A controversy that, in this case, would eventually divide a neighborhood and lead to Officer Wagner\u2019s re-assignment.<\/p>\n
When Wagner, 29, joined the Raleigh Police Department in 2007, the decision was an obvious one, born of a lifelong desire to serve and to help others. Upon graduating from the academy, Wagner requested assignment to Southeast Raleigh, one of the most challenging areas of the city. It was there he felt he could do the most good.<\/p>\n
![\"wagner2\"](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/wagner2-336x504.jpg\")
<\/a>Provided<\/p>
<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just my heart, I\u2019ve always had a heart of just helping, reaching out to people in need,\u201d Wagner said.<\/p>\n
After about three years on the job, however, he eventually reached a breaking point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I was beating my head into a brick wall \u2013 I asked God, why? I\u2019m out here every single day, and I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m helping anyone,\u201d Wagner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI arrest someone, and before I can even fill out the report they\u2019re back on the exact same corner doing the exact same thing I arrested them for.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, his daughter, who had just turned 2, was diagnosed with a potential case of Leukemia. She was later cleared of the disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m working 12-hour shifts, trying to sleep at the Chapel Hill hospital, I\u2019m worn down and in the midst of all of this, I get called to a code blue on Bragg Street,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was the first one on the scene, and the lady placed her six-week old infant in my arms and said, \u2018Save my baby\u2019s life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But there was nothing that could be done. The child passed away in Wagner\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I had to go interview the neighbor \u2013 and she was mad because the people whose baby had just died had used her phone to call 911.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Golden Rule<\/b>
\nIt was at this point that Wagner, a lifelong Christian and the son of a Methodist pastor, turned to God for help.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like, no matter what, I kept running into hate and crime, and there was no end to it. I remember God telling me, how can you expect them to give something they never received \u2013 unconditional love?\u201d Wagner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI figured, if no one else is gonna show it to them, I will. That was my turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was then that Wagner began engaging the community in a profoundly different way.<\/p>\n
As a cop, he said he was trained to use the least amount of legal authority necessary to create voluntary compliance with the law.<\/p>\n
His time on the job, however, had started to create a mindset of \u201carrest, arrest, arrest,\u201d Wagner said, and he had begun to focus too much on catching people breaking the law, rather than taking actions which may prevent them from doing so in the first place.<\/p>\n
![\"bragg7\"](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/bragg7-771x425.jpg\")
<\/a>James Borden \/ Raleigh Public Record<\/p>
<\/p><\/div>\n
By working to establish more personal relationships with those he encountered every day on the job, Wagner said he began to gain the trust of those who once reacted to his presence with open hostility. He even earned himself an affectionate nickname: Wagz.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot better than some of the things they used to call me,\u201d he said, laughing.<\/p>\n
Wagner described one incident where, after making an arrest, the man seemed more concerned about what Wagner would think of him than the charges he was facing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked, \u2018Are you gonna treat me different?\u2019 I said, no, I\u2019m not. You just made a mistake, that\u2019s all,\u201d Wagner said.<\/p>\n
Wagner explained that many people he encountered had rarely, if ever, experienced this kind of forgiveness. The love they received was often conditional, he said: \u201cWe\u2019ll love you if you join this gang,\u201d for example.<\/p>\n
By practicing unconditional love, Wagner said he hoped to inspire others to do the same, and eventually break the vicious cycle of poverty and criminality many had come to accept as a way of life.<\/p>\n
![\"welcome1\"](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/welcome1-336x228.jpg\")
<\/a>James Borden \/ Raleigh Public Record<\/p>
<\/p><\/div>\n
For Wagner though, merely practicing what he preached was not enough. He needed a more active, more concrete way of helping the community he served and had come to love.<\/p>\n
A Film is Born<\/b>
\nAlthough Wagner also had a desire to serve others by working as a police officer, he first pursued a career in entertainment. Upon graduating high school in New Bern, Wagner found work both on and off camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always said, there\u2019s two things I want to do in life,\u201d Wagner explained. \u201cOne was to work in the film industry, and two was to be a cop.\u201d<\/p>\n
By allowing him to draw off his experience doing the latter, Wagner said God had presented him with an opportunity to once again pursue the former.<\/p>\n
