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Police, Minority Groups Looking for Common Ground in Wheeling

Police, minority groups meet to talk relationships

Photo by Drew Parker Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger, right, addresses a town hall meeting on race relations at West Virginia Northern Community College Wednesday with FBI Special Agent Gregg Frankhouser.

WHEELING — Local and federal law enforcement met with community members in Wheeling Wednesday in hopes of bettering relations between police and minorities.

The Ohio Valley Ministerial Association, along with local chapters of the NAACP, hosted a town hall meeting at West Virginia Northern Community College Wednesday, including a presentation from Gregg Frankhouser, an FBI special agent based in Pittsburgh.

Frankhouser’s presentation included information on human trafficking, civil rights issues and personnel issues in police departments and government agencies in the region and beyond.

Following the presentation Frankhouser responded to a series of questions from audience members with Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger, ranging in topic from diversity in the Wheeling police force and racial relations during arrests and traffic stops to national issues such as the Ku Klux Klan.

“We will disagree, but we can talk through those things and make it easier and safer for everybody,” Frankhouser said. “Physical safety has to be our main concern. If you believe your civil rights were violated you need to report it immediately. The FBI wouldn’t be the immediate responder. We will come in and we will assist, but there has to be support and evidence, which you can get from local law enforcement.”

One question involved a lack of diversity in the Wheeling Police Department.

“Absolutely our police department is not reflective of our community,” Schwertfeger said. “I was so ecstatic that we tested a couple weeks ago and we had eight black males and one Hispanic male that tested for the police position. There’s a process there, but hopefully we can achieve something.”

Schwertfeger also said the department does not track traffic stops by race, but does track arrests by race.

Owens Brown, president of the West Virginia NAACP, said the event was important for the Wheeling community to come together.

“When we have events that open lines of communication, that’s the key,” Brown said. “One of the largest topics to tackle is the basic process of how issues are approached by police and the FBI, especially with the FBI and what their responsibilities are.”

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