By Corey G. Johnson and John Ramsey
Fayette Observer
SPRING LAKE, N.C. — A.C. Brown, chief of the embattled Spring Lake Police Department, has resigned, town officials said Wednesday.
Brown offered his resignation Tuesday afternoon during a meeting with Town Manager Larry Faison and Mayor Ethel Clark.
Clark said the chief made the decision based upon what he felt was good for the future of the town.
Brown did not return a phone call Wednesday night.
Brown has been chief since 2004. He will receive a paid leave until May 22, Clark said.
“Considering all the circumstances, I think that was the best thing to do,” Clark said. “If we want to continue to have policing authority, we have to have a relationship with the district attorney. So we have to regroup, reorganize, restructure and consult with him to do everything in our power to make it right.”
Clark said Brown was given until Friday to get his personal belongings out of the Police Department.
Alderman James O’Garra, who has been a critic during Brown’s tenure, said the chief’s departure was only the beginning.
“Honestly, I’m not happy and I’m not satisfied,” O’Garra said. “I feel we need to make peace with the county and the district attorney. I’d like to give the sheriff back his deputies. I know that this is an inconvenience for him as well as us.”
The Sheriff’s Office has taken over all policing duties in the town.
Alderman Napoleon Hogans said he supported Faison’s decision to accept Brown’s resignation.
Hogans declined to elaborate on where town officials will go from here. Town officials will discuss what direction the Police Department will take during a special called meeting at 2 p.m. today.
“At that time, we will have comments where we will go from here,’’ Hogans said. “There are so many issues on the table that we need to work through to ensure that our citizens are protected by law enforcement.’’
Shredded documents
Spring Lake officials changed the locks to the Police Department on Wednesday night, hours after a judge ordered the town to secure police records because the chief and a sergeant were seen shredding documents.
A motion filed Wednesday by District Attorney Ed Grannis said the State Bureau of Investigation received information that Brown was at the Police Department until 2:30 a.m. Wednesday shredding material.
A sheriff’s deputy said he observed Spring Lake police Sgt. Mark Thomas shredding material from a file cabinet Tuesday, the motion says.
Clark said she was disturbed by the allegations that Brown destroyed records.
“I don’t know what was shredded, and I would rather believe that he was getting rid of personal stuff,” Clark said. “But I have said all along that if there was any skullduggery going on, then expose it.”
The Police Department is the subject of a criminal investigation by the SBI.
On Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff Moose Butler hand-delivered to Brown a court order signed by Superior Court Judge E. Lynn Johnson. The order says Spring Lake is to preserve all police documents, including cell phone records and electronic data. The order applies to all town employees.
Butler said that Brown told him the documents he was shredding were personal and had nothing to do with the operation of the Police Department.
Brown walked out the back of the Police Department on Wednesday evening, but went back inside without answering any questions when confronted by reporters.
Faison also has refused comment this week.
The Spring Lake Police Department was stripped of all of its investigative powers this week following the arrests of two officers.
Butler said he expects more arrests to come as a result of the SBI investigation.
After Butler delivered the order about 4:30 p.m., town employees began stacking boxes of papers in a conference room in the Police Department. At 7 p.m., Scotty’s Locksmith Service arrived with orders to replace all the locks in the Police Department. Locksmith P. Scott said he was asked to change the locks as a security precaution. He said he wasn’t sure who he would need to deliver the new keys to when he finished working.
Earlier this week, Brown contacted the sheriff about the town’s police officers helping the deputies who are now patrolling Spring Lake. But Butler said he made it clear the town’s officers would have no role whatsoever in criminal investigations.
In a letter to Brown dated Wednesday, Butler spelled out that Spring Lake officers could not ride along with deputies or establish crime scenes, and could not exercise “any police powers or authority where a deputy sheriff is in or may assume command of the situation or the scene.”
“We personally do not need them around,” Butler said Wednesday after delivering the court order.
Sheriff’s deputies have been investigating felonies in the town since 2007. That’s when Grannis first expressed concerns that the Police Department lacked trained manpower and expertise.
An independent assessment in late 2007 also found a number of problems, including a lack of training for officers, a lack of written directives and the leadership of Brown.
Sheriff’s deputies are patrolling the town. They are working out of a mobile command unit parked across four spaces near the public library.
Spring Lake officers reported for duty as usual Wednesday and patrolled the town, despite having no authority to enforce the law.
The department has 13 active sworn officers and two newly hired officers who haven’t been sworn in yet, according to town records. The town still is accepting applications for patrol officers and for an open captain’s position.
Reaction
One officer, who requested anonymity for fear of losing his job, said the consensus among those in the department was that the chief needed to go. He said during all the turmoil, Brown never held a staff meeting to keep the officers up to date on what has been happening.
Brown’s resignation brought mixed feelings for him.
“One, I’m glad because that’s the best move the Police Department and town can make. That way they can hire someone to come in and revamp it and get the department moving in the right direction,” he said.
But, he said, officers fear the town might be moving toward getting rid of the entire police force, leaving officers looking for a way to pay their bills and feed their families.
“Will the town maintain the Police Department and better its officers, or will they let us go?”
The officer said some in the department are looking for new jobs, while others are trying to wait out the storm.
“I’m afraid the Police Department is going to get shut down,” he said. “Us officers, the good officers are here and want to protect Spring Lake. We just have to get the knuckleheads out of the way.”
On Monday, Sgt. Alfonzo Devone Whittington Jr. and Sgt. Darryl Eugene Coulter Sr. were arrested after being indicted by a special Cumberland County grand jury. The charges against them include embezzlement by public officer, obtaining property by false pretense, breaking and entering, second-degree kidnapping and obstruction of justice.
Whittington has posted bail. Coulter has been transferred to Central Prison in Raleigh, according to Debbie Tanna, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office.
Copyright 2009 Fayette Observer