GPAC officials identify felons
By John Joyce
Published in News on November 18, 2015 1:46 PM
Add 10 names to the list of violent offenders notified by the Goldsboro Partners Against Crime program.
GPAC aims to reduce violence in the city by offering convicted felons a chance to clean up their act or face longer prison terms.
The total number of those notified since the program began in 2012 now sits at 197. Four more will be notified by the end of the month.
"We had two who were working and one is already locked up," GPAC coordinator Capt. Theresa Chiero said. The last person had a miscommunication with his probation officer, she said.
Those who did attend Tuesday night's GPAC meeting were greeted by not one but two Goldsboro residents who have lost sons to gun violence. Two former violent offenders also took the floor, addressing the latest crop of probationers being put on notice. The message was repeated with every speech: There is help here if you want it, but the decision to change must be your own.
Following the community portion of the call-in, law enforcement personnel, including Goldsboro Interim Police Chief Mike West, Capt. Robert Thaxton of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, Mount Olive Police Chief Tommy Brown, as well as the local and the U.S. district attorneys and a representative from the Wayne County office of Probation and Parole, addressed the offenders. Each took a turn laying out their role in prosecuting cases of offenders who have been notified -- the sharing of information between law enforcement agencies, the fast-tracking of their cases for prosecution and the withholding of bonds so they stay in jail until their trial -- and the lengthy federal prison sentences each offender might face if convicted again.
Also in attendance were representatives from Elizabeth City, which is looking to start its own GPAC-style initiative.
Agent Eddie Rodriguez of the Elizabeth City Police Department's Gang Unit said his city has been looking at the High Point model for some time now. The city of High Point's program has been the pilot program followed by cities across the state, including Goldsboro, in implementing programs such as GPAC.
"We've seen a lot. The patience it takes to put this together ... you can read about it but to see it put together gives you a lot better understanding of what it takes," Rodriguez said.
He said his city is facing the same issues Goldsboro and Wayne County are battling.
"You know, it is drugs, weapons, homicides, shootings, gangs," he said. "It is going to take a combination of intervention and prevention to get those guys to put their lives back together," he said.
Elizabeth City Police Chief Eddie Buffalo Jr. sent Rodriguez, who was joined by a handful of city officials from Elizabeth City, to come to Goldsboro and to go to Fayetteville to study what has worked and what hasn't as far as cutting down on violence.
Capt. Thaxton said that currently 11 people sitting in the Wayne County Jail have been through the notification process. Capt. Chiero said that nine others have been convicted and sentenced in state or federal court.
And one more, whose name has not yet been released, was just picked up by the officer assigned to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, today, she said.
In addition to crediting GPAC and interagency cooperation with the successful prosecution of those offenders who have been through the notification process, Capt. Chiero said the use of an independent lab has accelerated law enforcement's ability to close drug cases.
"Rather than a year-plus at the state lab, I'm getting dope results back within four to six weeks," she said. Once she gets those results back, the officers can complete their case files and turn them over to the district attorney for indictment, Capt. Chiero explained.
"And the district attorney is looking to get the suspects in these cases indicted faster and to go ahead and get them prosecuted," she said.