In Secret, Greensboro Police Department Launches Crowd Response Unit

The Greensboro Police Department has been training about 90 officers to be part of what it calls a Civil Emergency Unit – essentially, a team of officers specially-trained for crowd control.

According to a story in Triad City Beat, the department has been prepping the unit and buying equipment in secret, with the public and many civilian leaders – including some on city council – left in the dark.

WFDD's Sean Bueter talked to TCB reporter Eric Ginsburg, who broke the story online Tuesday.

Interview Highlights:

On discovering evidence of the CEU:

"I actually found through public records requests that the department has had something called the "Civil Emergency Unit" for about a year now. But there's no reference to it anywhere on the city's website, and some of the Greensboro City Council members on the council's public safety committee were not aware of it..."

On whether the creation of the CEU is a response to incidents like those in Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo., and whether it would be used during something like a Black Lives Matter protest:

"I think it would be hard to separate [the creation of the unit] completely, even if it's not the primary motivation. It's certainly not what the department is saying is the primary reason. But, considering the timing of this... I would imagine it would be used in those circumstances anyway."

On why the Greensboro Police Department has done all this in relative secrecy:

"I think that's a good question for the police department, and I don't know that I could completely answer it, especially considering that the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department does list their Civil Emergency Unit publicly on their website. So, I'm not sure why Greensboro is taking a different approach." 

You can read Eric Ginsburg's entire story on Triad City Beat's website.