NORFOLK, Va. — A day after Mark Talbot was offered the position of Norfolk's next Police Chief, the NAACP is calling for a halt of the hiring process.
The Norfolk Branch NAACP has requested an "immediate discontinuation" of the current hiring process, siting a "lack of ethics and transparency".
The local chapter released a statement regarding the process in which Talbot was chosen for the position, stating it "does not have confidence in the process by which the new Chief of Police was selected."
Our News 3 reporter Kelsey Jones spoke with the Norfolk NAACP president about their statement.
"We found out that Mr. Talbot had actually been apart of the selection panel and then to find out that he was actually selected. That raised question in our confidence of how the process went about," said Stacie Armstead, Norfolk NAACP President.
"We were thinking that we were going to be included in the process. We had reached out several times as a civil rights organization to be included. We were ignored" said Armstead.
The chapter calling it a quote "lack of ethics and transparency" also saying they do not have confidence in the process by which the new chief of police was selected.
"All voices and all parts of our community has a place in the process that everything that we do, this is one of the biggest decisions in our city when we're talking about safety" said Armstead.
Yet in a press conference Wednesday, Chip Filer said the city's decision to make Talbot their new top cop was a year long search.
"Our residents told us they wanted somebody that had experience as a chief, they wanted someone with experience in an urban setting. They wanted someone very involved in community policing, strong emphasis on data, driven police work," said Chip Filer, City Manager.
News 3 did reach out to Mark Talbot to get his thoughts on the NAACP calling for a redo in the hiring process. We did not get a hold to him. The city also did not want to comment on the statement from the NAACP that they found out about through our reporting.
"Our process isn't just about Chief Talbot, right now were just focused in on how he was selected that's where we are for the moment" said Armstead.
The group has demanded that community stakeholders and civil rights advocates host a Community Town Hall to include current updates and discussions on the following:
1. Beginning the rehiring process, excluding Talbot, and the process that allowed Norfolk’s City Manager to disregard and undermine the public confidence in this critical hire in search of Norfolk’s top Police Officer.
2. Implementation of an NPD Citizen Review Board.
3. In dept examination of the police culture, as it pertains to current force-shaping and Community Engagement.
4. Eradication of racist, sexist, homophobic and classist practices.
We questioned Armstead about what this entails and she said this will be explained in the next City Council meeting, where they'll be calling for Chip Filer to step down as city manager.
You can read the full statement below.
