Advisory panel discusses adding more Highway Patrol supervision

Raleigh, N.C. — A six-person advisory panel to help restructure the beleaguered state Highway Patrol discussed on Thursday adding more supervision within the ranks.

The panel talked about reassigning 18 patrol members from office duty at the headquarters building in downtown Raleigh back out into the field. The members reassigned would include captains, majors and other high ranking officers. The change would not be considered a demotion.

The goal would be to have one supervisor for every eight troopers in every district of North Carolina.

The panel also discussed coming up with criteria for a new patrol commander.

Col. Randy Glover unexpectedly announced last month that he would step down on Sept. 1, saying he didn't want to become a target for the patrol's critics.

Some committee members said they would be open to the idea of finding a new leader from outside the current ranks of the Highway Patrol.

Panel members are also looking at other policy changes, which could include more ethics training, with a focus on sexual harassment.

The panel includes former state Supreme Court Justice Burley Mitchell, University of North Carolina law professors Julius Chambers and Norma Houston, former FBI assistant director Chris Swecker, Mecklenburg County District Attorney Peter Gilchrist and former state Court of Appeals Judge Ralph Walker.

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All they need to do is to "terminate" people when they violate rules and the policy. Glover had an affair-- reasigned him and then eventually promoted to the top command. The guy doing the inappropriate text messages was allowed to quickly resign. Thus his personnel record is clean and he is free to get another job and do it again. Why werent they fired? SHP should stop protecting their own. It just makes them all look bad. More supervision wont stop "text messages" or troppers having sex on the hood of their cruiser. They are moral and personal values that have to be within a persons character.

superman
August 6, 2010 4:56 p.m.

Since the state government is so much into the privatization of it's agency an their personals responsuibility why not just hire rent a cops an give them the dutys of the ncshp. an just see how that works out. state employee in general have been throughly scr---- over for way to long with decreased benefits to health insurance anhave gone way way to long without a significant raise that has totaly demorilized the moral within every state agency across this state an is in all likelyhood behind the performances of the rank an file state employees even though without raise they are professionaly enough to keep doing thier jobs dutys an performing in the best instrest of the states taxpaying citizens. but it is time for the citizens an the legicture an the governors office to remember these same employees an recongize them with a decent pay increase thank you

pbjbeach
August 6, 2010 12:05 p.m.

If you ask me this is what is wrong with state government as a whole as that it isbeing to heavely micro-managed with in the ranks of every state agency across this state an most especially within the NCDOT AN THE MATERIALS & TEST UNIT THANK YOU

pbjbeach
August 6, 2010 11:53 a.m.

Too many Chief's not enough privates".