news-record.com

GREENSBORO - Less than 2 percent of sworn officers are involved in the ongoing investigation into the police department, City Manager Mitchell Johnson told employees in a lengthy memo last week.

Johnson posted the memo on the city's internal Web site Friday. The full text appears today on the News & Record's Second Opinion page.

In an interview Wednesday, Johnson said he was referring to "people who are really responsible for or significantly involved, i.e., people who were part and parcel to any issues."

That number is "well less than 2 percent," he said.

In the memo, he also urged employees to support and be proud of the police department, particularly because it was a group of officers who told Johnson about problems within the department.

"If anything, we should all be thankful that when our core values are threatened, officers are willing to come forward to ask that it be addressed," he wrote.

"That gives me great comfort for the future of our department."

Johnson said he wrote the memo to give employees a clear, chronological report on exactly where the investigation stands - one that hasn't been filtered through the media.

Most of what's known about allegations against former police Chief David Wray stem from a report compiled by Risk Management Associates, an independent consulting firm from Raleigh.

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 already been cleared by previous criminal and Internal Affairs probes.

Johnson also wrote that the State Bureau of Investigation has listened to "in excess of 50 recordings" related to its investigation of the department.

Johnson has declined to elaborate on the recordings.

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