In Case You Missed It: Former CMPD DC Medlock Under Fire In Fayetteville

Seems the tricks leaned from his time with Rodney Monroe may not have worked as well for Harold Medlock in Fayetteville.

From the Fayetteville Observer:

A state agency that oversees police conduct and training plans to do its own investigation into allegations involving Fayetteville Police Chief Harold Medlock.

Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Justice, announced the state investigation Friday, a day after City Manager Ted Voorhees said an internal investigation by the Police Department cleared Medlock of any wrongdoing.

The allegations center on whether Medlock's executive officer - Lt. Tracey Bass-Caine - took a mandatory certification exam on his behalf, according to a former police sergeant and a source in the Police Department. Talley said the N.C. Criminal Justice Training and Standards Commission is reviewing Fayetteville's investigation and "plans to open its own investigation shortly."

She said the city notified the commission of its internal investigation Jan. 2. The Observer first learned of the internal investigation in January but did not report on it then because of a lack of specific allegations.

Medlock on Friday referred questions to City Manager Ted Voorhees. "I was aware at the outset that the Criminal Justice Training and Standards Commission staff would review our investigation and make an independent decision about conducting its own investigation," Voorhees said in a statement Friday. "They are simply following the established protocol as I understand it."

In January, the chief said officers questioned him because they thought he might have information about the case. He said he was a part of the investigation, "but not a subject of it." The city and Medlock have declined to provide details of the investigation, saying privacy laws restrict what they can release.

Thursday, former police Sgt. Jerry Schrecker sent an email to the Observer and City Council members publicly raising the question about the test allegations. Schrecker insinuated in his email that a single paragraph answer in Medlock's test was identical - including misspellings - to an answer in the executive officer's test.

All certified police officers are required to take the annual exam. Tests can be taken online. Failure to complete all facets of the training can result in suspension of an officer's certification. Voorhees said in a statement Thursday that Medlock's "certifications are current."

Schrecker has declined to say how he got his information, but a source in the Police Department confirmed that the city's internal investigation centered on the allegations contained in Schrecker's email.

The source asked to remain anonymous because he said he feared losing his job. Following the internal investigation, the city demoted Bass-Caine from lieutenant to sergeant, Voorhees said in an email late Thursday.

Bass-Caine has appealed the demotion, so her rank will remain lieutenant pending the outcome of the appeal, Voorhees said.

Lawyer Mike McGuinness said his law firm in Elizabethtown is representing Bass-Caine, a 24-year veteran of the Police Department. McGuinness, a lawyer for the N.C. Police Benevolent Association, represented Fayetteville officers in a lawsuit filed in 2012 against the city that involved consent searches of vehicles.

McGuinness said the nature of Bass-Caine's case limits what he can say. He said his office is now conducting an investigation into the matter. "Among other things, we will examine issues of selective enforcement of personnel policies and disparate treatment in discipline," McGuinness said in an email.

Schrecker left the department in 2011 and has been an outspoken critic of police and city administrators since then.