Entire North Carolina Police Department Resigns, Protesting Newly Hired Town Manager

In protest to a town’s newly hired “progressively responsible” town manager, a whole police department in North Carolina has quit. The police chief stated that there has now been a “hostile work environment.”

“I have put in my two weeks notice along with the whole police department,” said Kenly Police Chief Josh Gibson. He added that the assistant town manager and an essential clerk would be quitting with five other officers.

Gibson has been with the force for 21 years.

“The new manager has created an environment I do not feel we can perform our duties and services to the communities.” Gibson was referring to Justine Jones who began her role at the beginning of June.

A copy of the formal letter shows the chief gave the resignation to Jones herself. In it, he discussed being the “longest running chief in the area.” He added that he believed that his department had recently “made substantial progress.” This was in dealing with the good and the bad, pertaining to the job.

“However, due to the hostile work environment in the town of Kenly, I don’t believe progress is possible.” He hadn’t named Jones as the source of his complaint in the letter. However, he did on social media.

Gibson didn’t go into specifics of what his complaints were, but he did say that he may stay if Jones was dismissed.

Jones didn’t comment on the issue, citing that it was a personal matter.

On June 2, Jones was hired as the manager after a nationwide search. She had previously worked in “progressively responsible positions” in multiple states.

Now, Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said that his deputies will be taking over in the missing Kenly officers’ absence.

“I will be there for the people of Kenly. They can rest assure they will have deputies patrolling the streets,” he stated.