Scott Cunningham, the new chief of the Winston-Salem Police Department, realized when he took the job that a big part of it would be restoring public trust that was lost in the Deborah Sykes murder case and the Jill Marker beating case. He has refreshing ideas about balancing that role with the necessity of moving the department forward.
The Sykes and Marker cases shouldn't be forgotten, he said in a recent stop by the Journal. "We need to remember them. We need to learn from them. But we need to move forward, too. If we're constantly looking back, we're going to wreck."
Cunningham is striking the balance between correcting the mistakes of the past and moving forward. He'd be the first to tell you that there's a long way to go. "We've got a lot to do, but everyone's excited," said Cunningham, a former chief of the Cary Police Department who took the reins here this past summer.
He noted that few of his officers were with the Winston-Salem department when Sykes was murdered in 1984. Some of them probably weren't even alive then. And Marker was severely beaten 13 years ago.
But both cases have had thorny ramifications. Darryl Hunt, wrongfully convicted of Sykes' murder, was finally exonerated in 2004 after serving more than 18 years in prison. That happened after police finally found the real killer, Williard Brown.
The man convicted of beating Marker, Kalvin Smith, says he's innocent and is fighting for a new trial. Whatever happens with the Marker case, it, and much more so the Sykes case, underscored problems with the way cases were handled by the city police department. Both cases, especially the Sykes one, also raised questions about the way cases are handled by the Forsyth County District Attorney's office.
The vast majority of the police department's officers are good ones. Some of them, quite understandably, have resented the shadow that the Sykes and Marker cases have cast upon them. Still, there are problems that have long needed to be corrected. Pat Norris, Cunningham's predecessor, started reforms in lineups, interrogations and recordkeeping, partly in response to public pressure.
Cunningham, who rose through the ranks of the police department in Tampa, Fla., before taking the top job in Cary, indicates he'll finish the reforms. While praising the Winston-Salem department, he won't put up with his officers "circling the wagons" and "hunkering down" when they should be gaining public trust. There's the potential for that to happen, and there's the potential for officers to resist reform. For example, Norris was bucked by some of her top investigators on the need for lineup reform. She stood firm.
You get the feeling Cunningham will do the same on such issues. And while Norris was sometimes tightlipped, Cunningham has already taken a bold stand on one issue, that of illegal immigration. He rightly told local Hispanics that his department's primary responsibility is protecting residents and arresting criminals -- not enforcing federal immigration laws.
"I'm a little bit more, I guess, comfortable voicing my opinion," Cunningham said. "I tend to let people know pretty much where I stand."
Cunningham said he's also working to make the department's work more transparent. That's certainly needed. He wants to work with the news media to let the public know more about the good things the department does.
He added that "those times when we don't do things like we want to" his department will be "open and honest about it."
Cunningham is media savvy. There's nothing wrong with that. And if he does improve the department's reputation, that's fine as well.
It is a generally good department. That, however, doesn't mean it can't stand some improvement.
Cunningham is effecting that. "We're making changes," he said with a smile.
■ John Railey writes editorials for the Journal. He can be reached at jrailey@wsjournal.com.
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