On approximately March 1, 2021, Graham Police Department Chief Kristi Coles dangerously
and irresponsibly hired a police officer in the person of Doug Strader, who, according to news
reports, was fired from the Greensboro Police Department for egregious acts of police
misconduct.
This complaint calls for the U.S. Department of Justice (D.O.J) and the NC State Attorney’s
Office to immediately intervene to protect the citizens of Graham, NC and surrounding areas.
Moreover, this complaint resolutely requests that the D.O.J. and the State Department of Justice
assist in making sure Strader and any other officers within the Graham Police Department who
have a history of using unwarranted deadly or excessive force be terminated immediately and
prohibited from serving within any capacity of law enforcement within North Carolina and within
the jurisdiction of the United States of America.
It has been confirmed through investigative news reports that Strader was one of several
officers fired from the Greensboro Police Department after shooting at a fleeing vehicle, and
hog-tying Marcus Smith back in 2018, which led to Smith's death (see attached article).
When certain Graham residents such as Faith Cook and Ann Jones, per the attached article,
rightfully questioned Police Chief Cole’s hiring of Strader, the chief issued the following
response to media outlets, a response which is offensively insufficient and obviously ignores the
legitimate concerns being raised by the community:

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"Our department exceeds and complies with all guidelines set forth by the NC Criminal Justice
Education and Training Standards Commission which mandates background investigation (12
NCAC 09B.0102) on all applicants seeking law enforcement certification and issues L.E.
certification pursuant to 12 NCAC 09C.0301.
As with all police applicants, Graham Police Department conducted a thorough background into
the character and suitability of Officer Strader. Many of the details and results surrounding hiring
decisions are protected by North Carolina personnel law and cannot be divulged pursuant to
North Carolina G.S. 160A-168."
This complaint is filed by Jesus Uniting Souls To Increase Community Engagement
(J.U.S.T.I.C.E.) Ministration, a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation and its SKU campaign which are
based in Alamance County where the city of Graham, N.C. is located. SKU is the acronym for
our “Stop Killing Us (SKU) Solutions Campaign.”
As part of the kickoff of the aforementioned SKU campaign, in August of 2017, JUSTICE
Ministration unveiled its 18-point SKU Universal Standards for Law Enforcement, referred to
hereafter as the “SKU Standard.” The SKU Standard provides clear guidelines we ultimately
hope to have incorporated throughout the country. In this case, I would like to bring your
attention to point number 6 of the SKU Standard which states the following:
“We universally demand any police officer or law enforcement officer within the United States
found to have used excessive force of any kind be immediately removed from the agency or
department and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Any such law enforcement officer
who has been disciplined, reprimanded, terminated, or prosecuted for using brutality or
excessive force must be banned from working in the area of law enforcement or denied
employment which uses weaponry in any other agency, state, city, municipality, division, or
district within the United States.”
Research shows that many of the high profile wrongful killings of black citizens across the
country were committed by officers who had a history of reprimands, disciplinary write ups,
terminations, and/or previous wrongful acts of excessive force.
Case and point, as the world watches the trial of Derek Chauvin, it is important to note that
according to investigative news reports, this former Minneapolis police officer who was charged
with murder in the death of George Floyd “shot one suspect, was involved in the fatal shooting
of another, and received at least 17 complaints during his service with the department.”
Similarly, Timothy A. Loehmann, Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir
Rice as Tamir was playing with a toy gun, resigned from a previous small-town police job when
he was deemed emotionally unstable and unfit for duty, especially in his handling of firearms. If
you will notice, the SKU Universal Standards for Law Enforcement also requires regular mental
health evaluations and drug testing for police officers.

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We are therefore calling on your Justice Departments to take our complaint seriously as
JUSTICE Ministration, SKU, and other great organizations and concerned citizens here on the
ground in Graham, Alamance County, and surrounding areas are proactively working to ensure
we are not waiting on the next wrongful shooting, choking, hog-tying, or some other senseless
death committed by those who swore to “protect and serve.”
Even if Chief Cole followed every “guideline” to the letter set forth in NC Criminal Justice
Education and Training Standards Commission which mandates background investigation (12
NCAC 09B.0102) on all applicants seeking law enforcement certification and issues L.E.
certification pursuant to 12 NCAC 09C.0301,” and still ended up hiring a candidate with Doug
Strader’s record of repeated acts of deadly excessive force, it only proves the current
“guidelines” are insufficient, a part of the problem, and require the need for an updated
“universal standard” that TRULY “serves and protects” the lives of black and brown human
beings.
Without question Strader must be immediately removed from the force with any other officers
who have been found guilty of committing excessive force and/or a part of one’s wrongful death.
There is no room for compromise in such a humane, reasonable, nonpolitical, and life-centered
request.
In pursuit of JUSTICE

 
The petition and movement’s demands include the following: 

1.  The removal/prevention of Doug Strader and any other law enforcement worker where there is evidence (video from witnesses, or body cam, or dash cam, or bodily injury or death of a victim of excessive force, etc.), be disqualified as a candidate for employment in the area of law enforcement; “immediately terminated” if currently employed;” be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law;” and be banned from work in law enforcement “everywhere within the jurisdiction of the United States.”

2.  The immediate termination of Graham Police Chief Kristi Cole, Assistant Chief Rodney King, and any other law enforcement officers within the department  who hire, defend, refuse to report, or in other ways partake, and aid and abet  in the act of excessive or unnecessary deadly force.  Such officers should also be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law where applicable and banned from work in law enforcement.

3.  A full investigation of all Graham PD hiring practices, procedural operations, overall fairness toward black and nonwhite populations, and to take a measurement of the department’s adherence to North Carolina and U.S. Constitutionality due to the hiring of Doug Strader and numerous prior community complaints and departmental actions which go against its duty to “serve and protect” without discrimination, brutality, excessive force, or needless risks of wrongful death. 

4.  Ensure all law enforcement officers within the city of Graham are fully aware of the constitutional and human/civil rights of all populations within its jurisdiction and every imaginable form of action that can be taken to protect the rights of all such humans be fully implemented immediately and indiscriminately.