DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric Alexander arrived at the department in April looking to halt a troubling history of embarrassing and sometimes criminal officer misconduct that had damaged the agency’s reputation.
But a recent string of misconduct revelations – the latest being an officer admitting he took a bribe after being caught on video – has plagued the DeKalb Police Department since Alexander became chief and began instilling a new code of conduct.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on the issue of police misconduct in DeKalb as Alexander took office, and in an interview last month, he acknowledged that he has his work cut out for him.
“DeKalb Police Department has definitely lost some of its swagger,” he said.
No stranger to police leadership, Alexander came to DeKalb after being TSA’s federal security director at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Before that, he was Rochester, N.Y.’s, police chief, then Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services.
He said his philosophy of leading by example is the best way to earn the respect of the community the department serves.
“In some of these cases, it’s not so much a law was violated but a public trust was violated,” Alexander said.
In August, Brandon D. Brown resigned from the department to avoid being fired after admitting he took money while in uniform to look the other way as someone smoked marijuana in a Clairmont Road restaurant and hookah bar.
“Fifty dollars … just give me 50,” he told the smoker and repeated for police internal affairs investigators in a recorded interview. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the recording as part of the case file requested through the Georgia Open Records Act. “What I’ve done was wrong.”
Brown was reported to police, and the next day admitted what he did and resigned, according to the investigative report.
The internal investigation found him guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and failing to comply with orders for working an unauthorized part-time off-duty job.
“This was one individual who chose to go outside of the law, and he resigned very, very quickly before it got very much into this investigation,” Alexander said.
The findings of the internal investigation were turned over to the DeKalb District Attorney’s office, where the case is being reviewed, DA’s officials said.
Since April when Alexander took the helm, seven officers, including Brown, have resigned in lieu of termination and two have been fired, according to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, the state agency that certifies police.
Late last month, federal agents arrested William Miguel on allegations he was aiding members of a Gwinnett County-based drug organization. He was terminated and awaits prosecution.
Three female DeKalb officers resigned in June after one of them wearing a police uniform kicked in the door to an apartment where two others – one a captain – were watching TV one night in May. Internal affairs investigators determined that the captain and the third officer lied about traveling overseas together amid a probe into fraternization allegations, police records show.
“It goes against the integrity and ethics of this police department,” Alexander said.
But DeKalb is not alone in dealing with wayward police.
Two weeks ago, the FBI arrested Newton County Sheriff’s Deputy Darrell Mathis for allegedly selling marijuana out of his county patrol car while in uniform.
Dwayne A. Penn was fired from the Clayton County Police Department earlier this month and faces federal drug possession charges. He is accused of scheming with a drug dealer to run a bogus cocaine bust in DeKalb County to steal drugs from an area supplier.
In Henry County, three officers were fired from the police department and three more were demoted after a reported investigation into officers having sex at one of the precincts while on duty over a two-year period.
And in February, 10 officers from varied metro Atlanta police agencies including Atlanta and DeKalb were arrested on accusations they arranged protection for drug deals.
Georgia P.O.S.T. executive director Ken Vance, who oversees the state police licensing agency, said area police agencies are rooting out more bad cops, and leaders like Alexander are leading the charge.
“I think there is more internal scrutiny going on than ever before,” Vance said. “It looks like it makes it a big deal. He’s trying to, from the inside, promote the best and brightest and concentrate on weeding out some of those people that may have been skating by in the past.”
Alexander has accepted the role of a change agent with the department. He has acknowledged low morale stemming from budgetary issues that have quashed raises and perks like take-home cars.
“What we’re trying to do is encourage that morale and keep our men and women hopeful,” he said.
But he rejects any notion of police misconduct as a symptom of low morale or hiring standards that were lowered during some previous administrations.
“I’m not going to allow someone to use that as an excuse.”
A 36-year lawman who holds a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy and a PhD in clinical psychology, Alexander said he accepts the responsibility that leaders have in preventing police misbehavior and charged his command staff with demanding integrity from the ranks.
And he acknowledges most of DeKalb’s officers do the right thing, he said.
“I’m here to tell you that 99.9 percent of the officers on DeKalb’s roster go out there and put it all on the line, every day.”
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