Year at the Helm: Winston-Salem Police Chief Cunningham charted a new course for his department, gaining trust and respect along the way

When Scott Cunningham became Winston-Salem's police chief a year ago, he promised to listen to the concerns of his officers and residents, and then decide on the best approach to improve the police department and reduce crime.

A year into his tenure as chief, Cunningham is getting high marks for keeping that promise.

Since he started last June 30, Cunningham has spent countless hours attending community meetings and stopping to talk with residents as he drives around the city.

Their input, he said, helped guide him as he revised the department's beat system, changing the way that police officers are deployed.

The change to the beat system is perhaps Cunningham's biggest accomplishment -- a move he and others credit with reducing crime, building residents' trust and raising officer morale.

"He just didn't blow smoke at the city when he was hired about what he would do," said Cpl. Rob Peterson, a police-training officer. "He has fulfilled his promises."

But Cunningham also has more work to do, some say, particularly when it comes to delivering on his promise to diversify the ranks of the police department.

A force of 514 officers

Cunningham, 52, came to Winston-Salem after serving as police chief in Cary and as an assistant police chief in Tampa, Fla.

Here, he oversees a police department with 514 sworn officers and a budget of $56.7 million in 2009-10. He proudly points to statistics that show a decrease in crime during the year he has served as Winston-Salem's police chief.

"The public is more engaged with us, and more understanding of what we are doing," he said. "And their perception is that they are happy with the police department, and they are safer."

Statistics show that violent crime in the city decreased 19 percent for the five-month period ending in May 2009 compared with the same time period in 2008.

Cunningham has beefed up patrols in neighborhoods where residents have complained about crime.

For example, Phillip Carter Sr. met with Cunningham last year and asked him to assign more officers to the Holland Homes apartment complex on Mount Zion Place. Drug sales, vandalism and other crimes had plagued its mostly elderly residents, including his mother, Carter said.

Crime dropped after Cunningham assigned officers to a foot patrol in the neighborhood and increased vehicle patrols there as well, Carter said.

"He's a man of his word," Carter said. "He said what he would do, and he's done it."

After Hispanic residents complained last fall about slow response times in their East Sprague Street neighborhood, Cunningham promised to provide Spanish-speaking officers to help.

"(Cunningham) has cleaned up some things," said the Rev. Paul Kintner, the pastor of Iglesia Bautista Cristo Vive.

Police officers closed down two houses where crack cocaine was being sold, and they helped keep homeless people from gathering under the railroad bridge on East Sprague Street.

City Council Member Vivian Burke said that she appreciates Cunningham's open mind and the way he welcomes recommendations "to make the police department stronger."

Cunningham has also pushed for changes to existing arrangements between police and the sheriff's office. He tried to make a public case for the greater share of $1.1 million in federal grant money, questioning an agreement past chiefs had made with Schatzman to split the money 50-50.

Police handle 80 percent of the county's crime, making an even split unfair, he argued, though ultimately he backed down because both agencies would forfeit the money if they could not agree.

And when Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school officials announced that they were canceling their school-resource officer contract with the sheriff's office, Cunningham organized his department's bid for the entire contract.

Cunningham, school officials and Schatzman reached a tentative agreement that gives police a pilot program in four schools, marking the first time in decades that police will patrol some schools in city neighborhoods.

Changing beats

In January, Cunningham returned officers to permanent shifts and increased the number of patrol beats from 18 to 24. The move has helped residents become better acquainted with the police officers in their neighborhoods.

It also changed officers' working conditions -- nearly 90 percent of the officers were given their first choice of shifts and work schedules in the revised beat system, Cunningham said.

Many officers like the new system because it gives them "a lot of time to wind down" from their work shifts, said Jimmy Boyd, a retired city police officer and the president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Lou Ellen Taylor, the president of the Winston-Salem Police Benevolent Association, said that officers are pleased with Cunningham and favor the new beat system. "He supports the patrol division and recognizes the need for us to do our jobs professionally with his support," Taylor said. "It matters that police officers are being heard."

In May, the city council approved spending $550,000 to equip each officer with a Taser. Cunningham said that Tasers would give officers another option when dealing with uncooperative suspects. The department is scheduled to begin training later this summer, he said.

Working to gain their trust

Despite the accomplishments, Cunningham and the department continue to work at gaining the trust of some residents.

Lack of trust between police and residents isn't a problem unique to Winston-Salem, Cunningham said. People have a "natural tendency to believe things to confirm their good and bad beliefs," he said.

The trust issue is based in some part on two prominent cases that occurred before Cunningham arrived, one of which continues in the public spotlight.

Darryl Hunt spent nearly 19 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of killing Deborah Sykes in 1984. Hunt was freed in late 2003 after another man confessed to the crime. Cunningham said that he has met Hunt, but the two have not discussed the case.

Kalvin Michael Smith is serving from 23 to 29 years in prison after being convicted in 1997 of severely beating a woman at a store off Silas Creek Parkway. Smith has maintained his innocence but has thus far failed to win a new trial.

A five-part Winston-Salem Journal series in 2004 pointed out major shortcomings in the police investigation of the case. A citizens-review committee is reviewing police procedures in that case and has asked the city council for an extension to finish its final report. The committee has already said it has no confidence in the police work on the case and that there was no credible evidence that Smith was at the store that night.

Cunningham is dealing with the aftermath of the Smith case. He said he is considering a request from the citizens committee to have two detectives who were involved in the Smith case take polygraph tests.

Cunningham and community leaders said that increasing the diversity of the police force will help establish more trust. But Cunningham said that it will be a slow process.

"Before I retire, this department will match the demographics of the community," he said. "That is a higher standard than what is expected.… We want to fill those positions with people who understand the difficulties of life."

The numbers suggest that will be a challenge. Eighty percent of the city's officers are white, 14 percent are black and 3 percent are Hispanic. This year's class of 30 recruits is mostly made up of white men. About 20 percent are female, black or Hispanic.

In comparison, blacks make up 34 percent of the city's population, and women make up 52 percent. Hispanics account for 12 percent of the population.

Cunningham has enlisted the help of 400 city churches, asking them to encourage people to apply to become police officers. Police recruiters also have visited historically black colleges and universities in the state.

The city also has a program to recruit black police officers at Winston-Salem State University, in which the city pays the tuition of a student who subsequently becomes a city police officer.

Those efforts have not produced the number of minority recruits that Cunningham wants, he said, partly because the police department is competing with the private sector to hire talented people.

"He has some work to do there," said Stephen Hairston, another retired Winston-Salem police officer and a former president of the local NAACP.

It will take a while for Cunningham's plans, such as increasing diversity, to filter down, Hairston said.

Right now, "he seems to have all the right answers that people want to hear," Hairston said. "I would hope by next year, his footprint will be established in the community and among the officers."

■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.

Major Initiatives of Chief Scott Cunningham

■ Revised the beat system in which officers are now assigned to permanent shifts. The system puts more officers in smaller areas, increasing their visibility among residents.

■ Created a system to move police reports on criminal investigations to prosecutors and criminal-defense attorneys faster than in previous years.

■ Led police efforts to help reduce the crime rate in Winston-Salem. Statistics show that violent crimes have decreased 3.8% and property crimes are down 4.9% since Cunningham has been the police chief.

Source: Winston-Salem Police Department