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Politics & Government

NAACP Addresses Lower Merion About Officer's Discrimination Claim

Officer Kerry Godbold, who has lodged discrimination allegations regarding police promotions practices, attended the Board of Commissioners meeting.

The attorney for the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference told the Lower Merion Township Board of Commissioners on Wednesday night that it has the authority to request that the Lower Merion police superintendent promote from an expired civil service promotions list that included Officer Kerry Godbold.

Godbold accused the Board of Commissioners and the Lower Merion Police Department on May 18 of discrimination with regard to promotion practices and questioned why a recent Civil Service list—which would have given him the opportunity to be promoted to the rank of sergeant—was allowed to expire.

The commissioners said at the May 18 meeting that they could not act on the list because of a new state law which put an expiration date on it. The NAACP, however, has interpreted the law differently and has stated on Godbold’s behalf that the township had a two-year window to make promotions from the Civil Service list.

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Godbold attended Wednesday night’s Board of Commissioners meeting. While he did not speak publicly, the attorney for the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference, Lacy R. Wheeler III, spoke during public comment about Godbold’s complaint, which is being investigated by the NAACP.  

Wheeler, who represents 20,000 members from 40 NAACP branches statewide, said he had written the Board of Commissioners a letter on June 13, 2011 regarding Godbold, whom he described as a 20-year veteran of the Lower Merion Police Department with an “unblemished record.”

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Wheeler said the NAACP state conference was “very concerned” about Godbold’s discrimination allegations and had seen “similar instances” throughout the state.

Wheeler said if the Board of Commissioners chooses not to ask that the Civil Service create a new eligibility list, then the board has the authority to instead request that the police superintendent make a sergeant promotion off of the expired list, which includes Godbold.

“It seems to me there is a solution here,” said Wheeler, adding that he and the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference president.

There are three African-American police officers out of 140 officers in the Lower Merion Township Police Department and in the history of the department there has never been an African-American officer who has risen to the rank of sergeant, Wheeler said. Wheeler said he stated this in his letter to the board.

The NAACP’s immediate matter, though, concerns the Civil Service eligibility list, Wheeler said.

“We’re interested in the resolution of this matter in relations to that eligibility list,” Wheeler said. “Now we would like to work cooperatively … We don’t want to get into legal entanglements. We feel this Board of Commissioners is a very fair-minded body.”

Wheeler asked the board to tell him if they had made a decision about the matter while meeting in executive session. “Where do we stand now?” Wheeler said.

Board of Commissioners President Liz Rogan said, “We heard your comments. We can’t get into back and forth right now.”

Wheeler asked if the board would write him a letter of response.

Rogan said someone from the township would get back to him with a response.

At a July 6 Board of Commissioners meeting, Rogan announced that the township had hired a private firm to investigate the Lower Merion Police Department’s recruitment, hiring and promotional procedures and practices to determine “equal opportunity compliance.”

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