A send-off for Doraville police chief

What a difference a year and a half makes.

When Doraville police chief John King went off to war the first time, he almost lost his job. In 2007, King returned from 18 months of fighting in Iraq to a city council that tried to fire him. Three council members lodged several complaints against King, including the suggestion that he was a “part-time” chief who was away too much.

Now, as King, a colonel in the Georgia Army National Guard, again prepares to deploy, the city has thrown him a party.

“He is very well thought of in this community,” said James Ambrose, a retired trucking industry worker who sought out King for a handshake and chat last week during a reception in his honor. “No one is going to try that nonsense again.”

King, 45, will spend up to a year in Afghanistan, to help train the country’s fledgling police forces.

He has served in the Guard since he was 18, working his way up to his current job as deputy commander of the 48th Infantry Brigade.

King juggled his Guard duties with a career in law enforcement. He has been on the Doraville force for nearly 15 years and has served as chief since 2002.

That double duty got him in trouble.

When King got back from Iraq, he took vacation time and then went to FBI training school.

A majority of the then-city council balked at taking him back. They held a marathon council meeting that resulted in a 2:30 a.m. vote to fire him.

Mayor Ray Jenkins reinstated King the next day, but the struggle dragged on for weeks as King’s foes on the council continued trying to oust him.

The spat made national news. Doraville residents backed King with marches, petitions and yard signs.

In the end, King kept his job and two of the councilmen who opposed him were defeated in the next election.

Last week, more than 100 residents turned out for King’s send-off party at city hall.

“John King is good to everyone,” said Sung Man Park, who works on the Asian Community Patrol as a liaison between police and Asian businesses along Buford Highway. “He is a good man.”

Vera Bailey, a retired hairdresser who has lived in Doraville for 51 years, even baked a fresh apple cake for King.

“We’ve got the best police chief in the whole state of Georgia,” said Bailey, 78. “They better make sure to keep him.”

Members of the current council insist they support King. Jenkins pointed to the large, overflowing cardboard boxes outside the reception as proof that the city gets it now.

The boxes were filled with donated school supplies and basic hygiene items, such as toothbrushes, for King and one of his officers, Daniel Nichols, also headed to Afghanistan, to hand out to children during their tour.

“This city is very proud to have a man of that caliber represent us in another country,” Jenkins said.

King, whose 21-year-old son, John Ross, is a Marine at Camp Lejeune, hugged and smiled his way through the party. He admitted to being slightly embarrassed at the attention, given how many in the military get little notice for their work.

His home-turf battle in 2007 hardly compares to the challenge of confronting a Taliban resurgence, he said.

“That was an unfortunate period, but I am not dwelling on it,” King said. “This community has been very good to me and the police department. I will do my best to make them proud.”