Want to fix problems at Bluffton Police Department? Let the chief do his job | Opinion
In early 2006, The Island Packet profiled the newly hired Bluffton Police Chief David McAllister and quoted him as saying, “I’m a big believer in (you’ve) got to know where you come from to know where you’re going.”
Months earlier, McAllister had resigned as chief of the New Castle, Delaware, police department amid controversy (he had refused to allow an audit of an account he had been using to pay off-duty police officers).
The Town of Bluffton hired McAllister to replace a temporary chief who had taken over for John Brown, who had stepped down amid controversy (which included an outside investigation into the agency after it was accused of intentionally hindering an undercover drug bust by Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office).
Six years later, McAllister, too, would resign from the Bluffton job amid controversy.
He was replaced by Joey Reynolds, who stayed until 2017, when he left the department amid controversy.
Reynolds was replaced by Joseph Manning, who resigned amid controversy in 2018, not even a year after being promoted to the position.
And Manning was replaced by current Chief Chris Chapmond.
He has not resigned amid controversy.
Not yet, anyway.
And the Town of Bluffton ought not let that happen.
Chapmond — like Manning, like Reynolds, like McAllister — inherited an agency in need of overhaul.
The town has expanded greatly over the past 15 years, and each new chief has had his own range of mountains to climb.
McAllister, according to one town committee chairperson in 2007, rebuilt the department from the ground up. It needed to be modernized. Officers needed better training. Professional standards needed to be established.
Along the way, though, McAllister found himself at the center of several costly employee lawsuits — including an age-discrimination claim that resulted in a $236,000 settlement with the town. He also stood accused of verbally bullying officers, physically assaulting an officer, retaliation, carrying on an extramarital affair, enlisting officers to help cover it up, allowing his alleged mistress to use empty jail cells to house stray dogs, and drinking and driving.
To combat “bad press” — and in violation of state law — McAllister began to hold back police reports from the media and the public. He instituted a policy that required anyone requesting reports to give their name and submit to a background check to make sure they did not “appear on any ‘wanted’ list.” That policy, needless to say, did not hold.
When Reynolds came on board, he was tasked with repairing the department’s reputation and stabilizing it from the inside out.
Reynolds, however, would end up announcing his retirement after The Island Packet began asking about his extensive paid absences related to his role with the FBI National Academy over the years.
During his tenure, he was criticized for being away from the department too often, including being gone a total of at least five out of his last 15 months on the job, which led to accusations from the inside of inconsistent leadership and a command staff run amok.
He was also questioned about his department’s disproportionate overtime bill of $337,000 during Hurricane Matthew, despite Bluffton being largely spared from the storm; for taking a five-figure overtime payout himself and allowing his deputy chief to do the same; for paying overtime to officers accused of drinking on duty; for “bad hires” that led to an increasingly sour relationship with the sheriff; and for taking a large payout of unused vacation time on his way out.
When Manning took over ... well, he just had to be physically present, for better or worse.
But he too encountered criticism over his leadership style, which included accusations of playing favorites among staff, allowing antics in the upper ranks and resorting to retaliation when he felt he had been crossed.
In response to the Packet’s coverage of the department in fall 2017, Manning revisited an oldie but goodie and restricted the media’s and public’s access to police reports in violation of state law. After a month, the agency reversed its policy, only to return to one similar nine months later, again in violation of state law. That policy lasted less than a day.
Then came Chapmond.
Now a year and a half at the helm, the current chief has earned a reputation for being a likable cop’s cop who is knowledgeable and who has conducted himself professionally, with integrity and good intent.
He came on board under the auspices of a fresh start for the agency.
As I said, though, he’s inherited a very challenging set of problems, which includes seemingly never-ending accusations of officer misconduct and an internal culture that has been repeatedly described by employees over the years as toxic.
In situations such as Chapmond’s, leaders — elected or otherwise — tend to want all eyes focused only on the future, and they bristle at any prodding about the past.
Reporters at Chapmond’s first press conference, in fact, were barred from asking questions because the town didn’t want “old” news to be resurrected.
The sentiment seems to be: Why do you keep picking on the Bluffton Police? Why can’t you move on? Why do you always have to bring up things from before?
I have an answer.
Because the agency is in need of a big mirror and harsh lighting so it knows where the dents are. And until that happens, history will continue to repeat itself.
Besides, those are the wrong questions to be asking.
Here is the right one: What is the common denominator here?
Answer: the Town of Bluffton.
Right now town government would be smart to assess its role when it comes to this department and not squander the opportunity it has in Chapmond.
Over the years, a running behind-the-scenes joke among those familiar with the police department dynamic has been that the actual Bluffton Police chiefs are Town Manager Marc Orlando and Mayor Lisa Sulka, particularly when it comes to personnel matters.
Whether this is a wholly fair characterization is not clear, though.
After all, Orlando is responsible for direct management of the chief position and therefore would have to be involved in the department to that end. (However, elected officials, including council members, should have a limited role in a department’s daily operations, beyond setting the budget and creating policies for Orlando to direct Chapmond to carry out.)
But, let’s say this were the case: A system like the one that’s been described to me by several unrelated sources and in lawsuits — a system in which two people not trained in law enforcement are looming large over a police department — could, even if it’s being done unintentionally, affect the culture of an agency and result in a trickle-down practice of wonky, inconsistent, unsafe and, sorry to say, not always ethical decision-making based on pressure, fear, obsequiousness, fatalism, apathy and a knee-jerk tendency toward secrecy and silence on missteps.
This can lead to a morale problem, which can lead to a loss of good employees, which can lead to a concentration of problem ones.
In the end, ethical and honest officers who just want to do their jobs, go home alive and feel proud about their days get unfairly labeled, and the cycle starts anew.
As reports continue to emerge about misconduct at the Bluffton Police Department, it’s important for the town to put egos aside and take an unflinching look at the past.
A police department should be run by a police chief.
If that hasn’t been happening in Bluffton, then it’s high time that changes.
