A former Scotland Neck police sergeant said he left the department out of officer safety concerns over the agency’s unwritten policy of not calling certain calls into the Halifax County 911 Center to save money.

Emerson Carroll, now a deputy with the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office, said in a written statement emailed to rrspin.com and a lengthy telephone interview with the news website Saturday, police chief, “Joe Williams told me directly many times not to call in car stops with the 911 Center. He told the new officers that came on the same thing.”

Carroll worked six to eight months of his nine months in Scotland Neck with Williams.

The emailed statement and interview directly refute statements made by Williams in a story published last week that no orders were ever given to circumvent the 911 Center.

The matter is part of a broader issue of how to fund the 911 Center since Scotland Neck will pay nothing this year because of a funding formula devised to prevent double taxation of municipalities that use the system.

Carroll

Carroll said he left the department on good terms. “I saw the safety issues Joe created and was not going to be a part of that. He saw it as I was trying to run the police department.”

Carroll, who left the department as a sergeant, said, “I like Joe. I like him. It’s nothing personal against Joe whatsoever. I don’t think Joe is experienced enough in police work for this day and time.”

He said he and another officer were ordered not to call in car stops because at the time it cost the town at least $6 to do so. “Car stops are one of the most dangerous things an officer can do and I told him I would not stop calling in car stops. I understood his position in trying to save money but an officer’s life outweighs the $6 or $9 cost of those car stops.”

The president of the Roanoke Valley Chapter of the Police Benevolent Association, Carroll said, “I have worked those streets alone for 12 hours on holidays, weekends, first of the month and called in all of those car stops.”

The reason for calling in stops to the 911 Center is simple, he said. “You want it documented. The 911 Center and other officers listening to the radio need to know where you are and what you’re doing.”

Documenting a call through the center helps eliminate liability. Many other agencies tune in to specific radio bands to monitor agencies and since, for the most part, they are familiar with an officer’s voice they can tell from the tone whether he or she is in trouble and begin heading to the call if it goes through the center. “They stop and lock that frequency in and start heading to Scotland Neck. If they don’t call in you’re looking at time and distance that if someone could have heard it they could have started coming to that officer,” Carroll said.

The times Carroll didn’t call in were the times when he knew other officers were in the area, not because the chief told him not to. “If there are a group of officers working a certain area it’s common practice we do not call the 911 Center on car stops and the reason for that is that we are doing aggressive enforcement and the officers can see each other and that compensates for the officer safety issue.”

If there are drugs found or an arrest is made then the 911 Center will be notified and a card will be punched because there will be additional action the officer will take, he said.

For the most part Carroll said he called in every stop because of the safety issues involved.

Anatomy of a car stop

Car stops are made for numerous reasons, Carroll said. “You’ve got traffic violations that are a danger to the public.”

The consequences can run from a verbal warning to a ticket or arrest.

A vehicle may match the description of one involved in criminal activity. “If you’re working in a drug area and making car stops for drug activity you’re looking for clues from the driver and engaging with an interview and reading inside and outside the drivers and passengers. You’re looking at where it’s from, what kind it is and what kind of stickers are on it.”

The first thing, depending on the situation, is to run the license plate number to make sure the tags match the vehicle. Calling this in, Carroll said, “Tells the other officers where you are and the communication center where you are.”

Calling in vehicle stops is also wise, he said, because of the professionalism of the center’s staff. “The 911 Center is very good about it. If something is wrong with that tag they’ll let you know before you get to the driver’s window. When I don’t call in the car and if I don’t know that car’s stolen it’s an officer safety issue.”

Calls for service to businesses and escorts

Carroll said Williams gave a direct order to not call in service calls to the center.

Service calls are any calls that are police matters or have a community concern. They can range from domestic situations, trespassing, shoplifting, disabled motorists and suspicious people.

“He gave cellular phones to the officers. He gave the businesses their phone numbers and told the businesses to call the officer's cell phone if the police were needed. There was no record of any call for service.”

Carroll said businesses were calling officers’ cell phones when the officers were off duty. “The businesses did not know the officers’ schedule, therefore it would come to them calling an officer who was off duty when an emergency took place. I have had voice mails on my cell phone about managers at grocery stores letting me know that they needed an officer due to a shoplifter. They would never call 911 at the direction of Joe Williams.”

The same was also true with escorts for night bank deposits, Carroll said, explaining the chief gave direct orders not to punch a card when officers escorted businesses to a drop box. “The moneybag would contain a large amount of money.”

While it might seem trivial to call the 911 Center for a money drop, Carroll said things could go wrong. “If you have a citizen in the car that’s a liability. Cash money floating in a police car makes me nervous.”

Accusations of missing money could lead to suspicions of an officer being involved.

While Scotland Neck officers have a log, which Carroll said he religiously used, he said it doesn’t take the place of calling the 911 Center for purposes of accountability.

“Joe Williams gave me and other officers direct orders not to call the 911 Center in order to save money, which put the officers at risk and is a great liability for the town,” Carroll said.

James Gunnells

James Gunnells, who is also a town commissioner in Scotland Neck, made drops while working at Lowe’s Food and knew the policy in place. “Instead of calling 911 we would call non-emergency dispatch. The police asked us not to. To save that money we were asked to call police on duty.”

He said the system worked poorly. “We tried to go through the police but it was hard to know what officer was on duty. We ended up going to the bank by ourselves.”

Gunnells was always concerned about the system. “My concern was people should come first. My first goal is safety, whether it cost $6 or $9.”

Williams’ response

Williams said Tuesday he stands by what he said in the interview last week.

“I don’t think he (Carroll) is a good judge of that. When he left the department he was a little disgruntled. It isn’t the first time he’s refuted something after he’s left.”

Williams said he is concerned about officer safety. “It’s up to them when to call a vehicle stop. Most of them are calling car stops.”

Another officer’s view

Jonathan Merritt, a former sergeant with the department for a year who is now working in the private sector, said the issue came up numerous times. “I was always met by Chief Joe Williams with a direction to not call in traffic stops due to how much money it was saving the town. I forget how many thousands of dollars he reduced the town’s 911 budget in his first year as chief, but it was always a bragging point for him.”

Like Carroll, Merritt said he applauds the effort to save money for the agency. “But he is doing so by risking his officers’ safety.”

Merritt said young officers asked him about the policy so he went to the chief. “His response was if an officer is that concerned for his safety then he can call in the traffic stop but they do not need to call in the traffic stop for every little old lady that they stop.”

Merritt said there were numerous occasions when Williams asked local businesses and citizens to call his personal cell instead of the 911 Center to report crimes or ask for escorts. “I personally know of one issue in which a problem was called in on that cell phone but was not dispatched to officers. This involved a dispute between neighbors that Chief Williams had always said was petty.

“A few minutes later he received another phone call requiring police response because one of the parties had been struck in the face with a pair of brass knuckles or a Mag light. Could this situation have been prevented had the first call been directed to the 911 center as it should have been and dispatched and recorded properly?”

Not only did Merritt say he took the issue up with Williams but the 911 Center, Emergency Management and town officials with little or no response. “They know what is going on, why not say it? In my opinion, not requiring an officer, much less telling him not to, check out with the 911 center on every traffic stop is a dereliction of duty.”