Photo By David Saleh Rauf. Former Brentwood Police Chief David Risik talks with a supporter, Jason Barron, before a special town council meeting on June 22. Supporters of Risiks wore bright orange stickers during the meeting.

Published on: Friday, June 25, 2010

By David Saleh Rauf

The results of a local election decided one day after Brentwood dumped its first police chief in nearly 40 years could serve as a potential catapult to reinstate the town’s former top cop, officials said Thursday.

Former Brentwood Police Chief David Risik is at the center of a months-long debate that has divided the town council and a portion of the community’s 2,800 residents over the issue of whether he’s the right man to serve as the town’s first police chief since 1972.

Risik, hired in December after the town voted to reinstate its police department after a roughly four decade absence, officially lost his job Wednesday when the four-member town council declined to renew his contract after he served a six-month probation period.

That potentially all changed Thursday when Nina Young, who has voiced support for Risik in the past, won a special election to fill a vacant seat on the town council. She becomes the council’s fifth member and could end months of stalemate regarding the future of Brentwood’s police chief created by a 2-2 split.

Photo By David Saleh Rauf. The Town of Brentwood re-established a municipal police force last year after a nearly 40-year absence. The department currently has two patrol vehicles and one employee but the town council has budgeted money in FY 2011 to hire two more full-time officers.

Now that Young has won the election, members of the council that support the chief should have enough votes to push through a contract extension, said Mayor Xzavier Montgomery-Wright.

“We were stuck at an impasse,” said Montgomery-Wright. “Isn’t it amazing how the situation changed from one day to the next?”

Young, a marine biologist currently on a work assignment in Australia, declined through e-mail to comment on whether she would support a contract extension for Risik.

But Montgomery-Wright and Councilman Jeff Clark, both supporters of Risik, said they are confident the chief would be reinstated by July.

Photo By David Saleh Rauf. Former Brentwood Police Chief David Risik, 58, is at the center of a debate over who should lead the town's police force. The town council declined to renew his contract on June 23. but city officials say he could be reinstated.

“I don’t see anything that would prevent us from doing that,” Clark said. “It seems that would be the right thing to do.”

Despite receiving support from two of the town council’s four members, Risik said his tenure as police chief was met with constant resistance from Councilwomen Marlene Robinson and Aneeka Harrison.

The two councilwomen led the charge to block the contract extension, Risik said. But now that Young is elected, Risik said he’s been assured by city officials that he’ll be reinstated with a three-year contract that pays $65,000 annually.

“They wanted me out and now I’m being reinstated,” he said. “I’ll continue to do what I planned to do, which is clean up the city.”

Robinson and Harrison did not return requests for comment.

Though a group of residents and Montgomery-Wright said Risik has broad support from the community, it was by no means unanimous. Some residents who oppose Risik said he did little in his six months as police chief to reach out to minorities in the community, a claim Risik denies.

“He was a disservice to himself,” said resident Tabatha Thompkins. “He never crossed the line to come to the talk to different ethnicities.”

In the end, the future of Brentwood’s police chief unfolded this week in two council meetings and ultimately the local election that could lead to his reinstatement.

On Tuesday, roughly 15 residents wore bright orange stickers to show support for Risik at a town council meeting. Most of them voiced passionate remarks of support.

“People are putting greed and petty, small time politics ahead of the people,” resident Shawn Cassatt told the council. “Just overcome all the crap and small time politics and let him do his job.”

On the other side, a small group that opposed the chief told the council it needed a more transparent process to select a police chief. The council also needs to make sure it selects the right person for the job and Risik isn’t that man, the group said.

“If the town is going to pay a police officer, they need to pay a police officer who is working,” Tonya Harrison, the mother of Councilwoman Aneeka Harrison, told the council.

Ultimately, if Risik is reinstated it could prevent Brentwood from having to deal with a lawsuit over his contract. Risik said he was considering legal action against the town. He was initially promised that his contract would be renewed after a six-month probation period but instead was presented with a “bogus contract” that did not include a clause for an extension.

“I would never have signed for a six-month job,” said Risik, who brought is lawyer with him to Tuesday’s council meeting. “As long as I get reinstated I have nothing against the town. I’m not after the town’s money. I just want my job.”