Former Clayton County police chief Greg Porter has filed a whistleblower suit against the county commission alleging he was demoted for bringing attention to problems he was having with the county’s top executive.
The 56-page complaint filed Jan. 20 in Clayton Superior Court alleged the commission’s decision to reassign Porter to the county’s 911 emergency dispatch department hurt his reputation and future earnings potential. He went from overseeing a department with 600 employees and a $32.5 million annual budget to a department with fewer than 50 workers and an annual budget of $3.7 million.
The suit is brought under the Georgia Whistleblower Act. The law protects government employees who report wrongdoing from retaliation.
The complaint also noted that while Porter was police chief, Commission Chairman Jeff Turner circumvented Porter’s ability to lead the police department.
“It’s the same claim he’s been making and, as with any other litigation, we are not going to comment about it,” Turner said Friday. “The matter has been turned over to our legal department and we will deal with it accordingly.”
Despite the reassignment, Porter’s $154,000 salary remained the same.
Porter wants his job back with back pay and benefits. However if he’s unable to be reinstated, Porter wants to be paid for five years, including any fringe benefit and for loss of retirement income as a because of the loss of prestige resulting from the demotion. He’s also seeking $200,000 in compensatory damages.
In addition to suing the board as a whole, Porter accused Turner and Commissioner Shana Rooks of having “made numerous false and defamatory remarks concerning (Porter’s) tenure as police chief indicating that he has engaged in certain criminal acts,” the suit said.
“It’s a whispering campaign, mainly to blemish his name,” Wayne Kendall, Porter’s attorney, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “They were making all kinds of disparaging comments.”
Rooks said Friday she could not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit cites a Nov. 17, 2014 memo Porter sent to the commission accusing Turner of bypassing him and giving orders directly to police department employees. Porter also alleges that Turner made "questionable requests" involving police department resources.
Porter’s memo said Turner had approached him about buying a new Tahoe for Turner’s security detail out of the police department’s budget. Turner later became upset when he learned the vehicle would not be purchased. The memo also noted that Turner wanted Porter to buy a $3,500 high-tech camera for the county television channel through the police department budget. The camera was later purchased.
Turner dismissed Porter’s allegations at the time saying Porter had difficulty with Turner’s management style.
Ironically, Turner faced a similar situation when he was police chief. He was removed in 2009 as Clayton’s chief by a previous board, led by then Chairman Eldrin Bell, himself a former police chief in Atlanta. Among the allegations against Turner at the time was departmental mismanagement. He was reassigned to the police academy which closed a short time later.
Porter was reassigned to the 911 department last year after 28 years in law enforcement.
“He no longer can retire as chief of police which carries prestige,” Kendall said. “If he wants to do consulting work, he can’t put on his resume that he is a retired chief of police. Most of his career was in law enforcement. 911 isn’t law enforcement. Everybody will look at it as a demotion.
“It’s all because he sent this memo about all the requests and micromanaging by Jeff Turner.”
Porter was hired by the county in law enforcement in April 1987. As director of the 911 department he now has no law enforcement responsibilities, the lawsuit noted.
About the Author
