While rumors circulated for weeks that Baton Rouge Police Chief Dewayne White’s job was on the line, reports today of his termination took many by surprise.
“‘OMG’ is my reaction,” says Metro Council member Tara Wicker. “We, as a council, had no indication that anything was going on.”
District Attorney Hillar Moore III, who attended a news conference this morning with White and several other law enforcement leaders just hours before the chief was fired, was also caught off guard.
“I have no idea what the reasons are,” Moore says. “But both White and the mayor have been very good friends.”
White recently underwent a performance evaluation, which gave rise to speculation the position he has held since May 2011 was at risk. He has also been at odds with the police union, which some believe ultimately led to his termination.
“I know the unions have not been sitting on the sidelines idly watching,” says Councilman Joel Boé, who is leading an effort to form a committee that will study consolidating the police department and sheriff’s office. “We will never know the full story, but we have seen all the discord and unhappy people on both sides of the fence.”
While elected officials were guarded in their comments, several expressed disappointment that White, who is credited with tackling tough issues within the BRPD, will not have an opportunity to carry out reforms he began.
“I’m very disappointed,” says Wicker. “I was elated with the progress we were making on [Project] BRAVE.”
Boé also says he’s “extremely disappointed” about the firing.
As for BRAVE, Moore says the city’s newest crime-fighting initiative—which targets the worst offenders in the most dangerous neighborhoods—will continue, regardless of who is chief.
“The chief and the sheriff and I have always said that if any of us is no longer on the job, BRAVE would rock on—and it will,” Moore says.
Outspoken BRPD critic Lane Grigsby, who is helping to organize and fund the efforts to look at consolidating law enforcement agencies, was not guarded in his reaction and blames the police unions for White’s fate.
“The inmates are running the asylum,” Grigsby says. “This just adds to the multiple reasons for consolidating the police department with the sheriff’s office.”
A BRPD spokesman would not confirm local media reports of White’s firing this afternoon, and referred all comment to the mayor’s office, which did not return multiple calls for comment as of press time.
