Norristown Police Chief Resigns After Weeks On Administrative Leave
NORRISTOWN, PA — After weeks of being placed on administrative leave, Norristown Police Chief Jacqueline Bailey-Davis officially resigned on Tuesday, the municipal council announced during their meeting as they voted to accept her decision.
While the decision might have brought to a conclusion the turbid era of the third police chief in as many years in Norristown, it brought no clarity to a muddled and mysterious process that has seen Norristown officials broadly criticized for a lack of transparency.
It remains unknown why Bailey-Davis, the first woman to ever hold the job, was placed on leave in the first place.
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Related: Norristown Council Scrutinized Over Police Chief’s Leave
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The municipality has now begun its search for a new chief, officials said.
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“Daily operations within the police department will continue as normal during this transition period to find a new police chief,” the municipality said in a statement late Tuesday.
“Transparency quickly dissipates when it’s maybe a topic that’s not desirable, or you happen to disagree with your constituents,” former Norristown councilwoman and community advocate Heather Lewis told the council during the public comment section of a recent meeting. “But to deny us the transparency is where distrust comes in.”
Lewis said an independent audit of Norristown public safety and government was conducted by an outside contractor last year. The audit provided a list of 97 recommendations of changes needed, and Bailey-Davis was charged with implementing those changes. And while it’s not exactly clear what those changes are, it seems clear they were institutional in nature.
“Which, I imagine, didn’t go over very well,” Lewis added, implying that she’d lost favor due to the changes.
During an earlier municipal council meeting in the fall, other Norristown residents spoke at length about what they perceived to be Bailey-Davis’s mistreatment by the municipality, including the removal of her parking spot at municipal hall, and other instances of strife between her and more entrenched Norristown officials.
Still, it is not clear if these issues have any connection to the recent decision to place her on leave.
Bailey-Davis has held the post since Jan. 2.
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