The mayor of New Carrollton, Maryland, fired the chief of police Tuesday, leaving him perplexed.
“They came into my office yesterday – the mayor, HR and one of my officers – and they handed me the paperwork saying I was terminated,” said David Rice, who was with the force for 18 years.
He did not go into detail about the reasons for his firing.
“I’ve never been talked to about any of them,” he said. “I’ve never been disciplined about anything that they wrote, and then some things they put on there I’ve never heard of.”
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Rice cited his disagreement with the mayor over his treatment on the job after returning from heart surgery and his filing of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint as one point of conflict with the mayor.
A shouting match between Rice and a city employee led to the filing of a peace order against the chief last year and his being barred from police headquarters, which is in the same building as city hall. That case was dismissed, but now Rice says he’s banned from all city property.
“You want to keep me out of the building I understand, but they said all city property,” he said. “I’m like, there’s no justification for that kind of behavior.”
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Mayor Phelecia Nembhard didn’t go into details about the firing, either, as it’s a personnel matter, but she did address criticism of her management style, described by some as my way or the highway.
“I have a city to run, and being the administrator of the city, it means that we are expecting things to be done in a certain way and in a timely manner,” she said. “It has nothing to do with a personality conflict.”
The city charter gives the mayor executive power for hiring and firing. The mayor said the city attorney is expected to give a briefing on the matter soon.
“We have right now in our city an uptick in crime, and I expect a lot to protect my residents, so the move that was made is all personnel,” Nembhard said. “I cannot go into the details of it right now.”
Rice said he’s considering a wrongful termination suit.
Nembhard faces a challenge from New Carrollton Council member Katrina Dodro in an election Monday.
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