Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 2004
Source: Shelby Star, The (NC)
Copyright: 2004sThe Shelby Star
Contact:  http://www.shelbystar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1722
Author: Shannon Blosser

DRUGS AT ROOT OF CRIME

It's late in the afternoon and Tandy Carter is still making phone calls 
about a crime investigation in Wilmington. It may be late in the day, but 
Carter is still focused on his life's passion - police work.

On Feb. 13, Carter, who has been serving as interim chief in Wilmington, 
will bring that passion for police work to Shelby, when he assumes the role 
as the city's new police chief. Carter said being a police chief would be 
the pinnacle of a career that has included serving in the Marine Corps in 
military police units.

"I like to solve problems or give it my best effort," Carter said in a 
telephone interview. "It's like trying to put a puzzle together."

His love for police work evolved when he was a student at Stephen F. Austin 
University in his native Texas studying criminal justice.

"I kind of played around and developed an interest into it," Carter said. 
"It was more of an attraction at first and then a love."

In Wilmington, Carter served as a deputy police chief before being named as 
the interim chief late last year. There, Carter had to deal with discord 
among officers following the firing of former Chief John Cease by 
Wilmington City Manager Sterling Cheatham. Cease was fired because of 
philosophical differences.

A Web site, wilmingtonpolice.com, was established that discussed officers' 
concerns about the police department and included a message board. The 
board includes a discussion on who should replace Carter in Wilmington as 
the interim chief.

Carter said the Web site "is a place for cops to vent frustrations."

"It is a very tough city for a young, next-generation kind of person to 
keep their balance," Carter said. "People want things now and do not want 
to wait. I just understand that there is something higher than the police 
department and that is the police profession."

Carter had hoped to use the interim position to become the city's new 
police chief or to take a police chief position at another location. But 
after a few months serving in the interim capacity, Carter said it was 
obvious he would not be appointed as Wilmington's permanent chief.

In Wilmington, the seven-member city council votes to hire a police chief, 
while the city manager has the ability to fire that person.

"I figured, if I'm not your choice after four months then I'm not your 
choice," Carter said.

That led Carter to Shelby, to succeed Chief Charlie VanHoy. Carter said he 
knows little, currently, about crime in Shelby. However, after looking at 
some crime statistics, he believes crimes in Shelby have the same roots as 
in other cities in the state - drugs.

"I think the No. 1 problem that you have is endemic to North Carolina and 
that is drugs," Carter said. "Drugs are really the driving problem in all 
cities. It's tied to the addiction. I do know that drugs are a source of 
concerns across all municipalities, especially cities of a significant size."

A change in the way communities look at drug crimes is what it would take, 
he said, to see a reduction in the number of drug-related cases. That means 
sending users to drug treatment centers.

"We are not treating the problem," Carter said. "The problem is the 
addiction. When communities look at the addiction, there is less crime in 
your cities. We haven't taken that on because that is a very expensive 
proposition."

Carter said he is a believer in everyone working together to solve the 
crime problems in the community.

"One community, not the white community or black community, has to work to 
solve that problem," he said.

Past experience

In the Marine Corps, Carter got further acclimated with police work and 
also had his first taste of running his own police unit. Carter served as 
the provost of military affairs, the equivalent of a police chief at Camp 
Lejeune. He also served at various other locations across the country.

"Law enforcement is law enforcement, the environment sometimes makes a 
difference," Carter said. "The nature of the business is the same thing. 
You have a client that you have to cater to."

Carter said his beliefs about law enforcement were developed during his 
Marine service.

"I operate really on four basic principles - professionalism, harmony, 
communications and harmony of organization," Carter said. "I believe in 
fairness. I believe in communication. I think when I die and go to heaven, 
the best compliment someone could give me is that 'he was never here to run 
a popularity contest and that he was the most fair person you'd ever met.' 
That would be the ultimate compliment to me."

Carter said individuals would be able to tell his beliefs in the way he 
handles himself and runs the police department.

"I want to set the example," Carter said. "I want to walk the talk instead 
of talk the talk. I don't like to talk. I just like to show people.

"That probably sounds like a bunch of rhetoric on the phone. But if you 
know me, what you see is what you get. I'm not a hard person to figure out. 
I'm a very simple person."
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