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Sex chat logs lead to chief’s resignationWed, 02/06/2008 - 8:30pm
By: Cal Beverly
Though Peachtree City Police Chief James Murray had been talking with city officials for 16 months about an orderly resignation process, he had no idea that a Nov. 5 meeting with City Manager Bernard McMullen would present him with a stark choice. The issue was explicit sex chats discovered on Murray’s department computer. McMullen wanted an explanation. Instead of an explanation, McMullen got Murray’s resignation. The supreme irony may be that the chief who made a name for himself and his department for zealous pursuit of Internet chat room predators was himself undone by logs of his adult sex chat room activity on city-owned computers. - - - - - - - - - - - - Click on the links below for more details about this story. - - - - - - - - - - - - - While the very public campaign Murray conducted against online exploitation of minors involved felonious activities by adults against children, Murray’s sexual chats with consenting adults on the Internet via city equipment was not illegal, but it was against city policy. Confronted with that evidence Nov. 5, Murray decided to resign. Murray has obliquely suggested — through his attorney, Richard Lindsey of the Peachtree City law firm of Webb, Lindsey and Wade — that his chat room activity was linked to ongoing investigations of illegal activities, but no documentation has been provided to city officials — including other members of the police department — to corroborate that implied defense. “The information [about the chat room logs] was presented to the chief and he just up and said that he decided he would rather retire,” Mayor Harold Logsdon said in an interview last month, adding that McMullen didn’t present Murray with any potential punishment but was instead looking for an explanation. “It never got any farther than that,” Logsdon said. “It was, ‘Here’s some information we have, and do you have an explanation for this,’ and, ‘I think I’ll retire,’” Logsdon said. “It pretty much went that way.” Logsdon said there was “never an investigation” and that there was no “witch hunt” to get rid of Murray. He added that Murray never, to his knowledge, offered an explanation for the explicit material that was attributed to his city computer. “If anybody in the city wants to believe that his use of the computer that he knew full well every key stroke was being examined was for anything other than police purposes, that’s their issue. It’s not his,” Murray’s attorney, Lindsey, said. “And it was a question, in position as chief, he has to have the trust and the respect and support of his superiors and there have been just a number of items over the last couple of years where it was obvious that that was never going to be,” Lindsey said. “And [the] chief wanted to go out on a high note and did not want to get into any type of public discourse. And so we’ve been discussing [his retirement] for 16 months.” City Manager McMullen — having suffered a very public humiliation at the hands of Murray’s officers in June 2006 when he was arrested for driving a golf cart while intoxicated at the city-owned Fredrick Brown Amphitheater — was circumspect to the point of non-responsiveness about his history with Murray and the reasons for the chief’s abrupt departure. “You’ll have to talk to him on that,” McMullen said in an interview in January. “The chief ran a good department and the chief and I have always been on the same page in terms of what what’s being done in terms of law enforcement,” McMullen said. “I believe in having a good, strong police department. Recently we have been working to add to the amount of staffing (at the PD) and upgrading technology so we can better utilize our people.” McMullen said there were no major disagreements with Murray on police operations between either himself or City Council. McMullen also said the only major issue the department has had is dealing with the problems at the new headquarters building. The department is in temporary quarters while mold and moisture problems are being fixed at the HQ on Ga. Highway 74 South. Some who follow city operations contend that Murray’s problems with McMullen began in earnest in early 2004, less than a year after McMullen came on board. That’s when the police department unveiled embarrassing revelations about thefts of services and materials involving the city’s Public Works Department over many months. Later, McMullen incurred the ill will of officers by cutting anticipated pay raises and instituting higher payroll deductions for employees’ benefits, including health insurance. In response some officers for the first time joined a police union and showed up in strength at one city council meeting to oppose McMullen’s cost-cutting proposals. The final chapter of the Murray era began with a complaint about the chief from one of his own officers. A Sept. 27, 2007, memo from Sgt. Odilia Bergh alleged that Murray made inappropriate comments to another female officer at a May 12 dinner at an Atlanta restaurant prior to the McIntosh High School prom. City Manager McMullen met with Sgt. Bergh and Human Resources Manager Brenda Rogers on Oct. 2 and an investigation was launched, with Murray and a number of police officers subsequently interviewed. On Oct. 17 and again Nov. 7, McMullen received anonymous emails from someone going