Police make donation to victim service agencies

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey along with Police Chief Jon Zumalt presented monetary donations to three Victim Services Agencies. Checks were presented to People Against Rape ($15,000.00); The Dee Norton Lowcountry Children’s Center ($15,000.00); and The South Carolina Victim’s Assistance Network ($10,000.00).

Police Chief Jon Zumalt says, “We are pleased to support these very important victim service agencies that are vital to victims of crime in North Charleston.” Mayor Keith Summey calls the donations “vital” to the continuation of victim services from these agencies and goes on to say, "In these difficult financial times it is important that we do everything to maintain and provide these services to our citizens."

People Against Rape and Dee Norton Lowcountry Children’s Center provides counseling, safe haven, personal support and other services to victim. The South Carolina Victim’s Assistance Network provides enhanced advocacy and other forms of service to victims.

Commentary by Chief Zumalt: "Setting the record straight"

In 2006 North Charleston was identified as the 7th most violent city in the United States. We experienced 28 murders that year. In 2007, 26 people were murdered. This epidemic of black on black violence was devastating to our City, its communities, and the families of the victims. Something had to change. In 2007 I pleaded to the public and community leaders for help. While many did help us the leader of the Charleston Branch of the NAACP was quoted in the paper that year saying “Don’t make your job, my job.” Since that time the leaders of the Charleston NAACP have been critical of our community and police efforts to stop the violence and most troubling, have offered no help or solutions. I guess it is easier to criticize than to roll up your shirt sleeves, come to the table and work together to make our communities safer. Until now I have refused to get involved in the negativity directed at our police department. The time has come for me to set the record straight.

The statics tell us that over the last decade 84 percent of violent crime in our City was committed by black suspects and the majority of the victims of those crimes were black. The vast majority of the violence was committed in predominantly black neighborhoods. The majority of people in these neighborhoods are good, law abiding citizens. They were sick of the violence and deserved better from all of us. They wanted our presence and challenged us to make their neighborhoods safe.  In response to those facts I moved a significant portion of our police resources to these high violence neighborhoods and instructed our officers to take a zero tolerance policy toward unlawful behavior. As a result a higher number of blacks are stopped for traffic and pedestrian violations than whites. During each stop I require the officers to remain respectful, explain why they are in the neighborhood and explain to the person the reason for the stop. This communication between the officer and offender is necessary and expected and has proven fruitful in gaining information and in most cases compliance has been achieved through a warning citation. Because of this proactive and focused use of our police resources we had 5 murders in our City in 2011. Murders have dropped 82% and overall violence has dropped by 55 percent since 2006. We must and we will continue this approach to crime control.

We have implemented a number of innovative programs to prevent violence in the future. Our “Cool to be in School” program provides impoverished children the supplies they need for their classroom education and we work with the schools and parents to reduce truancy. Our juvenile diversion program is working to keep children that commit minor offenses out of the juvenile justice system and instead, surround them with the types of services that will help them change their behavior. We do a gun buyback every year to reduce the number of guns on our streets and provide gun safety locks to prevent gun injuries to children. This is positive change. This is problem solving. This is hard work. There are a number of dedicated community leaders that meet with me and the department and help us make our city safe. The leadership of the NAACP has not helped us with these or any of our crime reduction efforts and I wish they would.

I am human and so are my Officers. We make mistakes. When we do, please let me know and I promise that we will work to resolve it and improve. In the sense of fairness, when we do a good job let us know that too. We should all be supporting and thanking the brave and dedicated police officers that are working to reduce crime and gain the trust and respect of our citizens. These men and women are heroes.

Jon R. Zumalt
Chief of the North Charleston Police Department

Police Chief Completes FBI Executive Institute Leadership Session

On Friday, September 16th North Charleston Police Chief Jon R. Zumalt along with 40 other Law Enforcement Executives around the world successfully completed the FBI National Executive Institute (NEI) Leadership Session XXXIV.  NEI is the FBI’s premier executive training initiative where chief executives of the largest law enforcement organizations in the U.S., Canada, the U.K, and Australia attend three one-week training sessions throughout the year at the FBI Academy.  The focus of the training is strategic leadership development and current affairs for a diverse group of law enforcement professionals who bring immensely different levels of experience and perspectives.  Executives from the U.S. are nominated by the Special Agent in Charge of their local FBI field office.

During Session XXXIV, attendees completed numerous studies to include:  American presidents:  Leadership Lessons from Nixon to Obama” presented by journalist Bob Woodward; Southwest Border Issues:  International, Transnational and National Threats; Policing in a Divided Society; Media and the Police Executive; Lincoln on Leadership:  Executive Strategies for Tough Times; Crisis Leadership:  1996 Mt. Everest Tragedy Case Study; and “No Shortcuts to the Top” Inspirational Leadership.  In addition, attendees were involved in roundtable discussion with Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller as well a visit to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

More than 1,000 law enforcement executives graduated from NEI since 1976.  Following graduation, each executive is invited to join the NEI Associates (NEIA), a non-profit foundation that continues the education of these executives and sponsors various research projects.

About Chief Zumalt
Chief Zumalt began his career in law enforcement in 1980 when he joined the Wichita Kansas Police Department as a reserve officer.  This was the beginning of a 21 year career with the Wichita Police Department where he held command positions in Patrol, Training, Special Operations, Technical Services, Internal Affairs and Special Investigations.

In 2001 following a nationwide search, Chief Zumalt was hired by Mayor Keith Summey to lead the City of North Charleston Police Department.  Under his leadership, Chief Zumalt has reshaped the police department and brought back a "sense of pride" with his innovative management style he describes as "democratic police leadership."  Chief Zumalt leads his agency through an Executive Staff form where the Deputy Chiefs work along with him to problem solve, develop policies and plans, and manage the daily activities of the agency.  Chief Zumalt believes all employees should have the ability to be creative and bring solutions to the table for consideration. His philosophy is to treat employees as the department's number one customer with the belief that by doing so they will be happier, more productive and will treat external customers well.

Chief Zumalt credits the city's crime control success to the department's use of intelligence to monitor and track violent offender; adjusting resources daily to emerging crime trends; an attack on drug trafficking and drug related violence; educating the community on crime problems and crime prevention; creating problem-solving partnerships with the community; and improving traffic safety. In addition, the department works as a team member with other city departments focusing government resources in troubled neighborhoods improving livability and quality of life which has proven to be a sound crime reduction strategy.

Chief Zumalt holds a Masters Degree in Administration and is a graduate of FBI-LEEDS Seminar Session 47 and the FBI National Executive Institute Session 34.  In 2005 he was elected to the Executive Board of FBI LEEDA a national organization of 5,000 police leaders.  He is a member of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), South Carolina Police Chiefs Association, and Chair of the Regional Advisory Council for the NIJ National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center – Southeast Region. Chief Zumalt is Chairman of Charleston County 9-1-1 Consolidated Dispatch Board of Directors.