Roswell's Police Chief Rusty Grant announced he will resign at the end of the month, according to an internal email obtained by the 11Alive Investigators and confirmed by the department.
The memo showed the chief informed the city administrator on Monday about his intent to resign at the end of the month.
Grant's last day on the job, after six years with the department, will be Dec. 31, 2018.
Captain Helen Dunkin, commander of Roswell’s internal affairs office, will take over as interim chief of police on Jan. 1, 2019 according to Chief Grant’s internal resignation announcement.
“The Roswell Police Department consists of the best men and women, sworn and civilian, in the business. It has been my pleasure to work with each of you over the last six years," Grant said in a statement from the Roswell Police Department.
Roswell's deputy chief, James C. Easterwood, announced his retirement from the department in October. His last day was Nov. 26.
The chief’s resignation follows a year-long investigation of the police department by The 11Alive Investigators.
Chief Investigator Brendan Keefe first revealed that a driver was arrested after two officers flipped a coin to decide whether or not she would go to jail. That story went global, and resulted in the firing of both officers who had faced only verbal counseling prior to our reporting.
The 11Alive Investigators also uncovered the attack on a teen suspect by a police K9, despite multiple commands from his Roswell Police handler to stop. Police commanders initially wrote they had no problem with the dog’s training or behavior.
The Fulton County District Attorney opened a criminal investigation into the intentional freezing of a 13-year-old boy who was not telling officers the truth. The sergeant in that case – named department Supervisor of The Year -- was demoted and served a 30-day suspension following the 11Alive reports.
The chief wrote in his email to staff this morning, “my decision was based on career opportunities.”
Before coming to Roswell, Grant had more than 30 years of law enforcement experience with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. He specialized in investigating violent crimes, property theft, drug enforcement and technology.
Grant's resignation comes amid multiple new police incidents under investigation by The 11Alive Investigators. Roswell’s mayor and city administrator recently refused to do interviews with 11Alive Chief Investigator Brendan Keefe, after he uncovered multiple cases where police command staff knew or approved of verbal counseling, only to take more serious action after 11Alive requested records from those incidents.
“At this time we aren’t going to comment as we are still working through the many issues,” city administrator Gary Palmer wrote in response to Keefe’s request for an interview last week.
The city is just beginning the process of paying an outside vendor $77,000 to conduct a top to bottom review of the police department.