by the name Lord Knight and professing to be a long-time Peachtree City police officer who said he wrote to substantiate Bergh’s claims and offered allegations of his own relating to Murray. Also in October, McMullen instructed city computer System Administrator Matt Robinson to conduct a review of the computer activity reports to determine if any unusual activity regarding the police chief existed. The city had installed so-called keystroke logging software on a number of city computers, including Chief Murray’s, exhaustive logs archived by the computer department supervisor. On Nov. 5, Robinson submitted a memo to McMullen stating the results of his findings on potential violations of the city’s policy on computer use by city employees as they related to stored data that had originated on Murray’s computer. On Nov. 5, McMullen authored a memo stating that he found no evidence to corroborate Bergh’s allegations and considered the matter closed. On Nov. 5, McMullen met with Murray with Fayette County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Col. Wayne Hannah present. At the meeting McMullen and Murray discussed the chief’s retirement. On Nov. 20, Murray gave written notice of his intent to retire effective Jan. 1. On Dec. 10, a memo to McMullen from Maj. Mike Dupree indicated that an internal affairs investigation had been suspended, apparently at McMullen’s instruction. Georgia Open Records requests were forwarded to McMullen by The Citizen on Nov. 9. The Citizen requested all information relating to a meeting held Nov. 5 and reportedly attended by Peachtree City Manager Bernie McMullen, Police Chief James Murray and at least one high-ranking deputy. The Citizen wanted to know the circumstances of the meeting, including the role of the deputies, whether Murray was required to surrender his service weapon prior to meeting with McMullen, whether City Hall was on lock-down before and during the meeting, Murray’s current status and if McMullen was seeking either Murray’s dismissal or retirement before the end of the calendar year. Responding Nov. 14 to some of those questions, Peachtree City spokesperson Betsy Tyler said, “Last week a meeting occurred at City Hall that included the police chief, city manager and one representative from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department. The chief did not have to surrender his service weapon prior to the meeting. During a large portion of the meeting, only the city manager and the police chief were in the room. At no time was city hall on lock-down or closed to the public. James Murray departed the meeting with his service weapon and remains on active duty as the Peachtree City Chief of Police.” Repeated attempts to contact Murray at that time were unsuccessful. Murray has since chosen to respond only through his attorney, despite repeated requests for his unfiltered responses. Contacted Nov. 17, Lt. Col. Hannah said he had been present at the beginning of the meeting that lasted 30-40 minutes. Hannah said he left the room and returned for approximately two minutes at meeting’s end. Hannah said he had been asked not to repeat what had been stated during the portion of the meeting for which he was present. Hannah said he could not comment on questions relating to whether Murray’s service weapon had been removed for the meeting. Hannah also acknowledged that Capt. Bryan Woodie rode with him to Peachtree City but was not involved in the meeting. While Murray could not be contacted in reference to the Nov. 5 meeting at City Hall, his attorney Rick Lindsey did speak with The Citizen on Jan. 15. Asked why Murray was called to City Hall, Lindsey said he did not know. Lindsey did say that, “I know they had a conversation. But there was no termination, no disciplinary action, nothing like that, that I know of. It was a conversation between Bernie and the chief.” Lindsey added his belief that Murray was not persuaded in any way to turn in or submit to retirement. “From my conversations with the chief, we had been discussing the possibility of his retirement for 16 months,” Lindsey said. “He had been accused of a sexual harassment which he was cleared of and that is what he was under the impression of that was happening at the Nov. 5 meeting. At the meeting, an additional unrelated, basically off-the-wall allegation, came about the chat room. ... He’d gotten the department re-accredited. He received at the same time the highest award that the accreditation (organization) gives to individual police officers. He had accomplished everything he wanted to. And it was time to just time to say you know what ... it’s time to go. So he elected to retire.” Lindsey also responded to questions that the Nov. 5 meeting was heated, which might have been a potential reason for the presence of sheriff’s deputies in City Hall. “I was not there. I have had two conversations with the chief about what took place at that meeting. I’ve had conversations that involved Mr. McMullen about that meeting. No one has ever described it to me as heated. No one has told me it was anything other than a regular meeting,” Lindsey said. Central to the substance of the meeting where Murray’s retirement was discussed and the chief’s subsequent submission of his plans to retire in a letter to McMullen 15 days later, Lindsey was asked why Murray decided to resign in such close proximity to his being cleared on the allegations by