Former Chief Chambers Says Politics, Not Performance, Led to His Ouster
Posted on: Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 12:00 CDT
By Carolyn P. Smith, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.
May 13--WASHINGTON PARK -- Former Police Chief Isadore Chambers said Monday he was replaced for political reasons, not job performance.
Chambers said Mayor John Thornton never told him his contract would not be renewed. But Chambers said Thornton did talk to several others, and that's how Chambers learned his fate.
"The rumors had been surfacing for a month," he said. "All of the way up to the day of the meeting, the mayor had not said anything to me about my not being rehired."
That's why Chambers did not attend the May 6 meeting where Thornton announced his replacement, he said.
"The mayor felt he had a better chance of being re-elected in April if he put somebody in the chief's job who lives out there," Chambers said.
Thornton denied his reasons were political.
"It was not like that," Thornton said. "It was a matter of community complaints. I received a lot of calls from citizens who complained that the chief wasn't working with them. It was about the citizens, and I had to make a change."
Chambers also said he believes he was replaced because Thornton was "upset" about Washington Park officer Juan McCoy, who has been charged with sodomizing a 14-year-old Centreville boy in St. Louis. Chambers hired McCoy in July 2005, and he had a good reputation as a law enforcement officer.
Thornton said he is upset that he had to hear about the charges from someone besides the former chief, and noted that communication had been a problem with Chambers.
Thornton has said crime and drugs are out of control in the village. He specifically pointed out that one elderly woman's home has been broken into four times. Chambers said his detective, Carl Brinkley, had gotten information on two suspects and did a photo line-up. "The woman could not pick them out," Chambers said.
Disputing the mayor's claim that crime in Washington Park is out of control, Chambers said that with only one detective, "we get as many felony warrants as they do in East St. Louis, Alorton and Centreville."
"Brinkley has a good reputation," Chambers said. "The St. Clair County Sheriff's Department is starting a new investigative task force below the hill and surrounding communities. I was going to put him in it. I told him he had to wait until after the board meeting because if I was let go, it would not matter."
Chambers said since he's been chief, the village has had it's own certified range officer who can qualify other officers, and Chambers has gotten grants for bullet proof vests, Tasers, shotguns and radar guns.
"I got a $25,000 monitoring system put in to monitor the jail. We purchased the village's first paddy wagon in 2005. We used it to round up drug dealers and had make a significant dent in crime in Washington Park."
When Chambers came to Washington Park, the jail was closed and in 2005, he re-opened it, he said. Thornton said "plenty" of people helped Chambers get jail the open, and added that it is not his intention to get into a dispute with Chambers.
"If he says he has a reputation, I want him to keep his reputation," Thornton said. "But I felt in my mind it wasn't working. I had to make that decision."
Thornton has said he said he wants to go in another direction. Chambers said Thornton wants to go back rather than move forward with the progress made during Chambers' tenure.
"(Thornton) "provided me with nothing to run the police department. The mayor was the main one who was not doing it right. He was only concerned about helping his friends when they got a ticket."
Contact reporter Carolyn P. Smith at csmith@bnd.com or 239-2503.
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Source: Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, Ill.)
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