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Search Over: Winston-Salem picks former Cary chief to lead police; he is first chosen from outside department in 28 years
Journal Photo by David Rolfe
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Published: June 4, 2008
Winston-Salem's new police chief is the first chosen from outside the department's ranks since 1980.
Scott Cunningham downplayed that outsider status yesterday, saying that his hiring was not a sign that big changes are in store.
"There are times where having someone with different perspective can add value" to a department," he said. "My role is to serve as the leader and to assist the agency in reaching its full potential."
City Manager Lee Garrity announced yesterday morning that Chief Pat Norris' successor would be Cunningham, the former police chief of Cary and a former assistant police chief in Tampa.
Cunningham, the city's 13th police chief, beat out three finalists, two of whom were from within the department.
Garrity said that Cunningham had the education and experience to be a "crime fighter, an innovator as well as an administrator."
Garrity made the choice after meeting with Cunningham and the three other finalists last week. The other finalists were Capt. Alonzo Thompson, who oversees vice and narcotics detectives; Assistant Chief Kevin Leonard, who is assigned to Norris' office and oversees recruiting, policy changes and the evidence section; and Alan Dreher, the assistant chief of the Atlanta Police Department.
Cunningham said that he and Garrity had a conversation Friday about his being the next chief, and negotiated details over the weekend.
Cunningham will be paid $122,000 a year, the same salary that Norris received. She retired in December but agreed to stay on through June to give the city time to find her successor.
Nearly all the department's command staffers came to a news conference yesterday, as well as some officers from the lower ranks. Thompson and Leonard said they came to show their support for Cunningham.
"He should have a good career with us," Thompson said.
Cunningham came back to the term -- "adding value" -- again and again yesterday, stressing that he would heed advice from residents and officers, then add his ideas on ways for the department to improve.
"I need to be a role model out there -- the citizens need to see me out there, the officers need to see me out there," he said.
In Tampa, Cunningham was known for surprising officers on the midnight-patrol shift by showing up and accompanying an officer on calls, said Joe Durkin, a former Tampa police officer and spokesman who has known Cunningham for more than 20 years.
"That type of experience really kept him in touch with the patrol officers -- who are the backbone of any police department," Durkin said.
The next police chief has to deal with recommendations from two reports -- one from a citizens committee and one from consultants -- that were critical of how the department operates. There also is a continuing citizens committee review of the Silk Plant Forest case, a near-fatal beating in 1995 at a store off Silas Creek Parkway.
Attorneys for Kalvin Smith, the man convicted of the crime, filed a motion in April asking for a new trial, citing police and prosecutorial mistakes.
"I have to catch up on Silk Plant Forest," Cunningham said. "I need to make sure I understand it.... In my mind, one of the worst things (that can happen) is that we don't learn from what happened yesterday."
One change Cunningham may make is in how patrol officers are deployed. A police committee has been studying changes. The department also will study the possibility of using Taser stun guns, Cunningham said, because they can be useful tools.
Cunningham, 51, has 28 years of police experience, including 24 with the Tampa Police Department. He retired there in 2004 as the assistant chief of operations, a job that had him overseeing 750 sworn officers.
He was Cary's chief for about 2 1/2 years, resigning in December. He said that Cary wasn't a good fit for him and that he left on friendly terms.
Garrity said that there were no concerns about Cunningham's tenure there.
"I got real strong recommendations from Cary, and I'm comfortable that he would be a good fit with me and the city council," he said.
Cunningham said he sees Winston-Salem as the place to end his career.
"I do not want to be a gypsy chief," he said.
Cunningham and his wife, Amy, plan to move to Winston-Salem soon, he said. The couple have three sons, ages 10, 15 and 21.
Lou Ellen Taylor, the president of the Winston-Salem chapter of the Police Benevolent Association, congratulated Cunningham yesterday in a news release.
"We look forward to working with Chief Cunningham and are optimistic he will make the department better for all its employees," said Taylor, a police sergeant.
The Rev. Linda Beale, the president of the Ministers' Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity, said that her group had supported Thompson.
Beale said that the city's search seemed thorough and that she looked forward to learning about Cunningham.
The consultants the city hired to do the search held a public forum in February for residents to talk about qualities they wanted in a chief and another forum last Month with the finalists.
"The bottom line is to have someone who is interested in the community and does the right thing by the community," Beale said.
■ Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.
Chief at a glance
Scott Cunningham
• Age: 51.
• Most recent job: Chief, Cary Police Department.
• Experience: 28 years, 24 with the Tampa Police Department in Florida. Began his career in 1979 as a police officer at Purdue University. Started in Tampa in 1981 and rose through the ranks, retiring as assistant chief of operations in 2005, managing 750 officers. After retiring, he was hired as the chief of the Cary Police Department. He resigned in December.
• Education: Bachelor's degree in forensic studies and history, Indiana University; master's degree in public administration, Golden Gate University, Tampa Fla.; doctorate in adult education/management, University of South Florida, Tampa.
• Top priority: Working with the city council and its public-safety committee in helping make changes to the department's criminal investigations division as suggested by a consultant, and on a new investigation of the 1995 assault at the Silk Plant Forest store.
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