Bergh and the computer chat room information turned in to McMullen the same day. “He was cleared of the Bergh allegations. On behalf of Jim Murray, for well over 16 months, I’ve had meetings with the mayor and city attorney, too numerous to count, on the possibility of Jim Murray retiring as chief of police. And those meetings, at some times, were numerous over a short period of time and at other times spread out. For 16 months on a fairly regular basis we were discussing the possibility of the chief retiring. “The chief has required that certain things happen for any date of retirement. One, to never impact the accreditation or reaccreditation of the department to make sure that any impact was minimal, that it was timed as such that a replacement could be found. That was always paramount to the chief. I know in early November, I don’t know the date, where he was cleared of the Bergh allegations,” Lindsey said. “As I understand it, in that meeting, certain Internet correspondence was brought up to him. As I understand it, the chief’s response was ‘Listen, I know that every key stroke, everything done on the computers in the city, is recorded and kept. Because of the work the department does, because of past investigations dealing with prostitution, particularly involving Asian women being brought over, the chief wanted to know how this all worked, was told how the chat rooms worked, went on to the chat rooms to participate. I don’t know any more about these investigations other than that. These communications were the ones that were shown to him and were subsequently shown to me,” Lindsey said. Lindsey was asked whether a previous DUI issued to McMullen by Peachtree City police or an earlier incident involving theft of services at the city Public Works Department might have come into play in the men’s professional relationship and might have prompted a desire to have Murray vacate his position as chief. “Obviously Mr. McMullen was the chief’s boss. And obviously Mr. McMullen was arrested for DUI by two of the police officers in Peachtree City and the chief stayed on the sideline with that,” Lindsey responded. “You’d have to ask Bernie about his motivations, but I don’t know. You’d have to ask him. And then there were some tensions about the pay plan, with no raises given to the officers, with other related issues between the police officers and the city as a whole. I know of no attempts to fire the chief. I know of nothing on either side to escalate it other than it’s a friction that (they) did not agree on those points. So I don’t have any knowledge that Mr. McMullen was trying to do anything, but you’d have to ask him about his motivation,” Lindsey said. Lindsey also added that he knew of no pressure by Mayor Logsdon to prompt Murray’s retirement or resignation. Lindsey characterized Murray’s relationship with Logsdon as positive in nature. “My conversations with the mayor about Jim’s retirement were always positive,” said Lindsey. “My conversations with the chief regarding the mayor were always forthright and like any upper level management talking about the elected folks. Most of the time its positive, but there are times they disagree, and they think policy is not where it needs to go.” Though the specifics of the Nov. 5 meeting between McMullen and Murray remains unclear, what is known is that Murray sent a Nov. 20 letter to McMullen stating the notification of his intent to retire as chief effective Jan. 1. Also known today is that, in addition to the meeting at City Hall, Nov. 5 was a pivotal date in terms of other intersecting portions of the circumstances surrounding Murray and leading to his resignation. It was on Nov. 5 that McMullen received a memo from city computer System Administrator Matt Robinson on information that had originated on the chief’s computer on various dates ranging from November 2004 through August 2007. It was also on Nov. 5 that McMullen wrote a memo stating that allegations by Sgt. Bergh toward Chief Murray could not be corroborated and that the matter was closed. Pertaining to potential city policy violations relating to information from Murray’s computer, additional open records documents were obtained by The Citizen during the first week of January. Those dealt primarily with information compiled by city IT System Administrator Robinson. In a Nov. 5, 2007, letter to McMullen, Robinson referred to the city manager’s October request for a chronology of potential violations of city policy CAR 3-8 to determine if he had “any information regarding the police chief in response to another investigation.” That policy involves computer systems used by city employees and elected officials. Included in the policy are those uses considered unacceptable, including the statement that, “No employee shall use the Internet service at any time to access sites or information that could be interpreted as demonstrating poor ethical conduct, unless required as part of their official duties (i.e., administrative or official investigations). These types of sites or information include, but are not limited to, those containing derogatory racial content, sexual content, derogatory religious content, offensive language, improper humor, material that could negatively reflect upon the city of Peachtree City, or material prohibited by law.” Robinson said in an interview in January that the city’s automated computer activity report process