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The Greensboro NAACP will investigate allegations by black police officers that they have been targeted by a covert police intelligence squad, the group's president, Gladys Shipman, said Wednesday.

Shipman held a closed, two-hour meeting with the group's board about what she called "a Special Intelligence/Secret Police and its implications upon African American officers."

Representatives from the NAACP met Tuesday with police Chief David Wray before the local chapter voted to launch the inquiry, Wray's office confirmed. Neither Wray nor the NAACP disclosed the outcome of the Tuesday meeting.

"The NAACP will investigate and use its initiatives to be assured that the internal as well as external administration of justice is even-handed," Shipman said in a statement.

Attorneys for the Greensboro Police Officers Association and for a suspended black lieutenant have accused Wray's department of a pattern of unfair discipline of black officers - an allegation Wray denies.

At the NAACP's office on East Market Street, Shipman declined to elaborate on the statement Wednesday, except to say that when the NAACP investigation is complete, the organization will refer its conclusions to City Manager Ed Kitchen.

The role of the Special Intelligence Section, a small squad that reports to Deputy Chief Randall Brady, has come under scrutiny after a June 3 incident in which Lt. James Hinson found a tracking device on his city cruiser.

Wray said he had authorized a private investigator, who is retired from the department and was hired back on contract, to do surveillance on Hinson. At the time, Wray said the investigation was in response to a complaint that Hinson was doing personal business while on the city clock.

But in a subsequent statement to reporters Friday, Wray referred to an ongoing, multi agency drug investigation, though he refused to say how the two matters were connected. He also declined to say why Hinson was suspended.

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lahearn@news-record.com