http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/487753.html
Police OK'd Duke crackdown
Durham chief says an officer tough on Duke students was part of an effort to fight rowdy parties
Michael Biesecker, Staff Writer
DURHAM - Durham's police chief says one of his officers was just doing his job last year when he aggressively cracked down on partying college students in the city's Trinity Park neighborhood.
The record of arrests made by Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, who supervised the investigation that led to the arrest of three Duke University lacrosse players on rape charges, is being closely scrutinized by defense attorneys.
About a month before the March 13 team party during which an escort service dancer says she was attacked, Gottlieb changed jobs from a position supervising patrol officers in police District 2, an area that includes Trinity Park.
An article in the Sept. 9 issue of The News & Observer recounted that Gottlieb had arrested at least 20 Duke students during his time in District 2, a number that appears disproportionate compared with three other patrol sergeants working in the same area at the same time.
Court records show Gottlieb arrested many of those students and took them to jail on misdemeanor charges, such as possession of an open container of alcohol and violating the city's noise ordinance. Meanwhile, some nonstudents intercepted by Gottlieb were not arrested, but instead were written citations similar to a speeding ticket on seemingly more serious charges such as possession of marijuana and a concealed firearm.
Police Chief Steve Chalmers declined to be interviewed about Gottlieb before publication of the Sept. 9 article, but he said Thursday that the record must be put in the context of his department's wider efforts to combat student drinking and partying at rented houses in Trinity Park.
Fed-up residents in the neighborhood had requested "zero tolerance" enforcement of alcohol and noise violations by police, and in August 2005 one of Gottlieb's supervisors, Capt. Ed Sarvis, sent a letter to known party houses warning students they risked arrest if the rowdy behavior persisted.
The police chief said officers patrolling Trinity Park were specifically instructed to arrest problem students rather than cite them. Gottlieb not only was carrying out those directions, Chalmers said, but was likely to have made more arrests than other officers because he volunteered to work extra shifts patrolling areas near Duke's campus.
"Most sergeants don't make many arrests at all, but Mark is a hands-on supervisor," Chalmers said. "He was doing his job. He was just doing it more aggressively than some others. That doesn't mean he was wrong."
Before the publication of the Sept. 9 article on Gottlieb, N&O reporters repeatedly asked city and police officials whether Gottlieb was following orders in treating Duke students more aggressively than others. Chalmers said he declined to talk because he has generally avoided commenting on anything related to the lacrosse case. He said he discussed the issue with City Manager Patrick Baker and deferred to him.
In an interview Sept. 8, Baker said cracking down on the partying was an enforcement priority but that "to his knowledge" Gottlieb was not under any specific direction to treat Duke students differently. Baker also made no mention of Sarvis' letter warning the students they might be arrested.
Baker clarified Friday that he was simply not aware of the additional information.
On Monday, Duke's campus newspaper, The Chronicle, published an article that included comments from students and former students about their treatment when arrested by Gottlieb.
Urosh Tomovich recounted how Gottlieb and officers raided his house at 3 a.m. after a party, pulling him and his roommates out of their beds, handcuffing them and dragging them downstairs. Charged with violating the noise ordinance and having an open container of alcohol, Tomovich said he was taken to a room and questioned by Gottlieb, who then threatened to have him deported. Tomovich, then 21, is a U.S. citizen.
Andrea Brezing, another Duke student who is 21, recounted how she and her roommate were arrested for an alcohol violation and locked in a holding cell until the next morning with a woman whose clothes were covered in blood.
Tomovich, as well as several other students, were reached by The N&O over the past month but declined to be interviewed about Gottlieb. Attempts to reach Brezing were unsuccessful.
Chalmers said Thursday that he had read The Chronicle story but didn't see any reason to change his opinion that Gottlieb is a good officer. "If what they say is the truth," the police chief said of the students, "then they should have filed a complaint."
Staff writer Michael Biesecker can be reached at 956-2421 or mbieseck@newsobserver.com.
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsletters/
Chalmers jumped the gun in firing two officers
Does anyone believe in innocent until proven guilty anymore? Being charged with misdemeanor assault does not constitute guilt. Police Chief Steve Chalmers has fired two officers for breaking the law and doing things that brought "embarrassment and negative attention" to the police force. That has not been proven yet. I understand that the cook involved was fired from his job at the restaurant where the alleged incident took place. I remember reading about other Durham officers who have been found guilty of spousal abuse and are still working at the department and are on the streets.
Which laws do Chalmers think merit firing and which ones are overlooked? I hope the new recruits and trainees are given lists of which laws they can be accused of breaking which will get them fired and which ones they can break and still keep their jobs.
The two officers, Scott Tanner and Gary Lee, should be reinstated until they are convicted or exonerated.
SHIRLEY ELLIS
Durham
September 18, 2006
Thanks, Durham police
I hope that the Durham police officers who arrested Duke students for noise and alcohol violations in the autumn of 2005 realize how grateful most of us in Trinity Park are to them.
Their actions gave us the hope that we might once again have a peaceful, family neighborhood in which to live.
And we hope that these officers or their successors will also remember that every September brings a new crop of students who want to live off-campus and who appear never to learn from the experiences of their predecessors.
Please, Durham Police Department, continue to defend our neighborhood.
ELGIN W. MELLOWN
Durham
September 18, 2006
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/gaynor/060917
Come forward, Crystal; carry on, Cash