Charlotte Police Union Not Happy Department Paying $60K for Customer Service Training

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is paying a consultant $60,000 to train officers to improve their customer service, and the union is not happy that it wasn't asked about it.

The local Fraternal Order of Police is throwing cold water on the plan because officials with the organization said they were never consulted about it. FOP officials said they were brought in by CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings after the plan was made public, WSOC reports.

The FOP said it met with the chief on Monday to resolve some of their concerns and decided to go public after that meeting. CMPD did not address any of the specific complaints in its response cited by the FOP.

For example, the consultant has never worked with a police department before, and the FOP is worried about possible safety issues.

The police department released a statement late Tuesday afternoon defending the approach.

“The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s development of a world-class customer service approach to policing is an investment that not only benefits our community but every member of the department,” the statement read. “The customer-service vision is being developed internally by a cross-section of the CMPD including members with the Fraternal Order of Police.”