Robbins Illinois police chief fired

[Billy Bob McBoone]

"Capt." Douglas J. Smith

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Police Chief Mel Davis

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Capt. Douglas J. Smith for weeks wielded a gun and badge in
south suburban Robbins, hired to help turn around the struggling
Police Department.

His resume touted nearly 30 years of police work in Georgia, in
California and on the East Coast. He seemed cocky and slick,
bragging of his lengthy career in internal affairs, according to
one Cook County sheriff's employee.

But a state agency could find no record that Smith was ever a
police officer. He had not been trained by the state to carry a
firearm on duty. And his employment evidence included a picture
of a fake Los Angeles Police Department badge bearing the serial
number 714, rightfully belonging to the fictional Sgt. Joe
Friday of "Dragnet."

Smith, 60, resigned this month, though he said in a phone
interview that he never impersonated an officer and was hired
for his civilian experience. But the scandal has spurred the
second unraveling of law enforcement this year in Robbins, a
historic village among the oldest incorporated African-American
communities in the state.

Police Chief Mel Davis was fired last week, the village clerk
said. As the department recovers, law enforcement has been taken
over by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, whose office already was
investigating a dubious quarry development there that could raze
some 100 homes.

The public safety breakdown comes less than a year after the
former chief resigned following his second DUI arrest. The
longtime mayor quit shortly after.

Davis and current Robbins Mayor Tyrone Ward did not respond to
requests for comment.

"I would go so far as to say it has, in many ways, been a
lawless village," said Cara Smith, chief of policy and
communications for the sheriff.

The crowd at Mello's Barber Shop remembers brighter days in
Robbins.

The village was incorporated in 1917 as a haven for African-
Americans fleeing oppression in the South. On a recent weekday
afternoon, the men getting a shave or haircut talked about days
decades ago when Robbins was self-sufficient with its own
pharmacy, grocery store and thriving businesses. They ticked off
some of their famous former residents: basketball player Dwyane
Wade of the Miami Heat, actor "Mr. T," actress Nichelle Nichols,
Uhura on the original "Star Trek."

Today the village of about 6,000 is among the poorest places in
Illinois.

Chris Howard, 40, laments that his home is known to outsiders as
a dangerous place.

"If we had the same opportunities as Carol Stream, as Downers
Grove, as other places, we'd have a chance," he said. "There
hasn't been government in Robbins."

The Police Department in particular has been devoid of
leadership.

Former police Chief Johnny Holmes had served the department
since the early 1990s until he quit in January after his second
DUI arrest in three years. Mayor Irene Brodie, who ran the
village for some 30 years, then stepped down. She said she was
tired.

Then news broke in August that the department has failed to
properly investigate about 200 rape cases since the mid-1970s;
the sheriff's department had found 51 untested rape kits there.

Douglas J. Smith was hired in to help fix the department's
tarnished reputation. He ended up embroiled in the latest
scandal.

The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board on
Nov. 14 demanded he be removed from any police work because none
of his law enforcement employment could be verified.

"If Smith continues to work as a police officer, he will be
subject to arrest and prosecution for the following criminal
offense: False Personation as a police officer. Unlawful Use of
Weapons," wrote Kevin T. McClain, the agency's executive
director, in a letter to the mayor and police chief.

Sheriff's officials say they are now providing 24-hour law
enforcement protection in Robbins. They're also looking into
concerns with a proposal to turn 320 acres of the village into a
quarry.

About 70 Robbins residents on Thursday evening sat in the pews
and milled around in the vestibule of Greater Christian Unity
M.B. Church to discuss the quarry development.

Cara Smith told everyone the plan has been delayed until January
while the sheriff's department investigates the contract with
developer ALM Resources of Riverside. The deal was agreed upon
by the former mayor and village trustees.

A few in the crowd occasionally muttered "sweetheart deal" and
"that's crooked" at any mention of the quarry plan.

Sheriff Dart in a letter to Mayor Ward this month listed a
series of concerns about the project. They included that the
developer allegedly had made political contributions to one or
more village officials, and that the village allegedly would
push for legislation to speed up the process to take residents'
homes.

A spokesman for ALM Resources said the project will be good for
the community.

Residents, though, are left to wonder who is watching out for
their interests and policing their community in the future.

"Everyone in the county is entitled to a basic level of law
enforcement," said Smith, the sheriff's official. "It shouldn't
matter where you live. But in Robbins, it does. And that's
wrong."

elev...@tribune.com

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turnmoil-met-1124-20131124_1_robbins-police-chief-chief-johnny-
holmes-police-officer