DeKalb CEO won’t say why he ordered probe of police chief

DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Burrell Ellis is not saying precisely why he is investigating police Chief Terrell Bolton, but on Tuesday he spelled out several criticisms of the chief’s job performance.

Bolton labeled his troubles “a political witch hunt” and said he will be vindicated.

A day after he put Bolton on a two-week paid leave, Ellis said he is not satisfied with the results of DeKalb’s increased spending on public safety during Bolton’s two-year tenure. He repeated that he does not want Bolton to continue taking comp time off, and he questioned whether DeKalb’s police chief can live elsewhere. Bolton’s family lives in Dallas, and he has said he spends his time off there.

Ellis also said Bolton’s top civilian aide, Keisha Williams, has been fired after “abandoning her job.” He said county officials have been unable to reach Williams, who had been on leave, to retrieve her county car. Williams could not be reached for comment.

Ellis said he spent more than five hours meeting with Bolton on Monday. He said they talked about their visions for the Police Department.

“I think I was very clear about my vision. I’m not quite sure I fully understood what I got back from the chief in that regard,” Ellis said.

Reached by phone later Tuesday, Bolton said Ellis seemed much more interested in whom Bolton spoke to during his recent hospitalization.

“It’s interesting that I never had a problem in two years and all of a sudden that [when] there’s a political change, there’s a political witch hunt to try to destroy me,” Bolton said.

“I’m very proud of our record. … I will be vindicated in the court of public opinion as well as when an objective investigation is done,” he said.

Despite Bolton’s absence, DeKalb commissioners Tuesday approved a proposal he submitted last year to spend $1 million in confiscated drug money to give Taser stun guns to more than 1,000 officers.

Ellis sent word to the commission that he favored holding the Taser request until the end of the investigation of Bolton. But Commissioner Connie Stokes said Ellis, a former commissioner himself, previously supported the Tasers and said his request “looks like politics; it looks like it has nothing to do with policy.”

Ellis announced last week Bolton was on “requested leave,” which the chief said was due to hospitalization for the onset of diabetes in Dallas. After a week off, Bolton returned to work Monday, but after a daylong series of meetings was placed on leave pending the unspecified investigation.

“There were several allegations about the chief that had come to our attention,” Ellis said Tuesday. He declined to be specific. Bolton’s attorney, Bill McKenney, has said the only issue raised to him was compensatory time off, which Bolton has said was approved by former county CEO Vernon Jones.

Asked if his lengthy conversation with Bolton about the future meant he had not decided to replace Bolton, Ellis said he had made no decision.

But Commissioner Lee May speculated that Ellis is trying to fire Bolton.

“I clearly think they’re trying to get rid of him,” May said in an interview Tuesday. “He [Ellis] assured me that he’s not trying to get rid of him, but I think he is.”

May said he thinks Ellis “wants to bring in his own person.”

Meanwhile, ex-CEO Jones, who hired Bolton, said through a spokesman that any investigation of Bolton should be done by an independent agency, such as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

“The people of DeKalb County would have faith in the GBI’s findings,” said Dwight Thomas, who is Jones’ attorney.

Ellis would not say who was conducting the investigation of Bolton. He said Jones is “entitled to his opinion.

“This is a managerial decision that I’m making,” Ellis said, “and if I think it warrants an external investigation, then we’ll conduct that as well.”