Roswell Police Chief Dwayne Orrick, who has been on the job for less than two years, is being forced to resign, city officials confirmed to Channel 2 Action News on Thursday.
Neither Mayor Jere Wood nor the city’s spokeswoman would comment on why Orrick, who has been placed on administrative leave, is stepping down.
“We won’t comment on personnel issues,” city spokeswoman Julie Brechbill told Channel 2.
Orrick, former public safety director in Cordele in South Georgia, was hired last February as Roswell’s police chief at a $115,000-a-year salary. He replaced Chief Ed Williams, another South Georgia native who retired after 16 years on the job in Roswell. Orrick was Cordele’s chief for 16 years before arriving in Roswell.
Orrick said he couldn’t comment until after the situation was resolved.
When he was hired after a five-month search and 67 applicants, Orrick told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he wanted to make the Roswell department “the shining star” of police agencies in the Southeast.
The police department, however, has been the target of several lawsuits dealing with issues under Williams’ leadership. One of the most recent claimed that former Roswell Officer Maurice Bradford was fired in September 2010 in retaliation for leaking damaging information about officer misconduct to the media. The case was filed in federal district court in Atlanta on March 14, 2011, a month after Williams stepped down.
Brechbill said Deputy Chief Rusty Grant will become interim police chief.
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