news-record.com

GREENSBORO - The city of Greensboro is still trying to figure out whodunit.

Investigators are examining unique photocopy patterns to ferret out who leaked a controversial report on former police Chief David Wray to reporters and bloggers. Hired by the city of Greensboro, these "forensic document analysts" are comparing a copy scanned and posted on a Web site with versions once held by City Council members and city workers .

Find the copy with the same distinct marks as the one posted at www.greensboro101.com, and you may find the leaker, City Manager Mitchell Johnson said.

"The leak of this document is a very, very impactful issue for us," Johnson said. He said council members gave him the investigative go-ahead Oct. 17, during a meeting closed to the public. "We shouldn't have to go through this."

The leaker's identity has been the subject of numerous blog posts, dinner conversations and formal investigations. In May, eight council members passed polygraph tests that indicated they didn't leak the report. Dianne Bellamy-Small was the lone member who refused to take the test and has denied that she is the leaker.

Johnson said investigators from Risk Management Associates, the same independent consulting firm that wrote the report, have collected council members' and employees' copies.

Analysts will look for unique marks - say, ink blobs made by a heavy roller. If, for instance, the scanned copy has 15 such distinct marks and Employee X's version shares 12 of those marks, then that employee could expect to undergo further questioning, he said.

That questioning could lead to disciplinary action.

Johnson said the council would decide what to do if the leaker proves to be a board member.

The process may not net conclusive proof, he said, but it could give investigators a better shot at exposing the leaker's identity.

It's unclear how much this new investigation will cost.

In January, Wray resigned amid allegations of wrongdoing under his leadership.

Most of what the public knows about his conduct stems from the RMA report. It concluded Wray had "crippled" the force when he gave black officers stiffer punishments than white counterparts in similar situations and by intimidating white captains who opposed some of his decisions.

The report also detailed efforts by Wray, his deputy chief and a Special Intelligence detective to find evidence of misconduct against a black lieutenant who had been cleared by previous criminal and Internal Affairs investigations.

In March, someone leaked a copy of that report to the News & Record. The newspaper has declined to identify the person.

A link to the report appeared Oct. 17 at www.greensboro101.com, a Web site that automatically publishes information from local bloggers. The site's administrator, Roch Smith Jr., said he didn't post the link and couldn't say for sure who did, since he turned off his "log files."

Smith declined to say who gave him a printed copy, saying only that the person is a "private citizen."

"A copy was provided to me, along with a lot of other people," he said. "How can a private citizen leak a document when he's not in official custody of it?"

RMA determined that security at City Hall was "not good" about the time of the original leak to the News & Record, Johnson said. Staff members kept copies in unlocked file cabinets, he said, and some parts of the lobby and administrative offices weren't locked after hours.

Consultants noted the 24-hour camera surveillance and concluded that the leaker wasn't a city staff member.

Some critics of the city's handling of the report, including blogger Smith, say the leaker's identity is a distraction from the larger issue - namely, possible wrongdoing in the police department.

"The core issues don't seem to be getting nearly the public attention as the leak of this report is getting," Smith said.

Johnson said the city is moving forward with its investigation of the police department, though most of it is being done in private because of personnel laws. It's not an either-or situation, he said. The city can investigate the department and the leak simultaneously, Johnson said.

The leak cast suspicion on many innocent people, he said, and it jeopardized the city's investigation into Wray's conduct as chief. He said it also has had a chilling effect on would-be whistle-blowers, who fear their information may no longer be kept in confidence.

It's so important that he would ask city employees to polygraph tests if the situation warranted.

"If it required it, I would have no trouble doing it," Johnson said.

Contact Margaret Moffett Banks at 373-7031 or mbanks@news-record.com