE


7228 WINERY LN CHARLOTTE


6305 WINDSOR GATE LN CHARLOTTE

But what is surprising is that Foster has failed to pay the Mecklenburg County property tax bill on her exclusive Charlotte home at 2313 Arden Gate Lane which serves as the legal address for both MVP and Gold Star. You can click on the above tax bill to see if Ms. Foster has paid her property tax yet.

UPDATE: Major Foster paid her Mecklenburg County Tax Bill on March 5, 2009, a little more than a week after we posted this story.





You would think that City and County employees in senior management positions earning more than 3 times what a patrolman earns each year could pay their property taxes.

Regardless of the tax issue, MVP Protection Services, LLC is a curious development, in the never ending CMPD saga.

In defense of Foster, she has an impressive resume' with a real degree and has even established a non-profit organization CMPD Hope, Inc. which is reported to assist CMPD Officers who are in financial crisis.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

I heard that Captain Key from Washington is her fiancee? Is that true?

Should she be deciding policy on these issues on which there is such an obvious conflict of interest?

Seems the way business is done at CMPD these days...

No wonder the morale at CMPD is in the toilet.

Officers at CMPD, from what I have heard and from talking to some over the years, have always taken great pride in their Dept. and the high standards it has held itself to.

Those high standards and ethics seem to be vaporizing, and THAT is the reason good Officers are struggling, with many of these Officers looking to retire asap.

They simply are not proud of their PD at this point in time and fear for the reputation it has enjoyed for many, many years.

Anonymous said...

The moral inside of CMPD is lower than ever before. It is so obvious that there is racial bias within the department by the new regime and allot of violations of protocol as well as state and federal laws if one was to look and it wouldn't be very hard to find. The problem is that the City leaders in Charlotte are turning a blind eye to this and soon they could have a real shortage inside of the police department if they do not correct it immediatly.

Anonymous said...

Cedar why hasn't she paid her property taxes?

I don't know if its legal to even put a photo of her house out on the WWW for all to see but I do know everyone gets a letter if they don't pay their tax bill and I'm sure her name was in the Observer.

Why doesn't the tax office just go over to CMPD payroll and take it out?

Anonymous said...

Photos of houses are right out there on the web on Google Earth and MANY other places in the PUBLIC domain. So I wouldn't imagine it is any violation or illegality.

And I am really less worried about her personal taxes and more concerned about the conflict of interest AND just how much time is being spent on other "jobs" than the CMPD. And just how doing these things sets one up for the appearance of if not actually wrongdoing.

Police officers should, (especially members of Command Staff) be above reproach.

From what I hear, I get the distinct feeling that the whole culture of honest, ethical behavior is being shifted at CMPD.

If the people at the top have questionable ethics, what does that say to the whole Department?

Something must be done before it is allowed to erode the Department even further.

Are you listening Curt Walton and City Council?

Anonymous said...

I'm sure she just forgot, it's no big deal Cedar it can happen to anyone. Even the secretary of the treasury Tim Giether over looked his taxes it was no big deal.

Anonymous said...

lets talk about how vindictive Major Foster is.....several years ago (when she was a sergeant), she noticed an ex-boy toy's vehicle parked outside a night club. She went inside (while on duty) and found the ex making out or with another woman. Major, then-sergeant, Foster then took a bottle of nail polish to the ex's vehicle. A sergeant, a supervisor, someone promoted to lead officers against the war on crime, nice choice by the promotion committee... check her disciplinary file, im pretty sure its in there.

JAT said...

Excellent sleuthing, Cedar. As you can see, we've been busy outing tax deadbeats at meckdeck.com. We'll add Maj. Foster to the list and try to get an answer from the city manager on this situation.

JAT

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't Foster's work and ownership of this protective services firm violate section V.B. 5 and 7 of the department's general orders?
You mention the part about command staff needing approval, but she may have already gotten that. It isn't unusual to see Captains and higher working off-duty jobs.
Her ownership of that private security firm though appears to be a cut and dried violation.

Anonymous said...

Shouldnt this be under the Rodney Monroe Papers section also?

Anonymous said...

I got 13 years left and thank god my business I started several years ago allows me the freedom to leave whenever I decide to. But it's hard to give up benefits and retirement.

Anonymous said...

Officers routinely struggle to supplement their (lack of sufficient)incomes by working various "off duty" jobs. These jobs are normally listed on the CMPD Secondary Employment site. There are NONE available. The unethical, conflict of interest, if not ILLEGAL private security company owned and operated by Foster and her cronies .... undercutting officers for personal gain? I think so.

Wasn't there an officer Redfern terminated for doing this same thing?

Anonymous said...

Private security firms are regulated by the NC Atty General's Office, Private Protective Services Bureau. The law requires that a private security firm be licensed (See .§ 74C‑2 below) BUT, and this is a HUGE but, neither Key nor Foster can obtain such a license since the law prohibits a sworn law enforcement officer from being licensed!!! (See § 74C‑21 below)

Necessarily, MVP MUST be operating in violation of N.C. G. S. 74-C. No ifs, and or buts.

§ 74C‑2. Licenses required.

(a) No private person, firm, association, or corporation shall engage in, perform any services as, or in any way represent or hold itself out as engaging in a private protective services profession or activity in this State without having first complied with the provisions of this Chapter.

NOTE: The license numbers ALL begin with "BPN"

§ 74C‑21. Law enforcement officer provisions.

(a) No law enforcement officer of the United States, this State, any other state, or any political subdivision of a state shall be licensed as a private detective or security guard and patrol licensee under this Chapter.

