Flash Back To Monday Janaury 11, 2010

Back on Monday January 11, 2010 Chief Rodney Monroe spoke to Charlotte City Council regarding Marcus Jackson:

“I have been as candid as possible about all the details regarding this case and I will be up front again in saying we did miss some valuable information”

Clearly Monroe was directing attention away from CMPD's failure to supervise rookie police officers like Jackson. On the surface it would seem that the Charlotte Observer was falling for the sham. On Wednesday January 20th the Observer printed an editorial Lax police screening practices must be fixed demanding changes to the screening process and then three days later they printed Monroe's letter giving into those demands.

Convenient timing or complicit journalism?

Jeff Taylor floated a theory last March in a post titled "Things I've Learned From Curt Walton". Jeff points out that in a recent Charlotte Observer interview with Walton the Observer states "Walton prefers a “collaborative” relationship with journalists."

After WFAE reported on the two suspensions given Marcus Jackson, many expected the Observer and local television stations to do a follow-up story. But all we got as one follower of Cedar Posts puts it was "crickets".

In fact the only other coverage was on WBT Radio.

Either way you can imagine Rodney Monroe is on the war path and God help the person who leaked the facts to WFAE.

In the background Ray Tarasovic has apparently decided he's had enough. Word on the street is that Ray wanted to make all the facts known, and RoMo wanted a cover up. When Rob-T sided with the Chief, Ray offered up his letter of resignation. Cedar Posts can't confirm the rumor but apparently Ray will be gone before the end of June.

So why should you be concerned? The lack of supervision and leadership regarding new rookie cops is a big concern, even more so is the lack of truthfulness. Considering Monroe has put 150 or more new officers on the street, the Observer should be calling for "changes" to the supervision and suspension processes instead all we hear are "crickets".

Stay Tuned, More Soon.....