Thursday, Jun. 25, 2015 by Kate O’Toole, Special to the Times-Mirror| 7 comments | Email this story
The Loudoun chapter of the NAACP raised issues with the transparency and population representation of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office during an online radio discussion June 23.
Loudoun County Sheriff Michael Chapman and NAACP Loudoun County branch president, Phillip Thompson, participated in an Open Talk radio program to have a conversation about the community.
Chapman described himself as an open book when it comes to his interaction with the community, but Thompson expressed his frustration with the NAACP’s difficulty in gathering information and communicating with the sheriff’s office.
“I know very few of them [minority communities] have been to any of sheriff’s coffees or any meetings with the sheriff or had any positive – what I would call positive interactions – with Loudoun County police in any way,“ Thompson said. “So whatever the sheriff is doing, I think that he needs to re-think it as far as the minority community is and try to come up with another plan.”
Encouraging citizens to file complaints is something Thompson believes will help with the transparency of the police.
Despite the differences in opinion, both were in agreement that communication is key.
“We need to know what the community is feeling,” Chapman said. “What the concerns are, whether we’re doing things right, whether we’re doing things wrong, whether we’re missing complaints, whether people are afraid to make complaints.”
The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 report says that Loudoun County is made up of 68.7 percent white residents and 7.3 percent African American residents, but Thompson and Chapman held different views on whether the sheriff’s office was representative of these numbers.
According to Chapman, the roughly 8 percent of African American personnel on his staff is representative of the county. As an elected official, he insisted he does all he can to have a makeup consistent with the people he serves.
“I think last year we hired out of a 1,000 people we screened less than 10, so it shows you how many people that we go through to try to get the right people on this job and we try to make sure that we’re weighing all factors involved in this,” Chapman said.
On the other hand, Thompson explained the NAACP’s unsuccessful efforts to increase these minority numbers throughout Loudoun and even suggested a federal review of the county’s hiring process.
“We would love to work with the county on these issues, but we’ve been frozen out of the county, “Thompson said. “I have to be very clear on that.”
While Thompson said he understood the difficulty in finding officers of a minority, he suggested that this is an indication of the bigger problem of negative feelings toward the police.
While there may not be a specific incident in Loudoun County, Thompson believes the mistrust is nationwide and trickles into every community – especially to young African Americans and Hispanics.
Thompson and Chapman both agreed the youth should be educated about the police to prevent future conflicts.
Since he took office, Chapman has expanded programs at schools on topics such as decision-making and Internet safety in order to reach out to the youth of Loudoun.
Thompson’s goal is to teach citizens what police do using ride-alongs and other programs to reduce tension and encourage young men and women to consider a future career in law enforcement.
The discussion ended with both parties saying their final words while acknowledging the opportunity for improvement in Loudoun County.
Kate O'Toole 