Mumpower and APD clash — on the streets and via e-mail

By now, the nighttime roamings of Asheville City Council member Carl Mumpower to observe drug dealers – and his staunch criticism of law enforcement’s performance in fighting drugs – are becoming familiar fodder for conversation around town.

And while it may be easy to paint a picture of interdepartmental clashes and conflict between city leaders and police officers, the following e-mails, received on Jan. 17, show that there are indeed hard feelings on the part of the Asheville Police Department.

As one e-mail from Lt. Chris Young states:

“[Mumpower’s] actions to continually belittle the police department are beginning to tear at the fibers of morale of the working officers.”

The e-mail chain reprinted below concerns a traffic stop in West Asheville last Friday night , where the APD Drug Suppression Unit was searching suspects and a car. According to one message, Mumpower approached the officers and tried to make a report of drug activity he had witnessed in a nearby housing project.

The incident touched off an extended report by Sgt. Mike Yelton and responses from Chief Bill Hogan, City Manager Gary Jackson and Mumpower himself, who invited the APD to arrest him if his activities are breaking the law. “I hold no special privilege as a Council member,” he wrote.

The following e-mails have been placed in chronological order.

– Brian Postelle, staff writer

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From: Sgt. Mike Yelton
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 5:41 AM
To: Lt. Chris Young
Cc: Captain Sarah Benson; Lt. Rutledge; Sgt. Eric Lauffer
Subject: Mumpower Interference During Traffic Stops

As Sgt. Creson mentioned in his earlier email, I stopped a vehicle on Haywood Rd. tonight at 2331 hrs. Prior to stopping this vehicle, I already knew at least one of the occupants to be a known drug offender with whom DSU has dealt before. The vehicle, and all four occupants, ended up stopping right in the front parking lot of the West District office. Mark Byrd arrived moments later to assist.

At one point, Ofc. Byrd was performing the duty of cover officer as I was conducting a hand search of the vehicle for narcotics. One adult male suspect was in handcuffs, another adult male was seated on the sidewalk along with one of the female occupants. The remaining female occupant was located near the front of Officer Byrd’s vehicle. In all, Officer Byrd was responsible for watching the actions of four adults, all potential suspects at this point.

As I was searching the car, I turned my head and saw Councilman Dr. Mumpower standing near Officer Byrd speaking to him. I immediately thought this was a strange occurrence, but assumed he was conducting another of his many forays into law enforcement activities and had seen us stopped and wanted to observe. My intention was to complete my search of the vehicle and then determine if I could assist him in any manner.

A short time later, I observed him to walk towards the front of the district office where a marked unit had pulled up (which I later determined was that of Sgt. Creson). Moments later I saw him cross Haywood Road towards a grey Mazda Miata
parked in the Franklin’s parking lot and leave.

After speaking with Officer Byrd I learned the nature of the Councilman’s visit. He approached Officer Byrd and asked if he could take the time to allow him to “pass along some information”. Officer Byrd, following the principles of contact/cover, realized that doing so would decrease his ability to vigilantly observe the four suspects while I conducted the vehicle search. He then properly and politely informed Dr. Mumpower that he in fact could not do so, but offered to assist him at the conclusion of our business, explaining that we were actively involved in a vehicle stop. Dr. Mumpower continued despite the fact that we were clearly busy, asking if anyone was inside the district office to take his information. Officer Byrd replied that he did not think so, but offered to call a district supervisor for him, which he did. Sgt. Creson arrived a short time later, as detailed above. As I am told, his information for which he felt the need to interfere with officers involved in a vehicle stop involving four subjects concerned a suspicious person in Pisgah View Apartments.

My concerns are as follows:
1) Our vehicle stop involved two officers and four suspects. While two of the suspects were young females in their late teens who were not problematic at all, the remaining two adult male suspects had between them:
-24 prior charges for narcotics violations, many at a felony distribution level
-6 gun related charges (CCW, Stolen Firearm, Firearm by Felon)
-13 charges of resisting public officers
-6 arrests for assaults, to include 4 for assault on government officials and 1 assault inflicting serious injury

Much of this information was known to myself and Officer Byrd as he was watching these suspects while I conducted the vehicle search, but was presumably unknown to Dr. Mumpower.

2) The principles of contact/cover, as utilized by DSU officers during our operations, provide for a contact officer to conduct all investigative business to include interviewing, records checks, searches, etc. The cover officer remains attentive for blatantly threatening suspect action, covert communication between suspects that may indicate developing threats or investigative hindrance, concealment or discarding of contraband, and exterior threats such as additional suspects arriving or even approaching vehicles that may pose a threat to officers and suspects alike. The cover officer SPECIFICALLY avoids in-depth conversation as it causes an unacceptable level of divided attention, reducing observation acuity and increasing reaction time to developing threats.

3) According to the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed in Action (LEOKA) reports each year, officers working under the following conditions face the statistically highest risk of death:
-Night hours
-Weekend nights
-Southeast region of the US

This stop, conducted at 2331 hours on Friday night in NC, was further complicated by multiple suspects with known histories of drug and violent crime. Under circumstances such as these, risk factors do not multiply themselves in a linear fashion, but instead compound exponentially.

During the course of this stop, outstanding felony warrants were served and crack cocaine was seized. As a supervisor with the Drug Suppression Unit, I believe that the business being conducted by Officer Byrd and me was in direct accordance with our stated mission and helped to enhance public safety. I cannot venture to guess why the Chairman of the Public Safety Committee would find a need to interfere with such business. I would have been more than happy to speak with Dr. Mumpower at a point in time where it was more appropriate, which would only have been a matter of minutes. It was apparent that this option was not acceptable. Based upon my observations, the West District officers were not present to take his information because they were out conducting similar business. The clear reality is that the call for service that Dr. Mumpower wished to generate would have been much more quickly built and answered had he simply phoned APD Communications, a procedure with which he is clearly familiar. In fact, following Sgt. Creson’s call, APD Communicators dispatched the call in less time than I could have driven from the district office to Pisgah View in my patrol vehicle.

