Baker: No Outside Inquiry

The following item just appeared on the city of Durham website:

Durham City Manager to Provide Report Next Week Regarding Duke Lacrosse Investigation

Durham, N.C. – Following the release of the North Carolina Attorney General's report regarding the Duke Lacrosse Case “Summary of Conclusions,” Durham City Manager Patrick Baker has asked the Police Department to review the steps it took to investigate the case. Baker plans to release a report based upon the review next week.

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Good Things Are Happening In Durham

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Given Patrick Baker’s performance to date in this case, grave concerns exist about the fairness of having the police department that AG said violated its own procedures conduct its own investigation.

Baker previously had promised the report this week; his announcement provided no explanation for the delay.

And the irony of issuing such a press release over the heading of “Good Things Are Happening In Durham” is hard to avoid.

[Update, 8.03: Julia Lewis of WRAL notes that she has repeatedly attempted to interview Chief Steven Chalmers, but the chief--who appears to fall out of public view for months at a time--has refused each request. She quotes Durham City Council member Eugene Brown, who appears dubious about Baker's latest gambit: “I just think we have to be very careful and not have this report end up a word game or semantics, like was this really a lineup, a witness lineup, or what.”]