Fayetteville’s newest assistant police chief arrived with 27 years of big-city experience—and a litigation history residents were not told about when he was introduced.
Joshua Wallace, who retired from the Chicago Police Department in July, now oversees Fayetteville’s Specialized Services Bureau. The Fayetteville Observer reported that Wallace was named in seven federal civil-rights lawsuits during his Chicago career. The suits involved allegations including unlawful searches, false arrest, excessive force and failures of supervision.
Every one of those cases ended in a settlement. Together, the reported payments total $585,000. None produced a finding that Wallace was liable, and the settlements did not include an admission of wrongdoing by him or the City of Chicago.
That distinction matters. A lawsuit is an allegation, and a settlement is not a verdict. It also does not make the underlying history irrelevant when a city places someone near the top of a police department.
What the public record shows
The seven lawsuits were filed between 2002 and 2022. In most of the complaints, Wallace was one of several officers named and the alleged conduct was not assigned to him individually, according to the Observer’s review of court records.
The largest settlement—$285,000—came from a 2015 lawsuit over a 2013 family gathering in Chicago. Plaintiffs alleged excessive force, arrests without probable cause and interference with people trying to record officers. The Observer reported that Wallace was named in claims involving false arrest, unlawful detention and excessive force against one man, but the complaint did not identify a specific physical act by Wallace.
The most recently filed case involved a 2015 search of a home where two young children were present. The complaint alleged that officers held children at gunpoint, used abusive language and damaged property. It described Wallace as the supervisor of the investigation and the supervising officer during the search, but did not allege that he personally carried out those acts. The federal docket identifies Wallace as one of the defendants. The case was settled for $99,000, with court approval in July 2025.
Earlier cases involved allegations of a public strip search, an unlawful home search, beatings, false arrest and a police shooting. Again: the complaints did not generally attribute a specific act to Wallace, and none resulted in a finding of liability against him.
The history was already public
This was not a buried revelation discovered only after Fayetteville made its hire.
In 2023, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Wallace had been named in at least six lawsuits then totaling $486,000 in settlements. The newspaper also reported that he had faced at least 45 disciplinary complaints, citing an Invisible Institute database, and that none had been sustained.
Complaint totals require context. Unsustained complaints are not proof, and officers who spend decades in large departments—especially in enforcement and command roles—can accumulate allegations simply because of the work they supervise. But senior command hiring is not about clearing the lowest legal bar. It is about judgment, credibility and whether the city can explain the record it accepted.
Fayetteville says it conducted a thorough review
Police Chief Roberto Bryan Jr. introduced Wallace to City Council on Aug. 10. The department announced the appointment four days later, saying Wallace would oversee Specialized Services and praising his experience, commitment and dedication.
After the lawsuit history became public, the department described its vetting process to the Observer. A spokesperson said executive candidates receive comprehensive background investigations; the department reviews available public court records and requests internal-affairs and employment files from prior law-enforcement agencies. Fayetteville also used a third-party recruitment and management consulting firm in the search.
The department said it reviews a candidate’s professional history, including sustained complaints, and remains confident in both its process and leadership team. North Carolina personnel-privacy law, it said, prevents a detailed public discussion of Wallace’s individual background file.
That response establishes that Fayetteville says it looked. It does not tell the public what decision-makers concluded.
What Fayetteville still has not explained
The city does not need to retry seven civil cases in public. It can still answer basic questions about its own hiring decision without dumping a confidential personnel file onto the internet.
- Who made the final recommendation to hire Wallace, and who approved it?
- Did the outside recruiting firm flag all seven lawsuits and the reported complaint history?
- Did reviewers read the complaints and settlement records, or only note that no allegation was sustained?
- Did Fayetteville speak with Chicago oversight officials, former subordinates or attorneys involved in the cases?
- How did reviewers assess the 2022 case, which alleged supervisory responsibility during a home search involving children?
- What accountability experience convinced the city that Wallace was the right person to lead Specialized Services?
These are questions about Fayetteville’s process, not a demand that Wallace prove himself innocent of allegations that never produced findings against him.
The department’s own published mission promises integrity, trust, respect and fairness. Its policy page says transparency and accountability are reasons the public should have access to department rules. Those commitments have to apply to leadership decisions too.
Transparency is part of the hire
Wallace may prove to be an effective assistant chief. Fayetteville’s review may have been careful and convincing. The public cannot judge either proposition from a generic assurance that normal procedures were followed.
That matters because Specialized Services is not a ceremonial assignment. The bureau has included training, communications, traffic support, technical services and specialized units, according to the city’s description of the department’s structure. The person leading it helps shape how officers are trained, supervised and equipped.
Eastern North Carolina communities are already asking how much scrutiny police power receives—whether the issue is command hiring, officer conduct or surveillance technology. Jacksonville residents have raised similar accountability questions over Flock license-plate cameras.
Fayetteville says it did the homework. Showing the public enough of that work to justify the hire is the next assignment.