rrspin.com requested a statement from the city after the county chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sent one via email late Sunday night.

City Manager Joseph Scherer confirmed the meeting and described it as an informal session to discuss matters the county chapter has raised on two occasions regarding diversity, inclusiveness perceptions in the city and community relations with the police department. ”The city officials felt it was important for everyone to recognize the city does value its rich cultural, ethnic, racial and religious diversity while promoting a respectful and cohesive community,” Scherer said in the statement. ”City officials felt the meeting and discussions were constructive and planned to give serious consideration to their concerns as part of the city’s efforts to improve the social and economic opportunities in Roanoke Rapids, while enhancing the understanding of the perspectives and experiences of other races.”

David Harvey, president of the county chapter of the NAACP, in his statement called the discussions frank and candid. “We raised the issue of the city manager’s reversal of the plan to include the general public in the recruitment and selection process for a new chief of police. But we never got a satisfactory response to why he ignored our suggestions for ways the community can be involved that do not violate North Carolina statues.”

City Attorney Gilbert Chichester said following a recent council meeting the city did not renege.

Harvey charged it appears the city manager, who made his decision on the chief Monday, and what he described as an inner circle would select the next chief police in the absence of a community panel. “My real regret is that the next chief, regardless of who he or she is, will not have the same stature and inherent advantages as a candidate chosen following the involvement of a broader section of the community. That’s a shame.”

Another issue the NAACP representatives and city officials discussed was the report citing racial discrepancies in the stop and search records of the city’s police department.

NAACP representatives have been urging the city to invite the report’s author, UNC professor Frank Baumgartner, to come and explain his finding showing that African-Americans have a 40 percent greater probability of being searched than whites stopped for similar circumstances. “Our view is that the data should be examined by the city’s governing body with the report’s author. That’s the only way to understand the data and avoid misinterpretation by the public and those responsible for decision-making. We don’t get the mayor’s apathy and lack of interest in this information. Plus he’s fine with keeping council members ignorant of the facts.”

The NAACP started looking at Roanoke Rapids police department practices following the reported tasing of a black child, reportedly having autism, by two white police officers earlier this year. “What started as a focus on excessive force against African-Americans has become expanded to issues of diversity and the need to modernize police practices,” Harvey said. “The NAACP hopes the city will adopt a policy of written consent for police searches following traffic stops for cases where there is no (probable) cause for the search.”

Roanoke Rapids interim police Chief Andy Jackson said Tuesday the Baumgartner study shows that blacks are involved in 49 percent of the city's traffic stops, while whites are involved in 48 percent.

“I think what needs to be looked at is the searches,” Jackson said. “Officers only need reasonable suspicion or a traffic violation to conduct a stop. To conduct a search you need probable cause, a person's permission or a search warrant. It's quite a more complex issue when an officer searches a vehicle. There is probable cause involved to search the vehicle. The officer has seen something wrong, something illegal. The Constitution doesn't allow us to plunder a vehicle at will.”

A North Carolina Central University study called Racial and Ethnic Disparity, 2000-2011 examines evidence in traffic stops across the state.

“Research has consistently shown that individual officers vary in stops and searches,” the report says.

The NCCU study also addresses the Baumgartner study.

One officer who made 575 traffic stops in 11 ½ years, conducted five searches over the same period, the NCCU study says.

Another officer who made 1,665 stops in 11 ½ years searched 12 people — one white and 11 black. “While these officers searched a greater proportion of blacks than whites, the extraordinarily low volume of searches makes the usefulness of these findings questionable. Further, Baumgartner did not report the type of searches conducted by the these officers. This is important information as officers have little discretion in conducting searches under some conditions,” the study said.