Wilmington FOP Takes A Strong Stand Supporting Chief Dunning

This arrived in my email yesterday evening and was sent to a massive list of folks. It is a statement by the FOP not just supporting Chief Dunning, but calling out Mayor Williams for the micromanaging of the WPD he is rumored to be doing. Shortly after this was sent, Councilman Mike Brown sent out an email completely endorsing this statement. The NJ has its piece here. This is interesting to me for a few reasons:

1. Since I’ve lived here, I can’t remember the FOP being this forward about supporting its management or in so severely criticizing the administration — except for contract issues.
2. I think that this is the first public acknowledgement directly from the WPD that the Mayor is micromanaging the WPD, that there really isn’t a public safety plan and that some of the changes that have been made are counterintuitive, even to the police.
3. It looks like it is the lack of support from the Mayor that may be ground zero as to why the WPD think they are being blamed for the rise in violent crime, and since he is threatening the jobs of people who he says can’t get control of the situation, Williams is blaming the department, I think.
4. This seems to be a pretty big turnaround from a year ago when the WPD was riding pretty high on potential changes and a different direction — sort of like the rest of the city (sorta), actually.

The entire text of the FOP’s statement is in the blockquotes below and is taken directly from the email sent to me. I’ve bolded the parts I thought were the most interesting:

The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge#1, representing all Wilmington Police officers offer the following response to statements made last week regarding the top administrative officers at the Department:

Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams alluded to the possibility that he plans to replace the senior leadership of the Wilmington Police Department, presumably to include the Chief of Police and her two Inspectors, in the wake of the violence gripping the City of Wilmington. Let us not forget that Chief Dunning was Williams’ hand-picked leader for the police force. Williams pulled no punches in defending his choice and explaining the reasons behind the appointment. In one interview following the Chief’s appointment, Williams was stated as saying, “I support her 150 percent. Christine is a superstar”, and in another, “I looked at the candidates, as I stated again, and I felt that she was the best choice. I stand by that.” This is a far cry from what we’ve heard this past week. What a difference a year makes. With the level of violence on the rise in Wilmington, the Mayor seems to have made a 180 from his original positions. Now, somehow he identifies the Chief of Police as the primary reason that crime in Wilmington is growing at alarming rates. All this despite the fact that he has ignored, backed away from, or heavily altered parts of his vaunted “Public Safety Plan for Wilmington.”

The Mayor promised a stronger, more active Community Policing unit and then cut their numbers by more than half, he promised the formation and support of a gun squad, which was highly successful while it existed, but he ordered it disbanded after half a year of existence. It should come as no surprise that a vast majority of all violence in Wilmington is committed by drug offenders against other drug offenders, but Mayor Williams also ordered the Drug unit to be cut nearly in half. The list goes on and on. He has cancelled federal task forces, ended years long partnerships with other agencies, and kept staffing levels in the Patrol Division stagnant despite promises for more uniforms on the street, all the while shouting that he is tough on crime and that he takes responsibility for the City’s problems. Now, in an effort to explain the steady increase in crime and shootings on our street, the Mayor has offered up Chief Dunning as his scapegoat.

Chief Dunning, along with Inspectors Ayala and Cummings, have the full support of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #1 and we commend them for their efforts upon inheriting a plague of crime that grew steadily during the twelve years of the previous administration. If the Chief were treated appropriately as a department head and permitted to make decisions and implement her plans as an executive, things might have started to turn around. Having a layer of review and decision making between the Chief and the Mayor has stymied her efforts at almost at every turn. The Wilmington Police Department can never be successful as long as the Chief is micromanaged from city hall. If the Mayor was being forthright when he spoke to the world regarding the Chief and said, “I look at her career, I look at her capabilities, I look at what she’s done over the years on the Wilmington Police department… she’s my candidate,” and, “I know she can make very difficult decisions. And that’s why I trust her in this position”, then just maybe he should get out of her way and let her lead.

Chief Dunning and the men and women who have dedicated themselves to the Wilmington Police Department work every day toward making Wilmington a safe place to live, work, and visit. Mayor Williams made lofty promises to everyone in Wilmington about his crime plan. FOP Lodge 1 calls on him now to follow through, to empower our Chief to do her job without undue restriction, and to support his police department both publicly and privately. While addressing the downtown business community on Thursday, Mayor Williams told all in attendance that he takes full responsibility for the City of Wilmington in good times and bad times. Blaming the Chief of Police and the rank and file under her command is not taking responsibility, sir, it’s passing the buck.

This was signed by Sgt. Harold Bozeman who supervises the Downtown / Riverfront Initiative and who is the President of the Wilmington FOP.