Addison Series # 5 – “Major Duke Involvement"

Readers' Note: If you're a frequent visitor here you may want to skip down to the star line. ************

Cpl. David Addison is a veteran Durham Police officer whose regular assignment is Coordinator for Durham CrimeStoppers, described as an independent nonprofit organization.

In late March 2005 Addison served for some days as DPD's spokesperson for the Duke lacrosse case; during which time Addison repeatedly told the public a “brutal rape” and other crimes were committed at a party hosted by Duke lacrosse players. Addison also wrote and distributed the text of the Durham CrimeStoppers Duke lacrosse “Wanted” poster which declared:

The Duke Lacrosse Team was hosting a party at the residence. The victim was sodomized, raped, assaulted and robbed. This horrific crime sent shock waves throughout our community.

If you're new to the Addison Series, please refer to the previous series posts at the end of this post. They're in chronilogical order, first to last.
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Folks,

Until today I’d planned to end the series with a post, “Sue who,” which will discuss individuals and organizations against whom one, some or all 46 white members of Duke’s 2006 Men’s lacrosse team appear to have cause to bring civil suits for slander and libel. I still plan to post “Sue who” but it may be delayed.

The reason?

Since May 2006 I’ve been trying to find out who the Durham CrimeStoppers Board of Directors were on March 28, 2006 when Durham Police Cpl. David Addison, assigned as Durham CrimeStoppers’ (CS) Coordinator, released to DPD substations, media and others the text of the false and inflammatory CS Duke lacrosse “Wanted” poster.

I wanted to know who the CS board members were because Addison’s DPD supervisor, Maj. Lee Russ, told me when Addison issued the “Wanted” poster he wasn’t acting as a DPD officer; Addison was, according to Russ, acting under a blanket authority the CS board gave him to issue CS posters at his discretion.

So who were the CS board members?

The public needs to hear what they have to say about Addison, CS’s responsibility for the “Wanted” poster and Durham attorney Alec Charns' request on behalf of an unindicted Duke lacrosse player for a full, formal apology by DPD and Durham City for their responsibility for the “Wanted” poster which Charns says libeled the Duke students.

Charns is also seeking a formal investigation by DPD into the poster's production and distribution.

DPD and Durham City insist responsibility for the “Wanted” poster rests with Addison and Durham CS.

Despite many attempts since last May, I haven't learned for certain the name of anyone who was a CS board member last March when Addison issued the “Wanted” poster.

Addison's never returned numerous voice mails. The contact number for CS is the same as his. Messages left for CS were never returned. Russ told me last June he didn’t know when or where CS’s board met. He said he couldn’t offer any help beyond suggesting that I keep doing what I was doing.

I’d just about convinced myself Durham CS was a “letterhead” organization with DPD basically calling “the shots” while a few “good-will” citizens lent their names to fund-raising letters and “board sign-offs.”

But that changed in the last two days as I began learning about Duke University’s extensive involvement with Durham CS.

I want to tell you what I've learned, and how I learned it.

My learning started with a comment from a reader self-IDing as “Cederford” who said Duke’s dean of students, Sue Wasiolek, and Robert “Bob” Dean, director of Duke’s Police Department, were Durham CS members. Cederford didn’t say when they were CS board members or cite a source. So I googled Wasiolek and Dean.

Among Wasiolek’s returns was a Duke Alumni Association listing of it’s 2006-2007 board of directors of which Wasiolek is one. She’s described as “involved in the boards of Durham CrimeStoppers, ...” (see here, scroll to page 28).

Among Dean’s returns was a Duke News announcement dated Feb. 7, 2006, just five weeks before Crystal Mangum made her March 14 false witness which many at Duke and in Durham eagerly embraced, and used in ways that endangered most directly the 46 Duke students on the lacrosse team, but also put others in the community at greater risk of violence by unstable individuals and hate groups.

The Duke News’ announcement concerning Dean began:

Robert H. “Bob” Dean has been named Director of the Duke University Police Department, university officials announced

Dean, who served the Duke community for 41 years before retiring and returning last year as interim director, will lead the department’s day-to-day operations and report to Aaron Graves, vice president for campus safety and security.

Near the end of the announcement there was this:

Dean has remained active in public safety and the community by serving as chairman of Durham CrimeStoppers.

The returns don’t necessarily mean that when the "Wanted" posted was produced and distributed Dean was Durham CS chairman and Wasiolek a CS board member.

Duke Police Director Dean may have resigned as CS board chairman and member in the weeks between his appointment last February and Addison’s poster’s production late last March.

Dean of Students Wasiolek may not have joined the CS board until after March.

I'll say more about their CS involvement at the end of this post.

