John Harris, the former Springfield Police Department chief whose tenure was
marred by a scandal that has so far cost the city a million dollars, is now
demanding severance pay.
In a letter sent to city administrators several weeks ago, Harris requested approximately $30,000, citing a clause in his contract entitling him to 90 days’ salary if he was asked to resign. Springfield corporation counsel Jenifer Johnson denied the request
Local attorney Don Craven, who was retained by Harris, says Johnson’s decision leaves him only one choice.
“Apparently we’re going to have to file suit, and we’re going to spend more time and money,” Craven says.
Last year, the city of Springfield paid $180,000 to Husch & Eppenberger, an outside law firm, for a seven-month investigation into how Harris and the SPD handled rookie police officer Renatta Frazier.
Frazier was driven off the force after being falsely accused of failing to prevent the rape of another officer’s daughter.
Harris told investigators that he knew the allegations were false but had no way to correct or prevent repeated accounts in the State Journal-Register.
In October 2002, Illinois Times uncovered the truth: The rape Frazier was accused of failing to prevent had occurred before she was dispatched to the scene. Earlier this year, the city settled Frazier’s race-discrimination lawsuit for approximately $829,000.
Harris resigned on April 15, 2003, the last day in office for former Mayor Karen Hasara. However, Harris’ resignation wasn’t disclosed until a week later, when new Mayor Tim Davlin held a press conference announcing that he had asked Harris to stay on while a search committee screened candidates to replace him.
Whether Harris left voluntarily or was forced to resign appears to be the key to his demand for severance pay. Craven says that both Hasara and Davlin asked Harris to resign, though neither mayor put the request in writing.
But at the time he resigned, Harris apparently claimed that the decision was at least partly his own. The SJ-R said that Harris described his departure as “a mutual decision.”
Harris now commands a force of 28 officers in Evanston, Wyo., a town of about 11,000. Craven says he was unable to contact Harris for comment this week.
Still, Craven says, the city had an option to avoid severance pay and chose not to exercise it.
“If John Harris was oh so terrible, why’d they ask him to stay on? Why didn’t they just fire his butt and kick him out the door? There’s a provision in the contract to terminate him without severance pay,” he says, “but nobody had the balls to do that.”
This article appears in Nov 4-10, 2004.
