PORTSMOUTH
Former Police Chief Tonya Chapman said Monday that she was forced to resign, after years of resistance from some members of the force when she tried to change the department’s culture.
During a press conference Monday night, Portsmouth NAACP President James Boyd said the ouster of Virginia’s first black female city police chief was the result of an “electric current of systemic racism and oppression” in the city and part of a pattern in Portsmouth of dismantling black leadership. Boyd also suggested pressure was placed on the city manager to remove Chapman and that the City Council may have played a role. Mayor John Rowe has denied having any part.
Before Chapman took the job in 2016, she wrote in a four-page letter Monday, she was aware of “friction” between city leaders and “external strife” between the community and the police department following several officer-involved shootings.
But internal strife within the department — including “racial tensions” — became “blatantly apparent” to Chapman after a white former officer was convicted of shooting a black man, Chapman wrote. She was referring to the 2016 voluntary manslaughter conviction of Stephen Rankin in the shooting death of 18-year-old William Chapman II, who was no relation to the former chief.
“Having been a member of two other law enforcement agencies, I have never witnessed the degree of bias and acts of systemic racism, discriminatory practices and abuse of authority in all of my almost 30 year career in law enforcement and public safety,” Chapman wrote in the letter, which was addressed to “the citizens of Portsmouth” and emailed to reporters early Monday morning.
The letter came a week after the city announced in a news release that Chapman had quit after three years on the job.
In her statement, Chapman described meeting with City Manager Lydia Pettis Patton on March 18, when she said the city manager read from a “scripted document” saying that Chapman had “lost the confidence” of the police department. Chapman said the city manager asked for her resignation, wouldn’t answer her questions and said she would fire Chapman if she didn’t sign a pre-written letter of resignation.
Chapman said several officers verified to her that there wasn’t “any type of survey done” that would validate the no-confidence claim.
“As with any organization, there were officers in the department that did not like my style of leadership and did not want me to hold them accountable for their actions,” Chapman wrote in the letter. “Some quite frankly did not like taking direction from an African American female. Further, I would contend that there were some politically connected individuals that never had confidence in me in the first place.”
On Monday, Pettis Patton declined to discuss Chapman’s resignation and the letter, saying it was a “personnel matter.”
Councilwoman Lisa Lucas-Burke said she was blindsided by Chapman’s departure and wants to know what led to it. She said there were no clues that city officials had been unhappy with Chapman’s performance until last week. Lucas-Burke said Chapman has had a 30-year career in law enforcement with no bad press or trouble — until she came to Portsmouth.
“The community is saying that Dr. Patton was being used to do somebody else’s dirty work,” Lucas-Burke said. “I don’t know which way to look, and it makes me nervous because I’m probably dealing with some of these same people. … I’ve had an upset stomach for the past week trying to digest all of this and not having any answers. People are calling me and saying, ‘What the hell is going on?’ I don’t know what to tell them.”
Three council members — Nathan Clark, Shannon Glover and Bill Moody — declined to comment. Two others, Paul Battle and Elizabeth Psimas, did not return calls.
The mayor, Rowe, said he hadn’t read Chapman’s letter. Asked for his response to her allegations, he cited a section of the city charter that says council members cannot take part in the appointment or removal of city employees. The rule doesn’t bar council members from asking questions or giving their opinions about a firing.
Lucas-Burke said City Attorney Solomon Ashby cited the same charter provision in an email telling council members to stay quiet about Chapman’s departure or risk removal from office. The charter says council members can be convicted of a misdemeanor and removed from office if they “give orders either publicly or privately to any subordinate of the city manager” or “in any way take part in the appointment of or removal” of employees.
In her letter, Chapman said she was “determined” to change the culture in the department.
“Some of these incidents are so inflammatory, I am reluctant to make this publicly available out of concern for public safety; however, I am willing to share specific information with the appropriate governmental entity,” she wrote. “The good news is that I can assure you that this was a small contingency of the police department as most of its members are passionate about their job as law enforcement officers and treat our citizens with respect and dignity while upholding their constitutional rights.
Chapman said most officers embraced her efforts to develop a “highly ethical, high performing organization that embraces diversity and treats everyone with respect and dignity.”
The former chief wrote that there were “members of a highly influential fraternal organization” — which she did not name — that tried to generate a “no confidence” vote against her. She said they were unable to do so because they could not “articulate valid reasons.” She also said she was told the only other chief for whom a “no confidence” vote was generated was a former black male chief.
The Portsmouth Fraternal Order of Police did not respond to requests for comment Monday.
In her statement, Chapman said the city manager told her she would receive two months severance pay if she signed the resignation letter, which she said she did “under duress.” In her statement, she asks the city to extend her severance to six months and give her a positive recommendation for future employment.
She wrote that she found success in her time with the department, citing statistics including a 52-percent drop in homicides in 2016 and an 8-percent overall reduction in major crimes last year. She also cited an increase in women and minority representation and listed nearly a dozen community engagement initiatives she started.
“I can assure you that I did not ‘quit’ on the citizens of Portsmouth,” Chapman wrote. “My mother did not raise me to be a quitter. She raised me to be a strong woman. As such, my resignation was not tendered under my own volition. This was a forced resignation and our City Manager was the conduit.”
Through a police department spokeswoman, acting Police Chief Angela Greene declined to comment.
At a press conference Monday night, the NAACP and the president of the Portsmouth Pan Hellenic Council said they stand in support of Chapman.
Boyd called Chapman’s resignation a “constructive firing” and called for accountability, saying the mayor and city leaders need to explain what happened.
“To those in our community who don’t quite understand the importance of this ‘constructive firing’ of Police Chief Tonya Chapman, you might not see it now, but you may see it two weeks from now when your granddaughter or your grandson is pulled over for speeding a little bit going down High Street. And when they pull your grandson or your granddaughter over, believe me, you want police officers who answer to Tonya Chapman and not to systems of racism and oppression,” Boyd said.
“This today affects every citizen in this city. This today is not just about policy. It’s not just about someone’s job. It is literally death and life.”
Pilot writer Robyn Sidersky contributed to this report.
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Margaret Matray, ?757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com
