Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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8 UCW DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM NEWS An ethics complaint against Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins has been filed and is cur- rently being heard by the Ethics Commission. Up & Coming Weekly requested the ethics complaint at the beginning of December. e City indicated that the records were not yet publicly available. Raleigh Attorney Mikael Gross, who filed the complaint against Hawkins, forwarded Up & Coming Weekly a copy of the com- plaint. Gross initially filed 14 allegations against Hawkins. However, the com- mission will be looking at eight of those allegations. Hawkins respond- ed to the commission regarding these eight allegations via email in October. at email was also sent to Up & Coming Weekly by Gross. Charge 1: Hawkins allegedly used city property for personal use while also terminating employees for doing the same. An example cited in the complaint states Hawkins has used her police car as a personal car since her employment with the city. Response: Hawkins told the commission that this was false. Charge 2: Hawkins allegedly ben- efited from contracts issued through the City of Fayetteville by having her dog trained by the K-9 trainers hired by the Fayetteville Police Depart- ment. According to allegations, the misuse of the contract resulted in Hawkins' gain at taxpayers' expense. Response: Hawkins stated that this accusation has previously been anonymously submitted to the City of Fayetteville Internal Audit Depart- ment and investigated. She said she would explain more to the commis- sion in a closed session as it involves employees of FPD. She did not dis- close in the email the results of the previous investigation. Charge 3: Hawkins allegedly allowed a K-9 trainer to place choke collars on Fayetteville canine officers and place them on the ground like dogs to "teach them what it feels like to be a dog on a leash and collar." Response: Hawkins told the com- mission that this was false, and she did not know this happened. Charge 4: Hawkins allegedly hired a K-9 trainer as an officer with the police department. However, the handler has had problems with Training and Standards and cannot attend Basic Law Enforcement Train- ing, meaning that by working as an officer while not fully trained, they could violate several laws. Response: Hawkins told the commission that she never hired him as an officer, and he has never submitted any documentation to become an officer with the City of Fayetteville. "My knowledge and expectations of the trainer riding with K-9 police officers to assist with Field Training is a part of real-world training just like officers have Field Training Of- ficers with them after they get out of the academy," Hawkins said. "If there were any stops being made in the City, it was by the City of Fayetteville Police Officers. I would never con- done anyone who is not certified to conduct illegal stops." Charge 5: Hawkins allegedly misused departmental resources by having on-duty officers divert from their patrol duties to help her locate her dog, which escaped from her residence on October 18, 2020. e allegation states that this call was removed from the system. Response: Hawkins wrote the commission a lengthy response say- ing that this is false. She states she never requested assistance or asked for officers to respond. Explain- ing the only calls made were to the communications supervisor alerting them where she would be. Hawkins says that she asked the communica- tions manager to investigate it when this allegation popped up. "e investigation revealed the supervisor had entered the call to be dispatched, the dispatcher sent the call out to an officer and had a phone conversation about looking for my dog," Hawkins explained. "e dispatcher had made some unprofessional statement[s] during the conversations. e supervisor submitted a statement regarding her actions and what I requested that day, and the dispatcher submitted a statement regarding her action." Hawkins said in her statement to the commission, "Once again, I never requested for an officer to respond to assist me with finding my dog, BUT if a citizen would call 911 asking for our assistance, I would expect us to respond, because I know we prioritize calls and if we are avail- able to assist the public and there are no calls pending, then I would expect us to respond and help as we have done on many occasions. is was a Sunday around 10:00 a.m. when calls for service are extremely low." Charge 6: Hawkins allegedly hired an active gang member and was alerted to the employee's gang history by the gang unit division at FPD. However, the individual was still hired, and the entire gang unit allegedly was placed under investi- gation at the direction of Hawkins. Response: Hawkins told the commission that this did not hap- pen, and the internal investigation is still open and cannot be publicly discussed. Charge 7: Hawkins allegedly ini- tiated investigations into employees, managed the investigations and then did not allow herself to be ques- tioned or have an independent party investigate. Response: Hawkins told the commission that she is responsible for ensuring all investigations of employees are thorough and all facts and statements are included in an in- vestigation. Hawkins explained that employees who received discipline have been afforded rights within the policy and have been through all ap- peals, including the final appeals to the city manager. Charge 8: Hawkins allegedly reached out to the Fayetteville Police Benevolent Fund to have an employ- ee removed from the board before the initiation of an internal investiga- tion. Fayetteville Police Benevolent Fund never removed the employee from the board, but the allegation explains that this shows she is willing to intimidate staff. Response: Hawkins told the commission that this is false. Gross has also filed a lawsuit against Hawkins for a previous em- ployee. at lawsuit is currently being adjudicated in court. When Up & Coming Weekly reached out to Hawkins, her lawyer released the following statement : "e so-called 'Ethics Complaint' is meritless and is knowingly com- piled of false allegations. Chief Hawkins is limited, for now, in her public response to those allegations as some pertain to FPD person- nel/privacy matters. I am sure the so-called 'Petitioner' is aware of that fact as he released Chief Hawkins' responses to the media, knowing the legal position she is in as Chief. At this juncture, we are befuddled that a hearing would actually take place based upon the complete dearth of any evidence to support the allega- tions. We look forward to vigorously and aggressively addressing this 'Ethics Complaint' at the appropriate time." e Ethics Commission has five members — lawyer, Tracey Hen- derson, CPA, Dale Knowles, lawyer, Dymond Spain, Dr. Stephen Roch- man and omas Donnelly Jr. e next commission meeting will be in January, but no set date has been released at this time. Police Chief under investigation by Ethics Commission by HANNAH LEE HANNAH LEE, Assistant Editor. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins