THE BUZZ “Just because we don’t like the outcome doesn’t mean that we can now go and search another (avenue) to get an outcome that we do like.” Jennings is more receptive to Dawkins’ third proposal: petitioning the General Assembly to allow CRB to issue subpoenas, which would allow it to call witnesses and hear testimony. (SAFE Coalition has pursued this route several times without success.) “There’s been a whole lot more cases where bringing in witnesses that we have in the cases for the Citizens Review Board would have been very helpful in allowing them to make their decision,” Jennings says. “If they have subpoena power for everyone, then I would support that. If it’s just subpoena power for officers, I would not support that.” Both Jennings and the board’s chair, Tonya Jameson—an occasional contributor to this magazine—say the department and CRB overall enjoy a positive, productive relationship. To Jameson, that makes the city’s lack of response to the unanimous Franklin decision and recommendations frustrating.
JEN TOTA McGIVNEY is a writer in Charlotte. Reach her at jennifer.mcgivney@gmail.com or on Twitter, @jen_mcgivney.
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LI F E L E SS O N S
DIANNE GALLAGHER Ex-WCNC reporter returns ‘home’ to establish CNN’s first Charlotte office BY GREG LACOUR
DIANNE GALLAGHER LEFT HER JOB as a reporter for WCNC-TV for CNN in August 2015, newly engaged to Alan Cavanna, who covers NASCAR for Fox Sports. Cavanna remained in Charlotte. Gallagher hit the road and stayed there. She lived in apartments in Washington, D.C., then Atlanta, even after the wedding in 2017, and connected with her husband when she could. But Gallagher spent most of her days jetting from story to story as a national correspondent. This year, her bosses at CNN arranged for her to move back to Charlotte as the cable news giant’s first-ever permanent
CHARLOTTEMAGAZINE.COM // NOVEMBER 2020
presence in the Queen City. The daughter of an Army officer, Gallagher had grown up moving from town to town before she attended the University of Tennessee, earned a degree from UNC Charlotte, and, in 2008, began working for tiny CN2 News in Rock Hill. She went to work for WCNC in 2012 and quickly distinguished herself as a skilled and tenacious reporter, which drew CNN’s attention. As a correspondent, Gallagher has covered major national news stories, from the Ninth Congressional District election fraud case in Bladen County to multiple appearances by President
COURTESY
AS OF EARLY SEPTEMBER, no appeals await CRB review—a surprise given the kettling incident and other clashes between protesters and police this summer. “If a protester feels that CMPD did something wrong in the June 2 incident or in any encounter with CMPD,” Jameson says, “then I hope they take advantage of the system created to file a complaint while there is still an opportunity.” For Roe, serving on the board isn’t about being anti-police but restoring communication and trust between police and the community. While she agrees with Jennings that police officers hold each other accountable, she believes the public needs to have its say, too. “I just pray we can give citizens what they need, that we can work in conjunction with the police department to help … officers realize that we’re not out to get (them),” Roe says. “But we want fairness. We want accountability.”