In his free time, he began developing an idea that would eventually become \u201cBragg \u2018N East,\u201d so-named after an intersection in southeast Raleigh that has seen more than 70 arrests in 2013 alone.![\"New_Bragg_N_East_Poster\"](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/New_Bragg_N_East_Poster.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
The film will follow the stories of a hardened police officer, loosely based on Wagner himself, and a hardened criminal, based on a composite of the many he had come to know in his years on the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a movie designed to stir God\u2019s people into literally loving the hell out of those who need it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Wagner plans to shoot on location in southeast Raleigh using as crew members local residents who may otherwise have trouble finding work due to their lack of experience or criminal history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to give them an opportunity. I don\u2019t care what their criminal record is like, but where they\u2019re going from here,\u201d Wagner said. \u201cMaybe it can increase their self-esteem, show them they\u2019re worth something, connect them to full-time jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagner has also enlisted the help of Emmy-award winning Hollywood producer Ralph Singleton, who has been a producer on films ranging from \u201cMurder at 1600\u201d to \u201cClear and Present Danger\u201d and casting director Maxann Crotts, whose work includes \u201cThe Patriot\u201d and \u201cThe Fugitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
By establishing the nonprofit Within a Yard Ministries, Wagner will be able to funnel any profits from the movie \u2014 currently budgeted around $700,000 \u2014 back into the South Park community. The money would be used for revitalization, employment and educational programs.<\/p>\n
A Community Divided<\/b>
\nAlthough Wagner said the feedback he has received on the film thus far has been largely positive, not everyone in the community appreciates the type of change he is trying to bring.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time you do something good in this world, you\u2019ve got your naysayers,\u201d Wagner said.<\/p>\n
In a June 3 meeting of the Central Citizens Advisory Council<\/a>, which serves the South Park and other surrounding neighborhoods, Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown announced that Wagner would no longer be serving as the community officer. He was re-assigned and is now working in the Five Points area of Raleigh.<\/p>\n Raleigh PD spokesman Jim Sughrue said in a later interview that officer re-assignments are common and not an indication of any wrongdoing. As such matters are generally considered personnel issues, he was unable to comment any further.<\/p>\n Lonnette Williams, one of Wagner\u2019s most outspoken critics and the former chair of the Central Citizens Advisory Council, offered some insight about why not everyone is supportive of Wagner\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n She said people were concerned the film was \u201ccreating the perception that we\u2019re violent. Nobody would want to be over here because they think that\u2019s true. It\u2019s making people fearful to come into this neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe got enough problems over here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Williams said she and some other members of the community also disagree strongly with Wagner\u2019s policing style.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was in this neighborhood as a police officer, not a missionary,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Williams added that some in the neighborhood had become concerned for their safety, because Wagner was becoming seen as more of a friend than as a police officer.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I call for the police I want him to come with his gun drawn, ready to do business,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want a police officer to be a police officer in a neighborhood like this.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams said she and other members of the community had asked for Wagner to be re-assigned from the CAC due to escalating tensions over the film.<\/p>\n \u201cWe thought it was racist really,\u201d she said. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t the great white hope, that all the sudden he\u2019s gonna show up, 20-something years old and save this black neighborhood \u2014 come on brother.\u201d<\/p>\n Takisha Craven, who grew up on Person Street and still lives in the area, strongly disagreed with Williams\u2019 assertions.<\/p>\n She argued that Wagner\u2019s more community-oriented approach to policing was a great service to the community, especially its youngest members.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of children grow up thinking that police officers are bad,\u201d she said. \u201cDealing with Officer Wagner, that changes the children\u2019s outlook on what police officers are there for, they\u2019re there to help you and protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"BraggPark\"](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/BraggPark-771x349.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"bragg1\"](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/bragg1-771x427.jpg\")
<\/a>