Monroe Police Dark Concerns

When Oliver "Friday" Ellis was sworn in as Monroe's newest mayor, one of the first things on his agenda was to make a change to the Chief of Police position. Ellis, being new to politics, surprised the region when he defeated former and longtime mayor, Jamie Mayo. Oliver Ellis became the first white mayor to sit at City Hall for almost twenty years. Ellis stressed that crime was an issue in Monroe, but he was never critical of operations at MPD, but one could acknowledge that Ellis' vision for the city wasn't the same as Mayo's. One of the first things that Ellis wanted to do was bring in his own individual to be the next police chief. Before Ellis won and was sworn in, veteran police officer Reggie Brown who had aspirations to become the next police chief, as he was serving on an interim basis succeeding Chief Eugene Ellis, would qualify to take the police chief exam. Brown had been serving as interim since February 2020 and was at one time, the spokesman for the department. Recently, the community learned without any announcement beforehand, that Brown and another officer, Charles Johnson had been fired from the police department. The mayor's office (as of press time), has only issued a limited worded statement regarding the two men's firing, leaving the community in the dark concerning a matter that affects the whole city. There are those who would prefer that Mayor Ellis had been "more transparent", because he ran on "law and order", which was amplified when he requested that the city council approve Victor "Vic" Zordan, his pick as the new police chief. What were the circumstances surrounding Brown and Johnson's removal, especially Brown who has been the subject of some since earlier in the year concerning his tenure as a police officer? In February, a request was made to the city council asking for the record of current and former police officers, to which the city denied the request. A lawsuit was filed by the city, asking for a ruling on what information could be released within the privacy/confidential guidelines. However, the only individual's record that was of interest for the request was that of then Cpl. Reggie Brown. There was speculation that if Mayo had won reelection, Brown may have been selected to be the permanent police chief. According to the letter's request, certain information was alleged to have been in Brown's files that would "sink" any chance of Mayo being reelected as mayor. Why Brown then, and now why has he been let go? Mayor Ellis and the police department remain silent. When Friday Ellis replaced Brown as Mayo's interim appointment, he replaced him with former chief Eugene Ellis to serve in an interim basis until a second exam was given at Mayor Ellis' request by the Civil Service Board. When Mayor Ellis replaced Brown with Eugene Ellis, he "thanked" Brown for his service, nothing but good things to say about him. Now, in just a few months, Brown is out and the community is left without an answer as to why.

During Brown's tenure, a lawsuit was filed against the city and MPD regarding a police brutality claim by a local man where Brown was allegedly involved in covering up for the accused officers. Brown and Mayo denied any knowledge of the incident, as the public only became aware when video of the incident emerged. The question now becomes if whether Ellis is "restoring" public confidence back into MPD and if so, when did that public confidence begin to erode? A while back, The Dispatch asked the question was there something wrong with MPD when Mayor Ellis "suddenly" replaced Brown with Eugene Ellis. As stated earlier, transparency can become an issue to the Black community which was shown at Zordan's city council approval meeting, as concerned citizens only wanted a little time to better know Zordan. In other words, they wanted a little more transparency about the man, especially his record not about where he previously served, but if there were any "red flags" to be aware. There are those who wanted Reggie Brown's record made public, but has not done the same for the new police chief. Moreover, there are those in the community who also want to hear from the mayor. The people of Monroe deserve an explanation.