Graham Police Department and City of Graham
Call to Action
What can you do?
We have included a script for you to use. It is important to let your Public Officials know you are aligned with the Agents for Change in seeking accountability in your police leadership and elected officials.
Please call and send emails & letters to:
City of Graham: Contact Us 336-570-6711
Chief Cole: [email protected]
Graham City Council
Jerry Peterman: [email protected]
Chip Turner: [email protected]
Melody Wiggins: [email protected]
Jennifer Talley: [email protected]
Ricky Hall: [email protected]
Newspapers
Burlington Times News [email protected] or [email protected]
Alamance News
Greensboro News and Record
Email Script
Dear ___________,
I have just recently learned that the Graham Police Department has hired Douglas Strader as a police officer. Strader, a former officer of the Greensboro Police Department, was dismissed from his job last year for shooting into a vehicle fleeing a crime scene in 2019. Strader was also one of the officers involved in the 2018 hogtying incident that resulted in the death of Marcus Smith.
Smith died after Strader and other officers applied a now prohibited hog-tie device after forcing him to lie face down on the pavement. Marcus Smith was suffering a mental health crisis and asked officers to take him to the hospital. He asked for aid from the people who were supposed to help him and was instead killed by their hands in a horrific way. The state medical examiner ruled that death a homicide. Strader and the other seven officers involved were not disciplined for Smith’s death but are currently defendants in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by his mother.
Do we want a police officer with this background and history to work in our community? Can we trust this officer and the Graham Police Department to keep us and our children and families safe? Is this the Graham PD’s way of letting us know they want to continue to be caught up in controversy and white supremacy culture? We can only feel that it is white supremacy and racism, which permeates and is built into every inch of the Graham PD and other police departments, that motivates the hiring of such an officer.
As a resident of [Graham, Alamance, out of county] I am horrified by Strader's hiring and demand that he be fired immediately and that there is also an immediate investigation into the hiring practices of the Graham Police Department. Knowing that Strader is in a position of power as a police officer in Graham, I fear for the safety of [myself, my family, friends that either live in Graham or visit Graham].
Sincerely,
[your name]
Please call and send emails & letters to:
City of Graham: Contact Us 336-570-6711
Chief Cole: [email protected]
Graham City Council
Jerry Peterman: [email protected]
Chip Turner: [email protected]
Melody Wiggins: [email protected]
Jennifer Talley: [email protected]
Ricky Hall: [email protected]
Newspapers
Burlington Times News [email protected] or [email protected]
Alamance News
Greensboro News and Record
Email Script
Dear ___________,
I have just recently learned that the Graham Police Department has hired Douglas Strader as a police officer. Strader, a former officer of the Greensboro Police Department, was dismissed from his job last year for shooting into a vehicle fleeing a crime scene in 2019. Strader was also one of the officers involved in the 2018 hogtying incident that resulted in the death of Marcus Smith.
Smith died after Strader and other officers applied a now prohibited hog-tie device after forcing him to lie face down on the pavement. Marcus Smith was suffering a mental health crisis and asked officers to take him to the hospital. He asked for aid from the people who were supposed to help him and was instead killed by their hands in a horrific way. The state medical examiner ruled that death a homicide. Strader and the other seven officers involved were not disciplined for Smith’s death but are currently defendants in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by his mother.
Do we want a police officer with this background and history to work in our community? Can we trust this officer and the Graham Police Department to keep us and our children and families safe? Is this the Graham PD’s way of letting us know they want to continue to be caught up in controversy and white supremacy culture? We can only feel that it is white supremacy and racism, which permeates and is built into every inch of the Graham PD and other police departments, that motivates the hiring of such an officer.
As a resident of [Graham, Alamance, out of county] I am horrified by Strader's hiring and demand that he be fired immediately and that there is also an immediate investigation into the hiring practices of the Graham Police Department. Knowing that Strader is in a position of power as a police officer in Graham, I fear for the safety of [myself, my family, friends that either live in Graham or visit Graham].
Sincerely,
[your name]