Embattled Morningside Police Chief Resigns

02/14/13

The town of Morningside may once again be resuming its search for a Chief of Police. Jeffery Gray the department’s most recent Chief has involuntarily resigned following a vote by the Town Board to terminate him from the position. Sources report that shortly before his resignation, letters of no confidence were submitted to the town board by all except one of his subordinates. Chief Gray was with the department for a short tenure of less than five months.
Employees assert that Chief Gray through his actions has demonstrated that he does not possess the operational command experience, interpersonal qualities and other characteristics necessary for the Chiefs position. Employees further asserted that he is unsuited for the position due to an “arrogant and indifferent attitude” towards his staff. One current employee described Chief Gray as having a jackal and Hyde personality, claiming that publicly he presented a friendly façade but privately he employed bullying tactics and used obscenities while communicating with his employees. Allegations also included unfair labor practices related to overtime pay, failing to foster teamwork, and causing morale to steadily deteriorate which damaged the effectiveness of the department. An employee who wished not to be identified stated that when asked whether employees could continue to work under the leadership of Chief Gray, there was a resounding “no” from all present. The fact that Chief Gray has severely damaged the effectiveness and harmony with-in the department in such a short amount of time is astounding, said the employee. The employee also quipped that Chief Gray’s conduct would be worthy of a starring character role in the movie “Horrible Bosses”.
Chief Gray is a retired member of the Prince George’s County Police Department where he rose only to the rank of corporal. Chief Gray also served as a Special Assistant to Chief David Rice of the New Carrollton Police Department for a short period of time.
An acting Chief has not been officially named however we have learned that the department’s second highest ranking official is likely to take command until a permanent appointment is made.

The above post has created a little bit of a stir and I would like to discuss it here. On 03/15/13 at 0511 hours we received a report on this post requesting that it be removed from LEOAFFAIRS.COM for various reasons. The post was written like a news article but only a date of 02/14/13 was provided. However, the information was posted by a registered user and, as per our Terms of Use, has a greater right to exist. Interestingly, the complaint we received on the post came from an Anonymous source. That said, we sought out to check the credibility of this writing and here is what we came up with:

On 02/22/13 DCMILITARY.COM produced an article titled Morningside Police Chief Resigns written by Staff Writer Chris Basham. In the article Basham talks about a February 14th email that Chief Jeffery Gray generated about his resignation. Basham then states that, later that day, another writer by the name of James Johnson sent out a mass email about Chief Gray's resignation. Basham goes on to quote portions of Johnson's email which match the post above. It is our belief that the original post in this string was reproduced from James Johnson's mass email and thus authored by Johnson himself.

I will reference the DCMILITARY.COM article below:

http://www.dcmilitary.com/article/20...-chief-resigns

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DCMilitary.com

Friday, February 22, 2013 Publication: Andrews Gazette

Morningside Police Chief Resigns

by Chris Basham, Staff Writer

After less than five months as head of the Morningside Police Department, Chief Jeffery Gray resigned as of Feb. 14.

In a Feb. 14 email announcing his resignation, Gray stated, “Due to the unacceptable work environment, I will not subject myself or my reputation to the continuous actions within this Agency.”

Later that day, a writer identified as James Johnson sent out a mass email about Chief Gray’s resignation, citing unnamed sources within the Morningside Police Department who, Johnson said, called Gray “unsuited for the position due to an ‘arrogant and indifferent attitude’ towards his staff,” and quoting other unnamed officers as saying that Gray had “a jackal and Hyde personality, claiming that publicly he presented a friendly facade but privately he employed bullying tactics and used obscenities while communicating with his employees.”

In the email, Johnson stated that Gray left the department after the Morningside Town Council voted to terminate Gray from his position as Chief of Police. Morningside Mayor Karen Rooker was unavailable for comment about Gray’s work for the town or the circumstances of his exit from the department. Johnson did not respond to an email requesting information about his statements.

Morningside’s interim Police Chief Wesley Stevenson said that his department had no official statement to release about Gray’s time in the department or his departure. Stevenson referred all inquiry to Mayor Rooker.

Prior to accepting the position as Morningside Chief of Police, Gray served as Special Advisor to the Chief of Police of New Carrollton, Md. New Carrollton Chief of Police David Rice said that he could not comment directly about Gray’s time at Morningside, but praised Gray for his work as “one of the leading investigative trainers” for in-service curriculum for police officers throughout the state of Maryland, and for his wise counsel.

“I’ve known him for eight or nine years. I brought him on here as a Resources Volunteer, because I could call on him for his vast experience with Prince George’s County and the State’s Attorney’s Office. He’s a great asset,” Rice said. “As far as Morningside, I read some of the nonsense and I don’t know where they got that--being mean and all that. Even in stressful situations, and he’s had them. He’s worked in Internal Affairs. He never said a cross word to anybody.”

Former Prince George’s County Sheriff James V. Aluisi said that he “always got along super well with Jeff, when he was a county police officer and working with the State’s Attorney’s Office. In all my years and recollections of Jeff Gray, they have been positive.”

Rice and Aluisi each said that although their interactions with Gray were overwhelmingly positive, they could not hazard guesses as to what might have led to Gray’s departure from the Morningside Police Department.

“I will never fail to be amazed by what transpires in some of the municipalities of Prince George’s County,” said Aluisi. “It’s grassroots politics, and sometimes there’s a lot of manure under that grass.”