Editor’s note: The following letter was submitted to the Dunwoody City Council and Mayor Lynn Deutsch as public comment at their Oct. 12 meeting.
Dunwoody Police Chief Billy Grogan has served our community honorably and with distinction, since our founding as a city 12 years ago. Over these years, I have come to know Chief Grogan as an honest, hardworking law enforcement officer of impeccable character. Chief Grogan’s leadership at the Dunwoody Police Department has helped our city to hire and retain a police force that has grown to be as diverse as it is professional. I am proud of our dedicated Dunwoody police officers and I recognize the role that Chief Billy Grogan has played in protecting and serving our community over these past dozen years. But nothing lasts forever.
In light of the recent circumstances surrounding the role that our DPD leadership has played regarding complaints and terminations of DPD officers, resulting in a lawsuit and several related complaints, I am asking Chief Grogan to step aside and allow a new generation of leadership at the Dunwoody Police Department to take over.
To be clear, I am asking that Chief Grogan resign and concede to a peaceful transition of power within Dunwoody Police Department leadership ranks.
The chief of police protects and serves our Dunwoody community at the pleasure of its citizens, through this elected council and our city manager. I urge this council to ask Chief Grogan to submit his resignation and to accept his resignation. It is only after long, hard, thoughtful consideration and contemplation that I make this request. The litigation that our city will now be forced to engage in, as a result of the actions of DPD leadership, will likely cost the taxpaying residents and citizens of our community dearly, in both money and reputation. To be blunt, it is a sad day in Dunwoody, when the chief of police has to “lawyer up.” Therefore, I respectfully request that this council tender the resignation of Police Chief Billy Grogan forthwith.
Robert F. Wolford
Dunwoody
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