Cop critics challenged by mayor
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Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles about the mayor’s annual State of the City address
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Mayor Johnny Magee had a challenge for people who criticize police officers: Stop beating them up on social media and join them.
That’s the message the mayor sent out to naysayers during his annual State of the City address last week. He referred to a Leader-Call article from Aug. 1, 1964, which announced the hiring of the first four black officers in the history of the LPD — Simon Shanks, 43, Charles Harrison, 33, Martin Jones, 32 and Arthur Holden, 30.
“I wonder why, 58 years later, Laurel cannot find young black men who want a career in the police department, like those men did in August of ’64, who sought to protect and serve their community, who sought to make a difference?” Magee asked. “If you think there is something wrong with the department, then it behooves you to attempt to join it and attempt to change it, to make it better, as these four pioneers did.
“I would love to see the number of black officers closer mirror the demographics of the city. Or is it like one of the council members often says, that it’s easier to sit on Facebook and criticize than to make things better?
“Let it be known that Laurel is looking for a few good officers.”
The department has a budget for 55 officers but had only 46 on staff at the end of 2022, he said. Officers handled a total of 30,713 complaints (down from 34,704 in 2021) and made 2,162 arrests (down from 2,628) for the year. Homicides dropped from five to three and all are being prosecuted, Magee said.
There were 13 written complaints filed against LPD officers in 2022 — 11 of which were unfounded and two of which resulted in corrective action. Officers received 11 written warnings, with two resulting in suspensions and one termination. There were two internal affairs investigations, both of which resulted in suspensions.
“I support our police,” Magee said, adding, “I do not say they are perfect or anything of the sort, but I do support them when they are right, and I do support disciplining them when they are coming incorrect.”
They do get “a bad rap,” though, he said, making an example of the common complaint he gets about there being more police roadblocks in predominately black areas of town.
“If it is repeated enough times, it becomes the truth to some,” Magee said.
So he cited statistics for the year — of the 176 checkpoints, 85 were in South Laurel (50.8 percent) while 71 were in North Laurel (42.5 percent) and 11 were on 16th Avenue (6.5 percent).
“There is an old saying that figures don’t lie, but liars do figure,” he said.
Four officers received commendations for “actions above and beyond the call of duty,” Magee said, and the department is preparing for another round of promotions.
But the department is currently 10 officers short of the number it’s budgeted for, and that’s a problem he wants to fix, as does Chief Tommy Cox, who came up through the ranks to become top cop at LPD.
“Laurel needs and desires more good police officers,” Magee said. “Laurel needs and desires more good black police officers.”
He also made a general plea for those who have been on the other side of the law to apply for work with the city — not necessarily at the police department.
“If you have had run-ins with the law, please don’t let that to stop you from applying to the City of Laurel for employment,” Magee said. “You are not guaranteed a job, but you will not be denied the opportunity to apply. We are an employer of second chances, so just because you have a felony conviction, you are not written off, just because of it.”
That was not the case when the first four black officers were hired almost 60 years ago on “emergency basis,” less than a month “following a flare-up of racial trouble here,” according to the Leader-Call article. Basic requirements for officers then included that they had to be at least 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 165 pounds, of “good moral character, no police record,” with a high school or equivalent education and be a qualified elector in the city of Laurel, said then-Assistant Police Chief Grady Nix.
The black officers’ duties then were limited to “patrol car duty cruising Negro sections of Laurel,” then-Chief L.C. Nix said.
“Both the chief and assistant chief have previously said they have wanted Negro men in the force,” according to the article.
“I’m proud to add colored policemen to the force and especially proud to have the boys I have in these four,” the chief said. “Their records prove that they are good moral citizens, and able-bodied men. They will do us a good job. I’m happy to announce they are now members of the Laurel Police Force.”
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