Written responses show roots of low morale at WPD

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A few weeks ago we found out staff at the Wilmington Police Department are not happy with their jobs according to an employee study. Today we got the written responses from that survey that show the good, the bad and the ugly.

We went through nearly 100 pages of written responses from WPD staff, and found many issues in the department.

Pay, or lack thereof, seems to be the biggest reason for low morale.

One staff member wrote, “I just lost under $1000 because my Sgt. did not put in any performance notes… When I said something to them they pulled $2 out of their pocket and tried to hand it to me.”

Another wrote, “Why is the city planning on spending millions of dollars on property for a park when they pay us crap and refuse to give us meaningful raises while increasing out health insurance, which sucks anyway?”

Fairness in promotions was also a hot topic in the survey.

“If you would stop promoting racists and bigots who only care about the other members of their cliques and whoever they may be sleeping with at the time things would get better,” one employee wrote.

Click here to read all the survey comments

Many others wrote they would like more training and clearer paths to promotions. But discrimination of race and gender, or as one person put it, the good ol’ boy system, was mentioned several times.

“If the promotional lists don’t ‘look’ like they want them to, with women and minorities, they do their magic monkey math, and put people that they want on the lists,” read one response.

But there were some positive responses when it came to supervisors.

One person wrote, “My current supervisor shows up on calls, is always there for anyone in the squad who needs him, has lots of experience, and is a true officer’s sergeant.”

Another said it is not the supervisors causing problems.

“My supervisors are great,” the respondant wrote. “The watch commanders suck, most district lieutenants suck or suck when they actually work… And when I say work, not just show up to work.”

Not everyone was fond of their supervisors, though.

One employee said, “The department continues to let inept and incompetent supervisors run amuck without any consequences for their poor decisions.”

And another staff member echoed previous comments about discrimination.

“Favoritism. Good ole boy network. Violates policies. Double standards. Always criticizes and never praises officers. Lies and gets caught in them by officers…. Bias against minorities,” they wrote.

Chief Ralp Evangelous said last month the department will probably resurvey employees with more specific questions next fall.