Anonymous said...

It is a sad to see this clear unethical and downright illegal behavior of command staff personnel. Would someone kindly tell me HOW she has been promoted to this rank in the first place?? She should be fired immediately!

Anonymous said...

Yea that is a load of crap. I am mailing city council.

Anonymous said...

Check it out Chief Monroe just bought a house on the same street and is a close neighbor of Vicki Foster.

Anonymous said...

We all know the real reason why Vicki Foster and Sherie Pearsall were promoted. The are BLACK FEMALES. Talk to the rank and file officers who have worked with them as officers. You will hear the words of INCOMPETENCE and ARROGANCE as well as SPECIAL TREATMENT for the SPECIAL CLASS. Judgement day is coming and let's see who/whom will be wearing the silver bracelets (Handcuffs).

Anonymous said...

How she got promoted you ask? Remember Lisa Shores? She worked under her and was given a pointless supervisor position over a handful of Officers that didn't need supervision so she could work on her college education the department likely paid for and sell houses to Officers at the same time. She's been getting away with things that others couldnt for years.

Anonymous said...

Melvin Key is the "co-owner of MVP Protection Services along with Major Vicki Foster and her fiancee as well as a former police officer with Chief Monroe on The Washington DC Metro PD. Below is an article about some of his experiences wth Metro PD

Jan. 14, 1995:
The Missing Witnesses


Officer Melvin Key was off duty and driving with his 17-year-old brother when the brother thought he saw a boy holding a gun in a woman's face. Key made a quick U-turn and doubled back on Livingston Road SE. He spotted a young man with what appeared to be a gun. No woman was visible. The off-duty officer jumped out of his Toyota and, with his service weapon drawn, identified himself as a police officer, witness statements show.
When Key ordered him to "drop the gun," the man "just kept looking at me as if he was going to do something," Key said in a police statement. Suddenly, the man raised both arms, Key said. Fearing he was about to be shot, Key fired four times, and the young man crumbled.

Roland Antonio Wells, 21, was carrying a BB gun. Wells had been arrested once, three years earlier, on a misdemeanor assault charge that prosecutors dropped the next day.

Two of Key's bullets struck Wells, one in the right knee and the other in his left abdomen. Wells died of the wounds six months later.

Two boys who were with Wells said in a videotaped deposition that they were standing 15 feet away. Wells had his hands in the air and was beginning to put the gun down when the officer fired, they said. Police did not question the boys until weeks after the shooting, and only after Wells family attorney Joel DuBoff called federal prosecutors and asked, "Why has no one talked to the children?" said DuBoff, a former assistant U.S. attorney.

The incident was never examined by the police weapon review board. It was one of four shootings involving Key in just over a year.

Three years after the shooting, in July 1998, the District settled a lawsuit brought by Wells's father by paying $67,500.

Key declined to comment. "Taking a person's life, that's something that a normal person won't ever experience – and a lot of police officers won't experience," Key told The Post. "I don't know if I could ever talk about that again."

He was promoted to sergeant in March 1997.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Breaking news:

Effective Saturday, November 13, 2010, Major Veronica Foster will assume command and serve as the acting Deputy Chief of the Investigative Services unit.

Anonymous said...

You have got to be kidding...If this is the Veronica Foster that grew up in Danville VA, she was an extremely powerful, vicious BULLY when she was in grade school. Now days she would be jailed for what she did to other classmates. I would certainly hate to be someone who had to work for her as an adult. Hope something can be done to stop this injustice.

Anonymous said...

I am deeply saddened that Ms. Foster has risen so high in any organization, and worse yet, law enforcement. Even as a child it was evident that she was anything but a novice at the skills of manipulation, instillation of fear, and dissemination of emotional and physical abuse upon others. Wounds that for her victims will remain permanent scars from childhood.

I am not certain what disturbs me more; the fact that a child could harbor that much anger at such a young age or that society has once again not only tolerated a person like this but continues to nurture, reward and promote them.

I pray for those who continue to be her victims.

Anonymous said...

Miss Vicky as she likes to be called also has a very lucritive real estate business catering to the pro athletes in Charlotte! She has turned down Monroe on more than one occasion to take the open deputy chief job. His other choices are white males!!! So he now has her as an "acting D/C". The recruit classes also have more non-whites in them than ever before. HOWS'S THAT??

Anonymous said...

did she have charges in Danville? are you here in Charlotte now or did you just stumble on this?

Anonymous said...

Are u white male lard asses picking on women AGAIN? Aren't you entitled enough? Make fat Dan Cain SHUT UP. Get a job, people. Stay married! Quit divorcing! Make your wives happy for a change.

Anonymous said...

The comments here are not bashing women in general nor are we all male. Veronica Foster is one evil person and needs to be exposed before she does any more harm. Pity the people of Charlotte who have to live under such corrupt police power. She was a powerful bully in 4th grade and continues to be a disgrace to honorable police everywhere!

Anonymous said...

charges were NOT brought against Veronica in Danville...back in the 80's such actions were not treated as they would be today. NO, we are not in Charlotte...found this blog by chance.

Anonymous said...

I cannot believe Ms. Foster continues to prosper! It is an outrage and she should be made to pay for her crimes. I can assure you there are many more than anyone has even begun to discover. For those poor souls who have to endure her violence please I beg you, stand up for yourselves! Expose her! Do not let her win.

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Anonymous said...

Never did like her or trust her, NEVER will!