Two Durham Police Officers Arrested On Assault Charges

Officer B. S. Jones, who joined the Durham Police Department in 2001, was charged on April 29 with assaulting her boyfriend. Officer S. P. Stone, who joined in 1999, was charged May 9 and charged with assaulting his girlfriend.

In the past, the Durham Police Department has always released officers' names whenever they were charged with a crime.

"We feel we are accountable and should be held accountable to the community and we feel you shouldn't have to find out through the courts -- that the information should come through us in a timely manner," Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers said.

But this time, Chalmers blames a breakdown in communications for not getting the word out. "This was one of those incidents where the information didn't make it from point A to point B," Chalmers said. "When we realized it, we immediately made it happen."

Both the officers are on administrative duty with pay while their cases are reviewed by the police department's internal affairs division and pending the outcome of what happens in court.