for each computer records every keystroke, all websites visited, every program opened and all chat information. In his Nov. 5 letter, Robinson said, “I advised the city manager of and provided the (eight) suspect files found from August 2006, and the city manager requested additional files and information from the computer activity reports and a search of the police chief’s computer for suspect files and activity. In the course of this most recent investigation, the majority of suspect information provided to the city manager was found.” Aside from the eight files found in August 2006, of which city Finance Director Paul Salvatore was made aware at that time, Robinson complied with McMullen’s request by performing a search of Murray’s computer using a series of search terms. Information from Murray’s computer revealed 16 entries listing “Adult Friend Finder,” 56 entries listing “Asian Euro,” 65 entries for “web-cam,” 32 entries for “panties,” six entries for “breast,” and 22 entries for slang terms describing both male and female genitalia. The city data collection system does not provide for web-cam photos, Robinson said. Chat information retrieved from entries on Murray’s computer included numerous sexually explicit references and, occasionally, to forming a long-term relationship. In a chat conversation between “jimmiesim” and someone signed in as “bounce_out_2,” the jimmiesim user at approximately 11:20 a.m. on March 11, 2006 referred to himself as “james andrew murray cross” while “bounce_out_2” at one point used the name Mrs. Adeline Magabang. The conversation progressed to “bounce_out_2” asking, “So why u decide to bring ur grandma’s ring?” “Jimmiesim” responded, “Because when she died she told me to give that ring to the woman I love and marry so I want you to have it.” Peachtree City police have long been in the business of arresting pedophiles who use the Internet to prey on their young victims. That investigative program is well-known locally. Commenting on the chat room information recorded on Murray’s computer, Lindsey could speak only from a limited perspective. “I’ve never had a point-blank conversation with the chief about the details of the investigation. I’m not sure the chief would tell me if I did ask about any investigation unless I was involved from a legal perspective,” said Lindsey. “I’m not the city attorney so I’m not privy to what’s going on with investigations anymore. But I do know that we did have a prostitution-type location here in Peachtree City where we had a massage parlor that employed Asian women who were performing certain acts for pay, and I know newspapers are PG-rated so I’ll leave it at that. In my conversations with the chief, he was looking at investigations, looking at an Asian women connection, but I’ve not gone through and cross-examined him on any of these.” “We had discussions on the computer activity,” Lindsey continued. “Let me just make sure that it is clear that there are no allegations of any criminal wrongdoing on anybody’s part here. Even if the chat room history were of a personal nature, it’s not illegal. He would have only talked to some women reportedly from Asia, as far as I understand. But again, my understanding is that it dealt with an investigation a few years ago or at some time in the past. And actually, they put an undercover police officer into that massage parlor to the get evidence.” The massage parlor investigation and the subsequent arrests came in March 2003. Also addressed in Robinson’s Nov. 5 letter to McMullen was a reference to a May 20, 2003, email sent from a person identified as Judy Zeng, apparently a resident of China, to several city email addresses regarding a police chief named “Jimmy.” In the email, Zeng apparently believed Jimmy was single with no family. Zeng said her purpose was not to destroy him, but to get to the truth after two years and four months. “You are a chief, which means you must be an honest man and I should have no reason to doubt what you said. I did trust you so much. But is this the truth as it should be? I thought a good man as you deserves true love from a nice woman. Each time I asked you if you could come visit me in China, you said as soon as possible. You had time to go diving on holiday but no time to meet me.” Lindsey said he was not familiar with Zeng, though he pointed out the close proximity in time between her letter and the massage parlor investigation. “I don’t know who Judy Zeng is. I would not have been city attorney. It would have been about the same time if not identically the same time as the situation with the massage parlor in PTC,” Lindsey said. “And Judy Zeng, or whoever this person or persons might be, in China or wherever, I don’t know if this person was part of the investigation or a target of the investigation, I don’t know.” Other portions of the open records request by The Citizen were for documents, pertaining to any and all complaints, including complaints of sexual harassment and/or inappropriate comments or of a sexual or harassing nature, against Police Chief James Murray and/or officers under his command during the past 60 days. Responding to the documents not released in November, Tyler said, “There are additional records applicable to this (request) that are not subject to disclosure under (Georgia statute).” The documents that were obtained by The Citizen in November dealt with “a complaint filed, investigated