Former Baton Rouge Police Chief Dewayne White offered to resign three weeks ago through his attorney Jill Craft before being fired Wednesday by Mayor Kip Holden, says Craft.
However, Craft says when she contacted Chief Administrative Officer William Daniel to tender White’s resignation, there was denial of White’s job being in jeopardy.
In fact, White reportedly received a “heated call” from the mayor about 30 minutes after Craft had contacted Daniel because Holden was upset White had acquired counsel. White received a letter from Daniel on Wednesday stating that his “termination has to do with a substantial disagreement with the direction of the future of the Baton Rouge Police Department,” Craft says.
But White knew rumors about his firing after the November election had been swirling for months, says Craft, who spoke for White at a news conference this afternoon at her downtown office. She says White contacted her to help him reach a “peaceful resolution” with the mayor.
Tensions arose between White and the mayor last fall, Craft says, when White moved to transfer the BRPD union president from a position of “professional standards” to “community policing”—basically moving from a job with no duties “to one with work.” She adds that shortly after that White recommended moving a black police officer to the top of one of the department’s bureaus and was ordered by the mayor to rescind the transfer, “which he refused” and the transfer was put on hold.
“You can’t have a chief of police incapable of working with personnel,” Craft says.
White will appeal his firing with the mayor’s office in a public hearing Feb. 18.
She says White wishes to remain in law enforcement: “That’s all he knows.”
White was chief of police for less than two years; his career began with BRPD and he was hired as chief of police after working with state police. He was hired May 31, 2011, with a salary of $99,458. With annual increases, he was making $108,680 at the time he was fired. A state supplement of $6,000 was also paid to White each year.
Mayor’s office spokesman Scott Dyer says White will not receive a severance package, but will be paid for vacation and “leave” time he accrued.
