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GREENSBORO - Former police Chief David Wray defended his order of repeated investigations into corruption on the force, explaining his actions to the city in a 26-page confidential memo obtained by the News & Record.

In the memo, which city officials called "very inaccurate," Wray gave the reasons for an internal investigation of Lt. James Hinson that spanned nearly three years. Wray also gave new details on how the investigation came to include efforts to gather evidence against other black officers by using prostitutes, photo lineups, surveillance and eavesdropping.

Though internal investigators never concluded that Hinson broke the law or violated departmental policy, Wray continued using members of the covert Special Intelligence Section, the so-called "secret police," to trail the lieutenant. Wray put Hinson on paid suspension in June, and Hinson only returned to work after Wray's resignation Jan. 9.

Wray's memo, dated Jan. 18, represents his most detailed account so far of his thinking and the events that led up to his resignation and the departure of two of his top assistants. To the alarm of city officials, the memo also contains highly sensitive information such as the names of confidential informers and protected witnesses.

An attorney for Hinson said he could not comment on Wray's memo. Lawyer Ken Free said the city has not provided a copy to him or Hinson .

Attorneys for Wray, Kenneth Keller and Locke Clifford, also declined to comment on the Hinson allegations. City Manager Mitchell Johnson described the memo as "very inaccurate" and containing "significant inconsistencies."

Wray cited, among other things, as support for his continued investigation and surveillance in 2005 of Hinson that he had been informed of the following allegations:

• In 2000, Hinson wrecked his police cruiser but did not report the accident.

• In 2002, the officer's personal and work numbers were found in the safe of Greensboro's largest known cocaine kingpin, whose girlfriend allegedly told Internal Affairs detectives in 2004 that she had an "intimate" relationship with Hinson. Federal affidavits show the woman was a top co-conspirator in the kingpin's

$10 million cocaine ring. She was convicted in 2003.

• In 2003, Hinson was suspected of running an unlicensed security firm, though Wray conceded that investigators failed to link Hinson to the firm, 2 Tyght Security.

• In 2005, Hinson's number was allegedly found on the speed dial of another convicted drug dealer's cell phone, though Wray wrote that the dealer claimed Hinson had merely asked him for a donation to community programs for children.

The Hinson story opened a Pandora's box of racial allegations against the white chief's administration and led to the discovery of a "black book" of photos some say was used to target black officers when it was shown to criminal defendants. To some officers and community members, the book implies racial profiling of police themselves.

The story has polarized the city . At one extreme are those who vilify Wray, to the extent of hanging unsigned "Wanted" posters depicting Wray with a Hitler m ustache and calling him "the Grand Wizard of Greensboro." At the other end of the spectrum are complaining residents who, according to senior city aide Patricia Boswell, interpret Wray's demise as "a black overthrow of the police department."

The fallout notwithstanding, Wray wrote in the memo that he refused to apologize for having done what he thought was right, not even to save his job.

In the memo, which Wray and his lawyers have repeatedly refused to make public, the former chief writes that on Jan. 7, the day after the city manager locked Wray out of his own office, his lawyer met one final time with the city attorney, Linda Miles.

Wray wrote that Miles offered to let the chief resign and keep $7,000 in longevity pay plus a year's sick leave and health insurance, but on a condition. That is, Wray wrote, that he sign a statement that he misrepresented information to the city manager and that he was "ashamed of myself."

"Naturally," Wray wrote, "I declined this untrue and unacceptable offer."

Contacted late Friday, Johnson, the city manager, disagreed with Wray's version of these events but said he could not elaborate because of personnel privacy laws.

Either way, Wray lawyer Keller noted in a Friday e-mail to the News & Record that based on the fact Wray served at the will of the manager and had publicly been locked out of his office, plus "the tone of my meeting with Ms. Miles, I concluded that resignation was David's only viable option."

Johnson maintains that the key issue he was unable to reconcile was that Wray learned of a black book as early as last July. But by all accounts, Wray ordered Deputy Chief Randall Brady to "secure" the book - which Brady did by locking it in the trunk of his cruiser - and Wray never told Johnson that it in fact existed.

Wray contends that the photo array was assembled exclusively to investigate a prostitute's report that she was groped sexually by an unknown black police officer. He said he was "uncertain whether the book ... was, in fact, the rumored ‘black book.' "

"As I noted at the outset, to the best of my knowledge, the rumors concerning a purported ‘black book' are absolutely false," he wrote in the memo.

Although Wray's memo seeks to justify at length not only the use of a photo array but also the three-year inquiry and suspension of Hinson, city officials said last week that the allegations of corruption on the part of black police officers had so far proved to be all smoke but no fire.

A city-commissioned report on the matter by city attorneys and Risk Management Associates has yet to be made public. But council members say RMA's conclusions differ widely from Wray's account. On the advice of attorneys, the City Council late last week refused Wray's request for a meeting.

Of Wray's memo, delivered in sealed envelopes to the council after Wray's last news conference Jan. 18, Councilwoman Sandy Carmany said in a telephone interview last week:

"It was misleading, cherry-picked, rearranged. It was so divergent, or didn't jibe, with the information I had seen in (the city-commissioned) RMA report."

Agreed Councilman Tom Phillips: "I was just amazed, let me say. His (Wray's) interpretation of things seemed totally different from what I had already seen."

All council members contacted said they were prevented legally from disclosing the contents of the RMA report or Wray's memo.

After interim Chief Tim Bellamy announced an administrative investigation into the activities of Special Intelligence, Johnson said he decided not to release further information about the case or comment on Wray's specific allegations.

Bellamy said that ongoing review is expected to take "four or five months."

With the threat of lawsuits looming, nearly every party involved has retained a lawyer: Hinson, Wray, former Deputy Chief Brady, the Special Intelligence detectives and the black officers allegedly targeted.

Even the city's lawyers have hired lawyers. The contract between the city and Greensboro-based law firm Smith Moore was not available late Friday, nor was the hourly rate.

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

Contact Eric J.S. Townsend 373-7008 or etownsend@news-record.com