and closed due to lack of findings,” Tyler said. In those documents were allegations by Sgt. Odilia Bergh, who serves as Booth Middle School Resource Officer, that Murray had made comments of a sexually inappropriate nature to Cpl. Heather Lackey while attending a May 12 dinner at Pano’s & Paul’s Restaurant in Buckhead prior to the McIntosh High School prom. More than a half dozen Peachtree City officers were present at the dinner, according to Bergh’s Sept. 27 memo. Lackey is the officer who — as part of investigations into online predators — has played the part of a 14-year-old girl several times in Internet chat rooms. More than one dozen men have gone to jail as the result of her investigations. At one point during the meal, according to Bergh, Lackey “leaned forward to grab something from the table and commented, ‘Oops, my boob almost popped out (as she placed her hand over her chest).’ To this Chief Murray replied, ‘Don’t worry I would have thrown my hand in front of it — I would have thrown my face in front of it.’” Bergh in her Sept. 27 memo to Human Resources Director Brenda Rogers states that during a Sept. 12 conversation with Lackey, the corporal said of the incident, “Oh that, I just ignore him, half the time I don’t listen to anything he says,” city records said. Responding to Bergh’s Sept. 27 statement, Murray, Lackey and Maj. Mike Dupree disputed her assertion. In an Oct. 10 letter to McMullen addressing Bergh’s accusation, Murray said, “Not only is this memo incomprehensible on its face, it is a completely manufactured and libelous fabrication driven by some philosophical Machiavellianism etched in her perversed consciousness ... I denied any conversation that was inappropriate in nature to either Cpl. Heather Lackey or in the presence of Sgt. Bergh. My contradiction to Sgt. Bergh’s allegations is not only based on my recollection of events that evening, but is supported by Cpl. Lackey and Maj. Dupree.” In his written response to McMullen, Murray theorized that Bergh’s accusation might have been related to an August 2007 incident at Booth Middle School where Bergh had been required to investigate an incident where a local man was charged with taking nearly $10,000 from the school’s booster club. Bergh has a close relationship with Booth’s principal and vice-principal, Murray said. Also noted in Murray’s letter was Lackey’s consideration of filing a hostile workplace grievance against Bergh over interactions she had experienced. Noting his 34 years in law enforcement without any accusations of such a nature, Murray also took aim at Bergh and the city. “It also appears that the city gave Sgt. Bergh the lanyard when they advised her to report any retaliation prior to ascertaining or validating undistorted credibility. This is not the first time when distorted information has been accepted with prejudice,” Murray said. “I wish to be quite clear on my future course of action in this matter. First, I hold Sgt. Bergh responsible for her actions in this case and I am contemplating civil litigation against her both individually and as a city employee. I will support Cpl. Lackey if she wishes to do the same. Second, I hold the city of Peachtree and/or its agents responsible for any damages that may occur either by their actions, writings, conversations or any other conveyance where my name is attached to this defamatory and degenerated misrepresentation of the truth.” Lackey’s recall of the incident also differed completely from that of Bergh. In an Oct. 10 meeting with Lackey, McMullen noted the corporal’s comments. “Cpl. Lackey indicated she was very distressed by this incident and that she denied (Bergh’s) statements. She felt like Sgt. Bergh was taking some statements out of context and for whatever reason was twisting those statements. Cpl. Lackey relayed that Chief Murray had known her since she was in middle school, was a close family friend, and always treated her very professionally. She indicated that she did not understand the motivation of Sgt. Bergh, but that she felt it would be impossible for her to work with Sgt. Bergh in the future. Cpl. Lackey indicated that Sgt. Bergh may be jealous of her because of her success in the department. Cpl. Lackey felt that her reputation was being damaged by this incident, that most of the department were aware of the accusations and she wanted to know what she could do,” McMullen’s documentation of the meeting said. Also weighing in on the allegation was Maj. Dupree, the second highest ranking officer in the department, who acknowledged his presence at the restaurant along with Murray, Lackey, Bergh, Capt. Stan Pye, Capt. Terry Ernst, Cpl. Kristine Doyle and Cpl. Kay Crider. Dupree said, “At no time did I hear any conversation or remark that one could consider inappropriate or offensive (certainly about Cpl. Lackey’s breast).” Dupree also noted an aspect of Bergh’s behavior that was offensive. DuPree said it dealt with Bergh’s sponsorship of a “romantic party” for which invitations had been sent to some female officers and school system employees through the city and school’s email systems. “I am of the understanding that the party’s theme was sexual in nature, where romantic toys and other items are ordered or sold,” Dupree said, who said he found it offensive and highly inappropriate for a school resource officer to be sponsoring such an event. A copy of the invitation for the Pure