Duke lacrosse: More about CrimeStoppers and "vigilante posters"

I've posted concerning the actions of Alex Charns, attorney for one of the unindicted Duke lacrosse players. He's requested from Durham City and its Police Department documents and an investigation regarding the authorization, production and distribution of at least two Durham CrimeStoppers posters/flyers offering rewards for information concerning the Duke lacrosse team.

If you’re not familiar with those matters, the following posts provide background: “Talking with JinC Regulars – 6-13-06,” “Durham Police poster letter raises questions,” and "Texts of Duke lacrosse poster." documents

This current post summarizes a phone interview I conducted with Maj. Lee Russ of the Durham Police Department. My goal was to obtain answers to questions I asked in the “Durham Police poster raises questions” post

The interview was formal and civil. Russ directly answered all but a few questions, in which instances he simple said he would not answer. The interview lasted about 20 minutes.

Russ explained CrimeStoppers does not itself put out posters or flyers. It emails text statements to individuals and groups that includes DPD substations, the Durham County Sheriff, media and others, who can then reproduce, enlarge, make posters, distribute, etc. as they see fit.

Yes, DPD Cpl. David Addison, the DPD’s full-time liaison officer to CrimeStoppers, authorized the release of CrimeStoppers emails. (Readers’ Note: The DPD says CrimeStoppers is an organization independent of DPD, something I’ve noted in previous posts. – JinC)

Where did Addison get the authority to do that?

Russ said Addison had the authority to do that from CrimeStoppers. He stressed that DPD did not authorize any of the CrimeStoppers’ Duke lacrosse emails.

Who at CrimeStoppers gave that authority to Addison?

Russ said he wasn’t going to answer that question other than to say Addison's authority to issue flyers came not from DPD but from CrimeStoppers.

I told Russ I’d tried repeatedly over the course of 4 days to reach someone at CrimeStoppers and had left many Vms but had heard nothing back. Could Russ tell me how to reach a live person at CrimeStoppers?

Russ suggested I keep trying.


Russ said he was the one who directed that the text of the original CrimeStoppers email and at least one subsequent CrimeStoppers email be changed.

Who did Russ tell to make the changes?

Addison.

And what did Addison do when told to make the changes.

“He made them immediately,” Russ said.

I asked Russ for copies of the various CrimeStoppers emails which he sent me as we spoke.

I’ll put them in a separate text document tomorrow so you can give them a look. Their texts are consistent with what attorney Charns has claimed and what I reported in previous posts.

Who made or authorized the CrimeStoppers flyer containing the header with Durham Police Department superimposed on an outline of Durham's skyline and a DPD badge on one side of the headers and Durham City's logo on the other?

Russ said that was done inadvertently and that he was not going to tell me who did it.

Russ emphatically denied DPD had anything to do with the infamous “vigilante poster” with face photos of 43 white Duke Men’s lacrosse players which the Raleigh N&O published despite warnings that doing so would make it more likely the players would be threatened by hate groups.

“We had nothing to do with those posters," Russ said. "Not ever. Not any way. Tell your readers that.”

Russ repeated “Not ever” a second time. He said DPD didn’t know who produced and circulated the "vigilante" posters which he said were also circulated as flyers. He said DPD would like to know who produced them.

“Whoever did those posters have disappeared,” Russ said. “But we’d like to know who those people are.”

Regarding attorney Charns request for an investigation of the issues surrounding the CrimeStoppers flyers, Russ said there was no need for any investigation because the actions he took in directing Addison to change the CrimeStoppers flyers took care of the matter.

On that point we ended an interview which as I said was formal and civil.

I told Russ I appreciated his time and promised to send him a copy of this post.

Is the matter of an investigation concerning the CrimeStoppers flyers over and done with because Russ will take it no further?

Charns will have a lot to say about that.

Will he press his action? I'm betting he will.

I plan to continue to follow matters concerning both the CrimeStoppers flyers and the vigilante posters/flyers.

Look for more soon.