Jonesboro's police chief resigns; reporter returns

                               Special to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette/08/222014 - Jonesboro Police chief Mike Yates

Special to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette/08/222014 - Jonesboro Police chief Mike Yates

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The Jonesboro police chief whose Facebook comments about a reporter for The Jonesboro Sun prompted her to resign and the mayor to suspend the chief for 30 days without pay has resigned.

Jonesboro Police Chief Michael Yates told Mayor Harold Perrin late Sunday night that he wanted to resign, while reporter Sunshine Crump said she lay awake all night, anxious and uncertain about her future.

"He felt like it was good for him, the department, the city," Perrin said. "I just told him, 'It's your decision.'"

Yates wrote in a letter to Perrin dated Sunday that "a man must take responsibility for his mistakes and I am prepared to do just that.

"I let my anger and pride over-ride my judgment and wisdom by saying a number of things that are unacceptable given my position."

Yates could not be reached for comment Monday.

Perrin released a statement saying Assistant Police Chief Tim Eads would continue to serve as interim police chief after taking over during Yates' suspension.

On Monday, after Yates' resignation became public, Crump found herself back at the newspaper where she'd been a reporter for nearly a year before she submitted letter of resignation a week ago in response to the Facebook comments and other ongoing tensions with the Jonesboro Police Department.

"I don't know that I necessarily feel better yet," she said. "I'm back at work, which I feel happy about."

She said she did not know if she would return to her previous duties covering police and courts.

On Friday, Perrin had suspended Yates, who was the police chief for nine years, and ordered that he take a training course in online etiquette. Perrin also told Yates to apologize to Crump and the Sun for statements he made on his Facebook page about her law license being suspended and a previous arrest, among other comments about Crump and her work.

Crump has said her law license was suspended after she chose to stop practicing law and therefore stopped paying the dues for licensure and other fees. She has also said she was arrested in 2003 at an anti-war protest but that charges were not pursued.

The newspaper had called for Yates' termination after Crump submitted a letter of resignation to editor Chris Wessel on Aug. 18 in which she stated that she no longer felt safe on the job as a police reporter.

The comments came after a string of events in which the Sun said police had become less available to reporters, providing reports later and requiring reporters to go through a public information officer.

"It's a good day," Wessel said about the resignation. "The mayor had suspended him for 30 days without pay Friday, and we were disappointed with that because we had sought his removal from office," he said.

"Now that he's resigned, it's going to be a lot better for the community, a lot better for the police force. Better for the newspaper because of his vindictiveness," Wessel added.

A complaint from the Sun had led to a review by City Attorney Philip Crego that prompted Yates' discipline.

Perrin said Yates had done good work in Jonesboro as the police chief, implementing smart strategies such as rotating division heads to be trained in all police work.

The mayor said he thought Yates' letter implied an apology. However, Wessel and Crump said they had received no apologies from Yates and were not expecting them.

"I can't say that he won't, but at this point it looks like his ego is too big to do that, so he decided to resign," Wessel said. "I would have thought in his resignation letter he would have mentioned the things that he did to the Sun and to Sunshine Crump, but he didn't. It didn't surprise me. He may have mailed us a letter, I don't know. I'm not going to be watching the mailbox for it."

Crump said she couldn't imagine him issuing a "sincere apology."

"He could've, and he didn't," she added.

Former Jonesboro Mayor Doug Formon, now an officer at the Police Department, selected Yates as the city's police chief in July 2005. At the time, Yates was the director of the emergency 911 center in Ellaville, Ga. He was previously the police chief in Americus, Ga.

At the Jonesboro department, Yates was set to make $107,618.64 this year. He will be paid for unused vacation days and will continue to have the health insurance he pays the premium for until he can locate another job, Perrin said.

Perrin said he would start the search for a new police chief by looking internally at the assistant chief, commanders and captains. If that doesn't work, he said, he may expand the search across the state.

"Tomorrow will be a new day, and we'll move forward," he said.

Metro on 08/26/2014