Romance Party, obtained by The Citizen, included a pictorial illustration of an alcoholic drink and contained the statement, “I promise you’ll giggle you’re [sic] ass off.” Another submission in the open records request was McMullen’s Oct. 16 interview with Cpl. Crider relating to Bergh’s allegation. Crider said she was seated across the table from Lackey at the restaurant. In his notation of Crider’s statements, McMullen wrote, “I asked Cpl. Crider if she heard or saw anything. She said at one point the chief was reaching for something on the table and his arm brushed up against Cpl. Lackey’s chest. She said Cpl. Lackey ‘giggled,’ but she did not hear any other discussion on this matter.” A Nov. 5 memo by McMullen stated that evidence of Bergh’s allegations had not been substantiated and that the matter was closed. A different type of submission contained in the open records releases included two anonymous emails on Oct. 17 and Nov. 7 by a person claiming to be a Peachtree City police officer and going by the name “Lord Knight.” Supporting Bergh’s allegation, Lord Knight also noted inflated arrests statistics and offered thanks for McMullen’s “moving forward with the information provided by Sgt. Bergh.” “I have been with the department a long time and understand fully the retaliation abilities of the chief and Maj. Dupree and Capt. Pye. You do as well, your incident was classic retaliation that we have suffered under for a long time. You need to speak with the supervisors at the Sgt. and Lt. level. If you can provide them protection they will give you the truth. I have witnessed Chief Murray engaged in a conversation with Admin. Asst. Lisa Ficalore at her desk discussing the size of her breasts. Chief Murray was openly suggesting to her to obtain breast implants. His preferential treatment of females has a long history with the department,” the Oct. 17 email by “Lord Knight” said. A Dec. 10 memo to McMullen from Maj. Dupree on an internal affairs investigation on the Lord Knight emails noted a Dec. 3 request by McMullen to narrow the scope of the investigation. Dupree said he met with Capt. Rosanna Dove and instructed her to suspend the investigation until further clarification and direction is received. Attached to the Dec. 10 memo was another dated Dec. 7 from Dupree and Pye to McMullen. Entitled “Internal Affairs Investigation,” the memo provided a “listing of officers that should be interviewed and why they should be considered as linked to the two emails sent by ‘Lord Knight.’” The list contained the names of six officers and an explanation as to their presence on the list. Those included Sgt. Sam Smith, Lt. Mark Brown, Sgt. Bergh, Lt. Jason Epps, Sgt. Brad Williams and Cpl. E. Powell. Pertaining to Sgt. Smith, the memo stated that Smith has made many comments throughout the past months concerning the activities of command staff. “There has been a long history with Sgt. Smith and disciplinary problems in which he felt should have been handled much differently. Both he and his spouse have been very vocal in their opposition of the chief’s position on many topics,” the memo said. Regarding Lt. Brown, the memo stated that he had been vocal about suing over promotional testing and the assessments centers. “He has made several comments about suing over some minor issues that have come up regarding his duties or his assignments. During past promotion rosters he was passed over for promotions and has been vocal about those decisions,” Dupree and Pye said. The memo’s comments on Sgt. Bergh indicated that she had recently reported issues and allegations that “were not substantiated regarding the command of this police department as well as at least one other employee. She places herself as the martyr for the officers on occasion. Sgt. Bergh was advised that there were some issues the department would be checking into and was apparently displeased and defensive about this.” Lt. Epps, the memo said, had been very vocal about decisions made by the chief and command staff concerning the promotion of female candidates. “He has also been very vocal about many issues with Bill Weston and his reassignment from CID (Criminal Investigations Division) and his quest to return to CID. He has made many comments about his concerns over Sgt. (Matt) Myers being taken off the promotion list. He is also very vocal about off-duty jobs within the department,” according to the memo. Commenting on Sgt. Brad Williams, the memo said that besides having made many comments about the inability for officers to work some of the off-duty events, Williams had made the comment that “it did cross his mind that the city manager could have been targeted. Just in the past days he has voiced some opinions he has over the current internal affairs proceedings and on at least one occasion has quoted our conversations we had with the city manager and the city attorney. He stated that there have been issues with both off-duty employment as well as admitting having made the statement about the arrest of the city manager.” And regarding Cpl. Powell, the memo said the officer has been disgruntled lately and was twice admonished recently concerning his actions while working off-duty jobs. Since the onset of the investigation “he has been very reclusive and troubled in appearance,” the memo said. The memo by Dupree and Pye concluded with a notation that in recent days several of the department’s union