By Staff
New police chief getting to know town, step by step
By GREG KATSKI
Staff Writer
BELHAVEN — As this town’s new police chief, Frederick Clingenpeel is focusing on community-relations damage control.
Clingenpeel said he has taken it upon himself to improve the Belhaven Police Department’s relationship with town residents, including some residents who say they live in fear of the police.
Clingenpeel vows the department’s objective is to protect and serve, not intimidate.
On Wednesday afternoon, Clingenpeel patrolled the town, introducing himself to residents. Patrolling and socializing with residents have become routine for the chief since he was sworn in at 10 a.m. on Aug. 7.
The new chief said he hopes the patrolling will help renew confidence in a police department that has been accused of racism and intimidation.
Clingenpeel believes the only way to regain the public’s confidence is to make himself visible. During his patrol Wednesday afternoon, he decided to make a stop at Black Bottom Cemetery, a graveyard under renovation. Across the street from the cemetery’s entrance were three commercial fishermen haggling with one another for a good deal.
Clingenpeel used that incident as an opportune time to introduce himself. After exchanging formalities, one of the fishermen, Antonio Woods, began running off a list of pertinent questions he’d been saving for the chief.
Then came the concerns about the health and safety of the town.
“So, are you going to stay a while?” Woods asked.
As Clingenpeel prepared to resume his patrol, Woods’ co-worker, James Taylor, weighed in with some of his views on the town.
Several minutes later, after leaving the fishermen, the chief responded to Taylor’s remarks.
To help establish the public’s confidence in him and the department, Clingenpeel said he is trying to exercise leniency when appropriate.
On Tuesday afternoon, the chief responded to a call about a child riding on the back of his father’s motorcycle.
Clingenpeel said felt the hostility of the motorcyclist as he dealt with him.
After the child hopped off the motorcycle, Clingenpeel said, the motorcyclist received a warning.
Wednesday afternoon, Clingenpeel let several men and women who may have been intoxicated off easy. They were congregating at a public bench at the corner of Pantego and Railroad streets. They were socializing with one another and others walking or driving by.
Before pulling up to the bench, which sits outside the barbed-wire fence surrounding Northside Park, Clingenpeel explained that he patrols that area everyday. Clingenpeel said he previously introduced himself to the people who frequent that bench.
While conversing with the people, Clingenpeel noticed a slow-moving car coming down the street toward the bench. Clingenpeel said went to introduce himself, but the driver seemed apprehensive and drove away, saying he was not from the area.
Clingenpeel wrote down that car’s license-plate information, jumped in his cruiser and, by radio, asked the telecommunicator at the police station to run a check on that license plate. That tag came up clean, the chief said. Clingenpeel said he uses similar checks sometimes as a safety precaution.
Clingenpeel said it is necessary to “do a little background history on drivers, criminal history if necessary.”
The chief explained his reasoning for running the tag.
The chief said he thought he might have to arrest someone early Wednesday morning. While patrolling the town, Clingenpeel said, he spotted two teenagers eyeing his vehicle.
The chief said he stepped out of the patrol car and “invaded their space a little bit.”
Clingenpeel surveyed the scene for drug paraphernalia, but found none.
Before finishing his patrol Wednesday, Clingenpeel stopped by Towanda McLendon’s house. McLendon said she was excited to see the new chief and understood the tough road ahead for the department.
She told the chief that regaining the town’s confidence will not be easy.