The whole staff of a small police department in North Carolina quit all at once, saying that the town’s newly elected manager had made the workplace “hostile.”
On July 20, five police officers, including the force’s 20-year-old chief, gave their resignation letters to the town manager and city council. The decision meant that the police force in Kenly, a town of about 2,000 people, was left with only three part-time officers to run it.
Even before the cops quit, there were only five officers instead of the usual eight, which was one of several complaints made by the officers in the letter. Two town clerks agreed with them and said that the new manager, a progressive Black woman who had sued her previous employer for gender and racial discrimination but lost, was doing the same thing. She said these things after she had been fired, and her lawsuit was later thrown out, WRAL said.
The manager, Justine Jones, was hired last month, almost eight years after she was fired. At the time, the town made a big deal out of the fact that she was fired. On the other hand, Kenly Police Chief Josh Gibson was not as happy when he and six other city employees gave Jones their two-week notices on Wednesday, July 20.
“In my 21 years at the Kenly Police Department, we have had our ups and downs, “Gibson wrote a note and sent it to both Jones and the city council of the town. “But, especially in the last three years, we have made a lot of progress that we had hoped to keep up. He went on, “But I don’t think progress is possible in the Town of Kenly right now because of how hard it is to work there. I’m thankful to this town for making me the chief who has been here the longest. I will miss them a lot “.
Shortly after sending the note, Gibson posted on Facebook that he was leaving the force. He said he didn’t know what would happen to him after he left his long-term job in early August. “After 21 years of service, I have given my two-week notice to the town of Kenly, along with the rest of the police department,” he wrote. “The new manager has made it so that we don’t feel like we can do our jobs and help the community. I don’t know what will happen to me next. I’m letting God take the lead “.
Gibson named county clerks Christy Thomas and Sharon Evans. Both of them said in letters that they were leaving their jobs because Jones was so stressful. Austin Hills, Jason Tedder, GW Strong, and Darren K. Pate all said the same thing as their boss, which was that they were tired of the way Jones had made work since she started her job less than two months ago. Gibson has said that he might think about going back to work for the police if Jones is fired.
What is her name?
Jones, a middle-aged Black woman, sued her former employer, Richland County, South Carolina, for discrimination because of her gender and race. She was a manager of research and an assistant director, according to the lawsuit. Jones, a middle-aged Black woman, sued her former employer, Richland County, South Carolina, for discrimination because of her gender and race. She was a manager of research and an assistant director, according to the lawsuit.
Jones was fired on March 30, 2015, which was months before the lawsuit was filed. Later that same year, the lawsuit was dropped. The case was dropped, but the court records don’t say why. In a press release from last month, officials said that Jones was chosen after a “nationwide search” of 30 candidates. In Minnesota, Virginia, South Carolina, and now North Carolina, she has worked in local government for the past 16 years.
After she was fired from her job in Richland County, she started her own consulting business and worked there until early last month, when she was hired for her current job. In an interview with The News & Observer, Chip Hewett, the town’s attorney, said that Gibson, Thomas, and Evans’s resignations were “unexpected.”