FROM: Mr. Clifton K. Brinkley, Sr. ( Retired Police Chief)
3112 Ivy Bridge Road
Fort Washington, MD 20744
TO: Citizens of Forest Heights
DATE: November 17, 2003
OPEN LETTER TO THE CITIZENS OF THE TOWN OF FOREST HEIGHTS
I am writing this open letter because I have not been given the opportunity to speak.
During the past four and one-half years I have worked hard to make the Forest Heights Police Department the very best agency possible, with fewer men and equipment than any department in the state of Maryland. On Veteran's Day, November 11, I came in to work on a $15,000 state grant for the department. That night I came back to the town for a red light camera meeting at 7:30 p.m. At 10:20 p.m. I was called into Mayor Noble's office and told the town police department was moving in a different direction and that it did not include me as chief. I asked why this new direction did not include me. She would not answer. The coldness of this statement caught me totally off guard. My response was "If you and the council do not want me as police chief than I do not want to be here." The mayor then handed me a pre-typed letter that stated, "I submit my letter of resignation as chief of police of the Forest Heights Police Department effective today." My first instinct was to fight this cold-hearted ultimatum; then thinking about the previous problems in our town government, I reluctantly signed the letter.
The mayor then asked for my car keys and the keys to my office. I think she wanted me to take a cab home. If this is about money, the first two years as chief I gave back $12,000 in salary to help hire six police officers. During my first year, the town had only one working police car. I secured for the town three Ford Crown Victorias, two new computers, two motorcycles, two police bicycles, and the expensive podium that you are using now. The total value of these assets is more than $90,000. The cost to the town is "0." I have enjoyed working with the officers and the citizens of the Town of Forest Heights. I have been offered a job with Homeland Security in Washington, D.C. and a job in Tampa, Florida. I am retired and will move to Florida, as I have anticipated doing for the past several years.
P.S., A sympathy card from the mayor and the council would have been nice on the recent passing of my mother-in -law. The coldness and bitterness continue from the past.
Best wishes,
Retired Chief C.K. Brinkley, Sr.