“Double Standards”

The elected Sheriff of New Hanover County, Sheriff Ed McMahon (D)(we just had to put the “D”, because during the election, there were many people that were confused and telling lies that McMahon was a Republican) has asked for many resignations from his personnel during his administration for his “Zero Tolerance” policy.

"I continue to stand firm on my position concerning alcohol related incidents," Sheriff Ed McMahon said in a statement of his zero-tolerance policy. http://www.wwaytv3.com/2011/09/07/nhso-lieutenant-quits-after-dwi-arrest

McMahon said his office will not tolerate charges in alcohol-related offenses.

"We as law enforcement are held to a higher standard," McMahon said, adding that he didn't see a pattern between the DWI and assaults.

"The policy is clear," said McMahon. "I have a zero tolerance when it comes to alcohol related incidents involving deputies." http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20100607/ARTICLES/100609726

The first problem I have with his “policy” is that it resembles a trouncing of the 5th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, the same Constitution that we as law enforcement officers swear an oath to God to uphold and protect. While there is no, “innocent until proven guilty” entered in the text of the Amendment, it is per se.

: The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reads, in part, "No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law ..."

: What this means, in plain terms, is that constitutionally you cannot be executed, imprisoned, or fined without the proper course of justice taking place. As you found out, due process, itself, is not defined in the constitution, but is universally recognized as meaning what we term as "a fair trial."

: Going forward from there, a fair trial by a jury of one's peers requires that the jurors approach the case with the thought that the prosecution is required to prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Since the trial begins with the prosecution not having introduced a single piece of evidence, it follows that a defendant must be innocent, until proven guilty.

These department members were forced to resign or terminated before being adjudicated by the courts. If found guilty by the courts, I could understand termination more than allowing the member to resign, but to affect these members’ life and liberty without due process is, in my humble opinion, wrong. I could however, see suspending them until the outcome of the case. As I understand that if they were to lose their driving privileges due to the civil revocation, that they would be “riding the pine” until their privileges were restored.

Now, to the “double standards”, as has been the theme of the past few article, in fairness we have not been afforded the complete employment record of this departmental employee however we do know of fact that on July 2, 2011, less than 2 months prior to NHCSO Lieutenant Lawrence Miller, 19 years with the department gets arrested at a DWI checkpoint, Noell Parker Jones is involved in a Hit and Run, at 0244 hours on North Cardinal Drive near UNCW. He was arrested by WPD officer G. Berrio a short distance away at his father’s home. Jones was charged with the Hit and Run and DWI. (case number 2011056241CR, citation number C1184824) The reason I point this out, is because Jones is a civilian employee of New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office. Jones works in the uniform and departmental equipment room. Jones is also the son of Colonel S.A. (Arch) Jones, one of the two Chief Deputies of the department. When we inquired upon the employment status of the Chief Deputy’s son, we were informed by the County that Jones was currently employed. The county told us that his hire date was 06/15/10, that he is paid $12.25 per hour, and that he was employed as of October 27th, 2011.

So where is the “Zero Tolerance” that Sheriff McMahon preaches about? Noell Parker Jones may not be a deputy, but he is responsible and accountable for issuing and retrieving property of the Sheriff’s Office and should be at a level of competence to keep an accurate inventory of the department’s equipment. Who knows, it may be why Congressional candidate and former Marine Ilario Pantano still had his service weapon and badge even though he had been separated from the department for over 5 years.

This preceded the discovery of the matter of former Lieutenant Scott Walker who was assigned to the Vice and Narcotics Unit. Walker still had multiple articles of property of the Sheriff’s Office, including a tactical raid vest valued at $700.00, other equipment and uniforms, in addition to two of his badges.

Image of the list of NHSO property taken from Walker's house

In Walker’s domestic case, Walker v. Walker, 10CVD 4699, District Court Judge Jeffrey Noecker signed an order on October 4, 2011 in agreement for the plaintiff to return “2 Gold Lt. Badges, one vice Sgt. Badge and one pocket badge with name on it” to Walker.

The question of double standards calls into quesiton not only the ethical and professional standards of the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office but critical evidence in criminal cases. We will be asking District Attorney Ben David to look into some of these matters.

Some items of this article were gleaned from other news sources, see below
http://www.wwaytv3.com/2011/09/07/nhso-lieutenant-quits-after-dwi-arrest
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20100607/ARTICLES/100609726/1037/news05?template=printart