Firing seems near, but Ellis-Bolton fight likely to go on

Now what? DeKalb County Police Chief Terrell Bolton’s time in limbo apparently will end Monday, when his boss, Chief Executive Officer Burrell Ellis, said he will decide whether to fire him.

Ellis, who placed Bolton on leave Feb. 9, has made clear he believes he has the evidence, including insubordination and misuse of county property, to fire Bolton despite the chief’s merit system job protection.

A firing would stop — at least for a while — almost daily controversies during the past three weeks over what Bolton did or did not do as chief. But Ellis still would have plenty to do to set a future course for the county Police Department — and quite possibly a battle with Bolton that could be lengthy and expensive.

For many DeKalb residents, the entire embarrassing struggle has already gone on too long.

“Whatever’s done, we want it to hurry up and get done because we have bigger things to tackle,” said Marcus Wilson, president of the DeShon-Rockbridge Community Coalition in south DeKalb.

Wilson said the current conflict goes back to the way Bolton was hired. In 2006, then-CEO Vernon Jones picked Bolton over finalists recommended by a committee that Jones empaneled.

“Chief Bolton was brought in by the CEO, who wasn’t on the best terms with the majority of the county,” Wilson said.

If Ellis boots Bolton, he will need to name a new police chief, who would be the fourth in DeKalb since Eddie Moody retired in 2004. But he may choose to wait until he first accomplishes two political objectives: removing merit system protection from the chief’s job; and creating a public safety commissioner position that would outrank the chief.

County commissioners have expressed some skepticism about the position. Ellis has the authority to create the job, but he will have to pay for it out of his own budget unless the County Commission funds it.

For now, the department is being run by an acting chief, Maj. William O’Brien. Ellis selected him over a cadre of deputy chiefs and assistant chiefs who had been put in place by Bolton. Those commanders — and a 55-member community policing unit created by Bolton and criticized by Ellis’ transition committee — face an uncertain future.

A long fight ahead?

If Bolton is fired, he could invoke a DeKalb law that gives him merit-system protection from firing except “for cause.”

“He would be entitled to a full hearing before an appointed hearing officer,” said Bolton’s attorney, Bill McKenney.

If the administrative appeal didn’t work, Bolton could go to court, as both Bolton and his attorney have said he would.

Such disputes can be long and costly. Court records show Bolton still is fighting for damages over his firing as Dallas’ police chief in 2003. As of a year ago, the Dallas City Council had authorized payments of $245,000 to a law firm representing the city in that case, The Dallas Morning News reported.

A federal appeals court ruled in 2007 that Bolton was entitled to sue for back pay because he should have been returned to his prior merit system rank of sergeant rather than terminated because he was not fired “for cause.”

But because of legal protections enjoyed by governments and their officials, and the then-city manager’s apparent confusion over unclear legal precedents, the courts later ruled Bolton could not collect damages despite the error. He has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

One Bolton program, his community policing initiative that embeds officers in high-crime neighborhoods where they develop a rapport with the neighbors, has support from DeKalb residents.

“We certainly hope the program will continue if there is a change in chiefs,” said Lee Smith, vice president of the White Oak Hills Neighborhood Association south of Decatur.

Wilson, the south DeKalb community leader, also credits Bolton for improving police response times in his neighborhood. But Wilson said he’s heard from other neighborhood leaders who say overall public safety has not improved during Bolton’s tenure. He said he thinks Ellis, who was a county commissioner when Bolton was hired, wants to improve the Police Department.

“I think just being there and seeing a lot of things that happened under Vernon Jones, there are just a lot of things that he saw that were wrong that he wanted to make right,” Wilson said.

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PAST FRICTION

• Soon after Police Chief Terrell Bolton came to DeKalb County in 2007, he began pushing for a multimillion-dollar expansion of the Police Department. A majority of the County Commission, then led by Burrell Ellis, resisted the increases as too costly. Bolton suggested that commissioners opposed to his plan were not committed to fighting crime. Commissioners eventually approved hiring more officers, but bruised feelings lingered.

• Last year, Bolton told a TV news reporter that “enemies” intended to discredit him. Ellis later said he thought Bolton was referring to him. Bolton denied it.

• When Ellis became CEO in January, he declined police protection, citing the “enemies” comment, and opted instead for a detail from the Sheriff’s Office.

• On Jan. 30, Ellis told a graduating class of cadets that he was imposing a freeze on all transfers without his approval. Bolton then told the cadets that they still had to follow the chain of command. Ellis cited that incident as insubordination.