board members have stopped by the office and “on more than one occasion they have almost precisely quoted at least three of the topics listed in the email from Lord Knight. They admitted that several of these issues have been discussed at the union’s board level.” Dupree and Pye stated that, if directed to resume the investigation, the focus would continue to be on departmental rules and regulations violations, including Reporting Violations of Laws, Rules and Orders, Gossip/Rumors, Duty to Suppress Mutinous Conduct and Public Statements and Appearances. An additional city investigation involving Murray also arose during the same proximity of time in fall 2007. This investigation surrounded Murray’s 2004 bid to become a contestant on the “Survivor” television program. An Oct. 29, 2007, memo from city System Administrator Robinson responded to McMullen’s request for information regarding unusual activities at the police department. Reviewing work orders from the city system, Robinson noted “requests from the police department staff to provide technical support for an audition video of Chief James Murray for the television show ‘Survivor.’” Robinson noted that on or about June 14, 2004, Capt. Rosanna Dove had requested assistance copying video to a video recorder from the computer file. Robinson said he spent 15 minutes assisting with the transfer. Robinson said he determined that the video was that of Murray, including highlights of his television appearances from his time in Savannah, still photographs of his running and scuba diving and recorded comments as to why he should be considered for the show. Robinson said Murray and Dove confirmed the audition tape was for the television program. Robinson also noted a June 11, 2007, date when Dove requested assistance with copying video from DVD to VCR. Robinson said he spent 30 minutes working with Dove assisting with hardware connections. “I discovered while on site (the) video was another ‘Survivor’ audition tape for Murray with elements similar to previous video, and it was noted in (the) work order system that video was ‘nonessential,’” Robinson said. Also relating to the “Survivor” program, Maj. Dupree wrote a Dec. 14, 2007, memo to McMullen, reporting on the investigative inquiry on Dove that McMullen had requested. In the memo, Dupree said he had been called to McMullen’s office Nov. 21 and was asked to conduct the inquiry. “The purpose of the inquiry was not to conduct an internal affairs investigation, but to determine the extent of Capt. Dove’s involvement when assisting Chief Murray when he applied for the role on the television production. It was my understanding that city administration was made aware of subordinate involvement in making one or more video tapes or digital video discs to assist Chief Murray in completing his ‘Survivor’ application. The concern was that the video recordings were allegedly made on city time, during Capt. Dove’s and Chief Murray’s work days,” Dupree said. Dupree discussed the inquiry with Dove Nov. 26 and then with the remaining members of the command staff. “I knew that all of us, at one level or another, were aware that the videos for Chief Murray’s ‘Survivor’ application had been recorded; however, I did not know if anyone, except Capt. Dove, had participated. Most of us believed that there was a real possibility that Chief Murray would be selected for ‘Survivor’ and were excited, not only for him, but for the city and police department as well,” Dupree said. Dupree said some in the department discussed holding a “Survivor” party that would rival the party that current County Commissioner Eric Maxwell gave for “Survivor” contestant Judge Paschal English, noting the celebrity that English experienced and amount of attention it brought to Fayette County and the Griffin Judicial Circuit. Commenting on why she assisted Murray on the project, Dove said Murray had asked for her help and that she did not believe there was anything unusual about the request, Dupree said. “She also stated that he is her supervisor and that she has assisted him in the past on numerous other promotional projects,” Dupree’s memo said, providing a list of various non-profit and charity efforts and public service announcements. “In retrospect, she says that she understands how the city might frown on the chief using employees on a project in which there could be a personal benefit, however, while on duty her involvement was limited and strictly to portray a positive image for our department and city.” Dupree said he recognized that the city’s personnel policy prohibits this sort of activity, though he firmly believed it needs to be addressed citywide through annual training, adding that it would certainly be addressed in the police department. “In retrospect, I firmly believe that it was a mistake to spend the time assisting Chief Murray in this personal endeavor,” Dupree said. “Nevertheless, in an environment such as a police department, I would like to think we share in each other’s successes and assist each other in times of need. We just need to keep our private lives separated from our business lives.” Dupree is heading the department pending a nationwide search for Murray’s replacement. — Reported by Ben Nelms, John Munford, John Thompson and Cal Beverly. Editing and some additional material by Cal Beverly. login to post comments
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