Lilburn Police Chief John Davidson's downfall began with a lewd comment he allegedly made about actress Jessica Simpson. An investigation resulted and more inappropriate and unprofessional remarks were attributed to Davidson. He resigned in February.
Deputy chief Bruce Hedley, 45, was named as Davidson's replacement, and officers, city officials and residents appear united behind his leadership. The hope is Hedley will create a more welcoming work environment and remove the stain on the police department left by two failed administrations.
"One of my first meetings with my mid-level management team was about officer morale," Hedley said. "They felt it needed to be uplifted."
City Manager Bill Johnsa was responsible for Hedley's promotion to chief, and said he never really considered anyone else.
He asked Hedley to serve as the interim chief, and purposely didn't post the job on law enforcement websites. Over the next month, he interviewed three other candidates before offering the position to Hedley, who had worked in the Atlanta Police Department for 18 years before coming to Lilburn in 2007.
"The decision was quite evident to me and others," Johnsa said. "We couldn't imagine finding a better candidate."
The ousted Davidson previously was the police chief expected to repair the department's damaged reputation. He was hired in February 2006 to replace longtime chief Ron Houck, who left when Latino police officers filed several federal discrimination complaints. Davidson, who had been chief of the Mauldin Police Department in South Carolina, came with a record of community outreach to Latinos.
By most accounts, Davidson lived up to that billing. His first performance review in 2007 noted he "had undertaken a community law enforcement outreach program, first ever for Lilburn, that has been received very positively."
Said Thor Johnson, one of the leaders of non-profit group SafetySmart Lilburn, "In my 10 years in Lilburn, [Davidson] was the only one that I’ve ever seen with such a proactive outreach to all of the community."
Davidson also presided over a precipitous drop in violent and property crime rates, according to the most recent data reported by the agency. Lilburn never had fewer than 130 annual criminal incidents in the five years before he arrived, and didn't have more than 91 in each of his last three years.
Johnsa regularly gave Davidson high marks on his employee performance appraisals, including scores of 260 out of a possible 270 on evaluations in 2009 and 2010. "John is a superior employee with an excellent skill set," Johnsa wrote in last year's appraisal.
Davidson faced his most significant troubles within his own department, according to city records. Employees accused the 31-year law enforcement veteran of creating "an offensive and intimidating work environment.”
City officials opened an inquiry on Feb. 11 after learning of Davidson's comment about Simpson in the department's radio room. A female officer told an investigator Davidson made a bawdy remark about Simpson. The officer didn't report the comment but told another officer, and the incident was eventually relayed to Hedley.
Employees said they didn't want to file complaints and make an issue of the comments because Davidson was their department head. A human resources consultant, who led the internal investigation, determined that represented “a total lack of respect for the police chief,” city records showed.
In February, Davidson was asked to resign or be fired by Johnsa. Davidson initially declined to resign but changed his mind. The city and Davidson reached a separation agreement, with Davidson getting three months of severance pay and more than $12,000 in unused vacation pay.
The deal also stipulated that neither side could "make any negative statements."
However, Davidson later sent Johnsa a letter accusing the city of carrying out "a carefully orchestrated plan designed to undermine my authority, damage my reputation, and ultimately force me to leave the department by whatever means was necessary."
Reached on Friday, Davidson declined comment, but said, "I would love to talk, but I'm contractually prohibited from doing so."
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