[Ed. note: Below was republished with permission from Port City Daily’s media partner, WHQR]
WILMINGTON — In May, the City of Wilmington contracted with U.S. ISS, a firm specializing in public safety consulting and internal personnel investigations. The firm was hired to investigate allegations of harassment and mismanagement in the police department. The city has declined to comment on the results, citing state personnel laws, although Mayor Bill Saffo acknowledged there are issues the department and its chief will “have to address.”
Conversations related to the investigation appear to have begun in late April, according to email records from the city. In early May, the City Manager’s office authorized a contract with U.S. ISS. Several months later, in September, the city paid out $75,000. Because it involved professional services, city council approval wasn’t required, nor was the more complex bid process of larger contracts like long-term contractors or construction projects.
U.S. ISS Agency, LCC was founded in 2004 and provides background checks, internal investigations, and a host of consulting services, including searching for and vetting new police chiefs, management coaching, and litigation support.
In the city’s initial contract with ISS, approved on May 9, the company was hired to “initiate a personnel misconduct investigation into alleged violations of City and Police Department policies,” including harassment, intimidation, and bullying.
ISS was also tasked with identifying “opportunities for improved leadership and management practices of the City Police Department,” as well as providing “on-going [sic] executive coaching and mentoring services to aid in the improvement of the leadership and management” in the department.
Over the next several weeks, email records indicate meetings with current and former police department employees, including a recently retired assistant chief.
At the end of May, the city amended its contract with ISS with a simpler slate of services. The amended contract omits specific reference to the police department, and services related to improving police department management. The city declined to discuss the changes in the contract; but email records and conversations with city officials, including Mayor Bill Saffo, indicate WPD remained the main subject of the investigation.
ISS was contractually obligated to generate a “comprehensive written report” and an “executive summary.” The city did not provide either of these, citing state personnel laws. WPD declined to comment on the investigation.
Mayor says chief has issues to address
Mayor Saffo acknowledged there had been concerning allegations made by police department staff, but said he was limited in what he could discuss. He said the issue fell under the purview of city manager Tony Caudle, who decided to hire U.S. ISS.
“The city manager thought it was prudent that we get a third party outside group to investigate and look at this instead of anything internal done from the police department,” Saffo said. “I agree with that position. I think the majority of council did.”
Asked if he still had full faith in the police department, Saffo said, “I have faith in what the department and the rank and file are doing. I think there’s some things that I believe the chief is going to have to address and he is working through that process with the [city] manager.”
Without getting into any personnel specifics, Saffo said Caudle was taking “some appropriate measures” to address concerns from within the police department.
“You know, when something like this happens, you need to take a look and see what’s going on, and is there a way that we can fix it,” Saffo said.
As for any decisions about changes to department management, including Chief Donny Williams, Saffo said that would be up to Caudle.
“The city manager ultimately makes the decision whether to fire the chief or not. And I don’t think we’re at that anywhere near that point,” Saffo said. “We as a council also have taken upon ourselves to hire the chief. But ultimately, the responsibility of managing the chief and the department falls under the manager’s authority.”
Other concerns about the WPD workplace environment
There’s little public detail about the specifics of the allegations that sparked the investigation. However, it’s not the first concern raised about WPD’s workplace environment.
Some of those concerns focused on an alleged culture of gender bias. Those allegations surfaced in a 2022 lawsuit filed by the former director of the crime lab (which was operated by WPD for years before being transferred to the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office).
The lawsuit alleged poorly handled HR complaints, disparaging comments about women working in forensics, and significant pay discrepancies, including a plaintiff making $30,000 less than the market rate to avoid ‘emasculating’ high-ranking male officers in the department. The lawsuit was recently dismissed in New Hanover County Superior Court; the plaintiff is now taking her case to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
More recently, in July City Councilman Luke Waddell spoke about concerns that had been brought to him by “rank and file” members of the police department, specifically concerning compensation and promotions.
Other contract details
According to the contract, ISS billed $150 per hour for investigator and consulting services, $75 per hour for travel, and mileage reimbursement and per diems at the federal rate. ISS was also offered accommodation reimbursement at the Embassy Suites.
According to email records, ISS president Ken Miller and operations director Katherine Scheimreif worked on the investigation.
Miller served in law enforcement for forty years, most recently as police chief in Greensboro, NC, from 2010 to 2014, and then as chief in Greenville, SC starting in 2014. Perhaps ironically, Miller resigned from the Greenville department on New Year’s Eve 2019 under a cloud of suspicion after a months-long state investigation. South Carolina authorities found no criminal wrongdoing, but documented evidence showed he had been “untruthful” and had faced accusations of misconduct.
Scheimreif worked for nearly three decades at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department before joining ISS in 2018, where she oversees investigations.
Public records
With the city declining to comment on the investigation or the resulting reports from ISS, documents obtained through public records requests (PRR) provide the only insight into ISS’s investigation.
In late July, WHQR requested all emails between the city and ISS dating back to April, as well as any contracts and payments to the firm.
In its initial response, the city clerk’s office provided only emails; the office said that, according to the city’s finance director, the ISS contract had been canceled and no payments had been made.
Many emails between ISS investigators and the city were likely withheld from the PRR responses because they contained protected personnel information. Those emails that were provided consist largely of meeting reminders, mostly including city attorney Meredith Everhart (identified in the contract as one of the main city representatives helping to coordinate the investigation).
Several emails included the contact information for current and former WPD employees, as well as a request for follow-up information with a top WPD captain in mid-June. In late July, Scheimreif followed up with Everhart to make sure she had received “the new report.”l
Based on the evidence that ISS had done significant work and produced a report (or reports), it seemed implausible that the city would have been able to legally cancel the contract without payment.
After following up with the city and confirming that there was, in fact, both a contract and a record of payment, the city’s clerk responded by saying the purchase order for the contract “had been inadvertently canceled and nothing had been paid,” at the time of WHQR’s late July PRR.
“The information we provided you originally was completely accurate at the time it was provided,” City Clerk Penny Spicer-Sidbury wrote in an email.
That’s at least partially true, since the $75,000 payment to ISS was not invoiced until late August (and a check cut on September 19). So there would not have been a record of payment at the time of WHQR’s request. The contract and its amendment, however, were existing public records.
Ben Schachtman is a journalist and editor with a focus on local government accountability for WHQR. He began reporting for Port City Daily in the Wilmington area in 2016 and took over as managing editor there in 2018. He’s a graduate of Rutgers College and later received his MA from NYU and his PhD from SUNY-Stony Brook, both in English Literature. He loves spending time with his wife and playing rock’n’roll very loudly. You can reach him at BSchachtman@whqr.org and find him on Twitter @Ben_Schachtman.