SOUTHPORT — With an audit of the Southport Police Department set to be addressed Thursday, Police Chief Todd Coring recently took steps for returning officers to start at the reopened department with a “reset button.”
And how did newly-appointed Chief Coring clean the department’s slate? By resetting the rank of all remaining officers.
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In late October, the former Board of Alderman member recently stepped down from his elected position to serve as the city’s Police Chief — the third in his family, after his father and grandfather.
Police department
Coring is taking over a department, marred this summer by the very public arrest of former Chief Gary Smith and assistant chief Lt. Michael Simmons following an SBI and FBI investigation. Accused of operating a second trucking job while on the city’s clock, Smith and Simmons allegedly left the department unsupervised for months.
The months-long investigation was sparked by internal complaints from fellow officers. One officer left the department one month prior to Smith and Simmons’ arrest, and another left on July 22, just four days before the arrests. Another officer, Cpl. Anthony Bernard, resigned before the department reopened, Coring said.
“I know there’s a black eye or a black cloud over us right now,” Coring said. “They’re going to judge how we correct it.”
Shortly after Coring’s appointment, he initiated a rank rest for the entire department. A department of 11 at full capacity, the rank reset only applied to three individuals — former Detective Sgt. Kevin Long, Cpl. Nathaniel Taylor and Cpl. Riley Ransom — because the remaining three will remain as”police officers,” the entry-level rank. (Only Coring, as Police Chief, and new hire, former Oak Island assistant police chief Tony Burke, now a Lieutenant on Southport PD, will serve with a higher rank than police officer.)
All six, now-equally-ranked officers, will retain their previous salaries, Coring said. “I don’t look at it as a demotion,” he said. “Not to say that some of them may not gain rank.”
The reset only affects supervisory roles and levels of responsibility, Coring said. “I just wanted everybody being equal before we hit the streets,” he said.
Audit, investigation on the way
Since the arrests, and subsequent closure of the police department, Southport has made steps to move on. After keeping Simmons and Smith on paid leave for at least one week following their arrest, Bruce Oakley, Southport’s manager, fired them in October after one month of unpaid leave.
In August, the city hired U.S. Investigations Services to conduct an internal audit of the police department, and in October, hired the same firm to for an investigation into the department. The audit and the investigation cost the city approximately $36,000, Oakley said.
With the authority to hire and fire any city employee, Oakley said he does not anticipate any further staff changes from the investigation or audit.
“We were looking at any breakdowns in the department that needed to be corrected, things we could do differently,” Oakley said.
Though Coring has been twice briefed by auditors on preliminary findings — including findings that informed his rank reset decision — he is not certain how detailed the audit’s findings will be made available to the public.
Both Smith and Simmons declined to be interviewed for the city’s investigation, still currently underway. Set to release the police audit Friday after addressing it Thursday at Southport’s Board of Aldermen meeting, Oakley said the document is being redacted by attorneys in line with state personnel public records law.
“We’re not here to do it though punishment,” he said. “The purpose of it is to find out what we were doing wrong and how to fix it — that’s what this is.”
Take-home vehicles
Since Smith and Simmons’ July 26 arrest, officers have been unable to participate in a take-home vehicle policy. Currently being revisited, the policy has not formally changed, Coring said. When the department reopened on Nov. 5, Southport Police Department vehicles were brought back into patrol, but officers leave the cars parked at the end of their shift at the downtown station.
Before officers can drive home in marked cars again, Coring said the department’s inventory is being assessed to ensure vehicles are safe.
In the meantime, he said the department has increased its community policing efforts. On any given day, officers can be seen frequently on foot or bicycles.
Since reopening, Coring said he’s felt positive feedback from the community. “The citizens are so supportive,” he said. “They’re so thankful to see the Southport cars back on the road.”
A state-wide search is currently underway to fill four open positions. Though he personally didn’t contribute to the department’s previous failings, Coring said he’s ready to establish a sense of trust back in the department as a third-generation chief.
“I think sitting still for so long, the headlines and being talked about for so long across the state; I think we’re ready to move on and get a sense of normalcy back,” he said.
Send tips and comments to Johanna Ferebee at johanna@localvoicemedia.com
