Cooper appoints Clemmons to Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice

Jul. 10--Richmond County Sheriff James E. Clemmons, Jr.

Daily Journal File Photo

RALEIGH -- Gov. Cooper announced the appointment of Richmond County Sheriff James E. Clemmons, Jr. as a sheriff representative to the new North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice Thursday afternoon.

"I am grateful to the people willing to serve on this task force to help our state acknowledge racial inequities in our systems of law enforcement and criminal justice, and then work to eliminate them," Cooper said in a press release.

Clemmons was first hired as a patrol deputy for the Sheriff's Office in 1989, and was then promoted from Lieutenant, to Captain, and then as Major before being elected as Sheriff in 2011. He recently served as the first vice-president of the North Carolina Sheriff's Association. Clemmons was also named to President Donald Trump'sPresidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice in January, which was formed with the goal of "exploring modern issues affecting law enforcement that most impact the ability of American policing to reduce crime."

The task force, co-chaired by state Supreme Court Associate Justice Anita Earls and state attorney general Josh Stein, will meet Friday at 10 a.m. for the first time.

"This Task Force is a critical step in acknowledging and addressing racial inequities in North Carolina's criminal justice system," Earls said in a press release. "The Task Force will rely on community involvement, and I look forward to engaging with communities around the state to determine recommendations for addressing systemic racial bias."

"The North Carolinians Gov. Cooper has appointed to this Task Force are public-spirited and committed to achieving racial equity in our criminal justice system," Stein added in the release. "I look forward to working alongside them to find real and meaningful solutions to improve the way Black people are treated in North Carolina. Now it's time to get to work."

The rest of the task force is comprised of:

--Tarrah Callahan of Raleigh as an appropriate representative from local and state government, academic institutions, research or advocacy groups. Callahan currently serves as executive director of Conservatives for Criminal Justice Reform, a nonprofit group.

--Brooke Locklear Clark of Pembroke as District and Superior Court Judges representative. Clark is the District Court Judge for Judicial District 16B.

--Mitch Colvin of Fayetteville as a local elected official representative. Colvin is the mayor of Fayetteville.

--C.J. Davis of Durham as a chief of police representative. Davis serves as the Durham Chief of Police.

--James D. Gailliard of Rocky Mount as a North Carolina General Assembly representative. Gailliard serves as Representative of House District 25 and serves on the Appropriations Committee as well as the Health and the House Select Committee on School Safety.

--Billy Gartin of Garner as an appropriate representative from local and state government, academic institutions, and research or advocacy groups. Gartin is a Sergeant for the Raleigh Police Department.

--Michael Hawkins of Brevard as a local elected official representative. Hawkins is a Transylvania County Commissioner and currently serves as Chair.

--Henderson Hill of Charlotte as a representative of organizations that represent or advocate with communities of color. Hill is the Senior Counsel of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project and is Co-Director of Redress NC, a startup initiative to encourage collaboration with reform-minded prosecutors in North Carolina.

--Erik A. Hooks of Raleigh as a North Carolina Department of Public Safety Representative. Hooks is the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

--John Ingram of Bolivia as sheriff representative. Ingram has served as the Sheriff of Brunswick County since 2008.

--John Letteney of Apex as a chief of police representative. Letteney serves as the Chief of Police for the Apex Police Department and previously was the Chief of Police for the Southern Pines Police Department.

--Mujtaba Mohammed of Charlotte as a public defender and North Carolina General Assembly representative. Mohammed serves in the North Carolina State Senate, representing District 38.

--Marcia Morey of Durham as an appropriate representative from local and state government. Morey serves as a Representative for House District 30.

--Mary Pollard of Raleigh as an appropriate representative from local and state government. Pollard is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services Inc. in Raleigh and will serve as the Executive Director of the North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services starting in August.

--Kerwin Pittman of Raleigh as a justice involved individual representative. Pittman serves as the Founder and Executive Director of Recidivism Reduction Education Program Services.

--Ronnie Smith of Robersonville as a local elected official representative. Smith currently serves as the President-Elect of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.

--Alan Thornburg of Asheville as District and Superior Court Judges representative. Thornburg currently serves as the senior resident Superior Court Judge for Buncombe County and presides over Buncombe County's Adult Drug Treatment Court.

--Talley Wells of Chapel Hill as an appropriate representative from local and state government. Wells is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities. Angelica Wind of Asheville as a victim associate representative. Wind is the Executive Director of Our Voice, Inc., an organization whose mission is to serve victims of sexual violence and to create communities free of sexual violence.

--James Raeford Woodall Jr. of Hillsborough as a District Attorney representative. Woodall is the District Attorney for the 18th Prosecutorial District in Chatham and Orange counties.

Reach Neel Madhavan at 910-817-2671 ext. 2748 or [email protected] Follow on Twitter at @NeelMadhavan.

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