From the Charlotte Observer (1/9/10): Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx said Friday that the city should make public the personnel file of former police Officer Marcus Jackson, who has been accused of sexual assault by five women.
Personnel files aren’t public records in North Carolina.
But the state allows governments to open the files if their “release is essential to maintaining public confidence in the administration of city services or to maintaining the level and quality of city services.”
Files typically contain evaluations, disciplinary action and complaints.
The Observer has asked to review Jackson’s records, but City Manager Curt Walton has declined to release them.
City Attorney Mac McCarley said Thursday that Walton doesn’t believe the file’s release is “essential to maintaining public confidence in the administration of city services.”
Mujeeb Shah-Khan, senior assistant city attorney, said Friday afternoon that Walton’s position hadn’t changed.
Foxx said he believes the City Council should hear from police Chief Rodney Monroe in open session about the Jackson case and the officer’s tenure at CMPD. He said the council should then review the officer’s personnel file in closed session, and then likely make it public.
“My bias is to disclose the records, but only after we take those steps,” said Foxx, a Democrat.
Councilman Michael Barnes, a fellow Democrat, agreed.
“We have to release as much as we can to allow people to know that we are serious about dealing with what Mr. Jackson did,” Barnes said. “We should release everything we can without violating any laws. I feel certain that staff will feel the same way.”
Other council members felt the release wouldn’t be necessary.
Warren Turner, a Democrat, said he’s “not curious to see it.”
“For what? He’s terminated. He doesn’t have a job. I try not to get into personnel matters with HR.”
Edwin Peacock, a Republican, said he doesn’t know if reviewing the file would shed any light on the issue.
“Everyone knows out of 3,000 employees you’ll have some bad apples,” Peacock said. “I wouldn’t call him emblematic.”
by Steve Harrison, Charlotte Observer Staff Reporter