Page 2 - WEST FOP BlueNote 2017 Jan Feb Issue
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Appellate Case… meeting. There was no evidence from anyone that
Brewington had in fact consumed alcohol. An assump-
Continued From P.1 tion led to a termination.
The N.C. Department of Public Safety flatly refused to FOP is concerned about the standard of proof in
allow the two eye witnesses to testify. This problem at- cases against officers. We think that there must be sub-
tracted FOP’s interest. As a protected state employee, stantial evidence presented to support allegations
she had a right to a fair internal hearing. But it is kind against police officers. We know that we as officers
of hard to protect your due process interests when the cannot charge someone based on an assumption – but
employer will not allow two eye witnesses to testify. Agent Brewington was fired based on an assumption
Agent Brewington was not successful in overturning that a pink beverage in a goblet glass contained alcohol.
this at the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings. She We applaud Agent Brewington for fighting this case.
called numerous character witnesses to attest to her in- We await the ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court in the fa-
tegrity. She introduced her employee evaluations, mous case of Garrity v. New Jersey ruled that police
which rated her as outstanding for integrity in 11 out of officers may not be “relegated to a watered down ver-
12 ratings. sion of constitutional rights.” The FOP would like to
see that principle enforced in this case, and all other
The FOP is vitally concerned about situations like cases.
this. This nightmare started when a young investigator
mentioned an assumption eight months after a lunch
Raising Juvenile Age to be Likely Issue in Next Session
By Jeff Gray – FOP Legislative Agent
Raising the age of adult convictions from 16 to age statewide failed, Hall said, but professional po-
18 years of age has been a recent trend nationally, lice organizations and also North Carolina Su-
and was brought up in the last two sessions of the preme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin now sup-
North Carolina General Assembly. To date, it has port the idea. Those “police organizations” do not
not made much progress, however it has found include the State Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police.
fresh support from a group which includes law- It has opposed the change each time the issue has
makers, judges and attorneys. On Friday, Decem- been raised.
ber 9th the North Carolina Courts Commission dis-
cussed prior attempts to raise the age in 2013 and During debate some Commission members
2015, and how key stakeholders now support the voiced objections. Caswell and Person Counties’
change. North Carolina is one of only two remain- District Attorney Wallace Bradsher expressed con-
ing states in the nation that prosecutes 16 and 17- cerns about placing 16 and 17-year-olds who are
year-olds as adults. The Commission is a 31-mem- "hardened gang members" in the same system as
ber group made up of legislators, district attorneys, 14 and 15-year-olds who commit lower-level
judges, practicing attorneys and other citizens. crimes. "To me, 16 and 17 is a dangerous, transi-
Chaired by Representative Sarah Stevens of Surry tional age," Bradsher said. "There isn't enough re-
County, it is addressing numerous major policy is- sources in the juvenile court system to address the
sues – both civil and criminal – facing our court 16 and 17-year-olds who are well-developed and
system. more criminally experienced than just the 16 or 17-
year-old high school student that makes a youthful
Representative Duane Hall from Wake County, mistake."
a past bill sponsor, told the Commission, "One of
the objections to the bills I had was obviously cost, The proposal generally focuses on misdemean-
but all the studies and all other states have shown ors (except DWI and traffic violations) and nonvi-
that juvenile (court) systems save states literally olent felonies like drug possession and break-ins.
tens of millions of dollars." Prior bills to change the Before concluding, the Commission voted to sup-
port the recommendation to raise the age.
www.ncfop.org 2