I was left with the distinct impression that Dr. Mumpower desired an immediate and personal response to his presence, and waiting was not an option. Whether his intrusion into a stop such as the one I have detailed above was executed out of ignorance of the realities of police procedure and the dangers associated therewith, or was the result of a passive-aggressive effort to force police personnel to drop whatever they were doing to answer his calls for service above those created by and for the citizens of Asheville, I do not know.

Either way, I find it patently unacceptable. The political machinations surrounding the recent controversy between Dr. Mumpower and our department are none of my concern. What is my concern is the safety of not only the officers in the Drug Suppression Unit, but all the officers of the Asheville Police Department who do not deserve to be placed into a situation that requires them to decide between doing what they know is right for their safety and possibly offending an Asheville City Councilmember who has already made clear his opinion of our worth, dedication and effectiveness.

Thank you,
Sgt. Mike Yelton
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From: Lt. Chris Young
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 8:53 PM
To: William Hogan
Subject: FW: Mumpower Interference During Traffic Stops

As you can see from the tone, duration, and content of Sgt. Yelton’s e-mail message, he is upset with Dr. Mumpower’s latest interruption. While any officer knows that at any time a citizen could interrupt a traffic stop in a similar manner, Dr. Mumpower’s actions are not welcome and were out of line. This is based on his own comments of dozens of observed drug interdictions, therefore he should have known proper protocol. I have personally spoke with Officer Mark Byrd and found out that Dr. Mumpower approached him (3) times to engage him in conversation during this stop.

His actions to continually belittle the police department are beginning to tear at the fibers of morale of the working officers. They will continue to be the professional officers we have trained them to be, but as an elected city leader his efforts to draw attention to his cause will begin to have devastating effects on troop morale. Especially when they are working extremely hard to fight the drug problem. Please use the below information as documentation as you see fit, but I would like it conveyed to Dr. Mumpower, that under similar circumstances he should phone in his call for service to communications, or if he wishes face to face contact, wait until the officer(s) have finished their business before approaching with his information. His intent on delivering information while officers were dealing with suspected drug dealers could well enough have caused distraction in where someone could get hurt

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From: William Hogan
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 2:09 PM
To: Gary Jackson; Jeff Richardson
Subject: FW: Mumpower Interference During Traffic Stops

Here is more on Dr. Mumpower’s interference with the drug traffic stop. I just want to give you some understanding of the frustration of the officers and to ask if there is anything we can do to ensure that he does not further jeopardize our officers’ safety.

Thanks,
Bill

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Carl:
I’m concerned about this, and I’d like to discuss it with you as soon as
possible.
Gary

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Mr. Jackson,

On Friday night sometime around midnight I entered Pisgah View and was directly solicited to buy drugs. Shortly thereafter I traveled to Deaverview and on the way passed the West Asheville Sub Station and noted a half dozen or so officers at that site. I went on to Deaverview and there was solicited 3 times by 3 separate dealers. I did as I have done consistently over the past several weeks, and traveled back to the West Asheville Substation to directly report drug activity in their district. When I got there I noticed two officers in some policing activity and asked if there was someone in the station I might report the activity to. The officer indicated he did not know, and I went to the door to check. There was no one on site and so I returned to the officer and asked if I might report the drug activity to him – he indicated he was busy. I asked if I might best call the main number and he courteously offered to call the West Asheville duty sergeant. I waited for the sergeant and shared my information with him on his arrival – he, too, was courteous.

The contact with the officers was incidental to my agenda in stopping at the police substation, and, frankly, I didn’t know what they were doing one way or the other. I am not a police officer – do not know police protocols and did nothing different from what I have done in the past when I was on formal observations. In this case I was there not to chat, observe their actions, or otherwise interfere or participate. I was there to report 4 drug dealers in 2 public housing developments within the past 15 minutes.

This incident occurred on Friday evening. For you to raise this issue with me by email on Tuesday one hour before what was anticipated to be a confrontational City Council presentation of our failure to adequately police our open air drug market was an exercise in poor timing at best or intimidation at worst. I’ll leave it to you folks to decide your motivations. If I violated any law during my time at the substation, it would be appropriate to arrest and charge me. I hold no special privilege as a Council member.

I am fascinated to learn that I represent a threat to the safety of our officers and their morale. It would be my sense that those active dealers in Pisgah View and Deaverview would represent a more authentic risk factor.

Carl Mumpower
Asheville City Council

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Mayor Bellamy and City Council:

I’m forwarding to you the message that was the cause of Carl’s comment tonight at the beginning of his Council meeting presentation.  My intent was to share the officers’ comments and have a constructive conversation about the safety concerns.

Gary
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In my experience adults are more authentically threatened by failure than by
criticism- cm

Mr. Jackson,

It seems we share a similar concern with safety – one for an officer standing over a seated handcuffed suspect – a second for the folks in proximity to four unhandcuffed drug dealers operating freely operating at midnight in two West Asheville neighborhoods. Both matter, but may I suggest that one of two offers a curiously timed exaggeration of realities?

Going forward it will be my please to call the main police number to report drug activity and discontinue using the West Asheville Police Substation for that purpose. I am sure that the frustrations of an ongoing open air hard drug market create enough police morale issues without my adding to the mix.

Carl Mumpower
Asheville City Council