Within a few hours of receipt of Cederford’s comment, I received an email from a friend with many Duke connections as well as some DPD connections. The friend knew of my efforts to learn whether Durham CS had ever, as a non-profit engaged in fund-raising, filed reports with the NC Secretary of State’s office.

I worked with two public information officers in the SofS’s office. We'd turned-up no Durham CS filings but the PIOs had informed me that in was not clear whether Durham CS was in fact required to file any documents with the SofS’s office.

My friend gave me a link here and said it wouldn’t look like much but if I kept “pushing” it would yield a big payoff.

The link is to a June 1983 pro-forma Durham CS filing with the SofS’s office that I and the two PIOs missed.

The filing contains the name and address of only one person who isn't even identified as a CS board member.

But I knew right away who the person was as would any Dukie from the 70s, 80s and through the mid- 90s. It was Paul Dumas.

Beginning in 1971 Dumas served for twenty-five years as Duke’s Police Director. He retired in 1996 and passed away in March, 2001. His family asked that, in lieu of flowers, those wishing to make a contribution in his memory do so to “any CrimeStoppers organization.”

I contacted some Duke people who said Dumas had been a passionate supporter of CS throughout his career. One suggested Dumes very likely encouraged Wasiolek and Dean to get involved in Durham CS. “Paul was always 'recruiting' for CS. He worked with them for years.”

Other Duke people said their impressions were that the university had over the years worked very closely with Durham CS and provided it with considerable material support. “Duke is a dominant presence within Durham CS. I don’t want to go as far as saying Duke controls it, but it’s been at least close to that for many years. Have you looked at back issues of Ten Fourteen? They’re on the web.”

I hadn’t looked at any back issues of Ten Fourteen because I didn’t know it's DUPD’s monthly newsletter for its staff and their families. But I started looking.

The April ’05 Ten Fourteen contains a CrimeStoppers article that includes this:

Duke Police has worked for years with Durham CrimeStoppers, but this year, the Duke Police investigations division is expanding its efforts to raise awareness in the Durham community to help solve campus crimes.

The collaborative includes a more formalized partnership, so cases don’t go unnoticed by CrimeStoppers. David Addison, Durham police corporal and CrimeStoppers coordinator, has started attending a Duke investigations meeting once a week to hear about cases and share information, and Duke Police First Sergeant Greg Stotsenberg is serving as the CrimeStoppers liaison. […]

Major Phyllis Cooper, commander of the Duke investigations division, said the department will mostly enlist CrimeStoppers help with more serious crimes such as robbery, assault and felony theft on campus. […]

“We need everyone’s efforts in solving serious crimes that occur at Duke,” Cooper said. “We want officers and members of the community to remember CrimeStoppers is available.”

In the event of a felony crime on campus, the Duke Police investigator assigned to the case would contact and meet with Addison, the Durham police corporal and CrimeStoppers coordinator.

Posters would be created and distributed on and off campus and an alert would be sent through a Durham city email list, as well as other media sources.

DUPD's Nov. ’05 Ten Fourteen includes this news item:

Officer Christine Gwyn and Sgt. Greg Stotsenberg are filling in as interim coordinators for Durham CrimeStoppers while the coordinator, Durham Police Cpl. David Addison attends training.

Gwyn contributed in October when the second of Durham’s Ten Most Wanted was apprehended; in November, Stotsenberg fills in. The duties include sending email notices for crime-solving tips, taking confidential tips and assisting with a city TV program about Durham’s Ten Most Wanted.

Folks,

There you have what I've learned so far about Duke's involvement with Durham CrimeStoppers and how I leaned it.

Like any decent person, I strongly support Duke's involvement with CrimeStoppers' personnel and activities that contribute to public safety and the just enforcement of laws.

But Duke involvement in the "Wanted" poster is a very different matter that needs prompt, full and public examination by the university.

Who but the most ardent board of trustee Brodhead supporter or an apologist for the faculty Group of 88 would fail to vigorously condemn anyone on Duke's payroll who had anything to do with the CS "Wanted" poster?

Dean of students Sue Wasiolek and police director Bob Dean are arguably the two Duke administrators most responsible for student safety.

That either or both may have had CS board involvement during or around the time the "Wanted" poster circulated on campus and elsewhere should be cause for outrage.

Duke trustee chair Robert Steel needs to ask dean Wasiolek and police director Dean to explain their involvement with Durham CrimeStoppers and what, if anything, they did once they learned the "Wanted" poster was out there and endangering students and others in the community.

This is not a time to be playing games or stonewalling for members of "the Brodhead team."
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Previous Addison Series posts:

“The Cpl. Addison Series.”

“Addison Series #1" - "This horrific crime”

"Addison Series #2" - "CrimeStoppers will pay cash"

"Addison Series #3" - "Not my poster"

“Addison Series #4 – “They call it ‘squeezing.’”