Columbus Police Chief Stoney Mathis issued a blunt response to recent criticism and allegations of “bullying” behavior at the police department in a lengthy exclusive interview with NowGeorgia.com. The Chief declined to comment on any particular person by name but said his leadership style has been mischaracterized in some recent accounts and offered a reminder that he was hired as “a change agent” to identify the police department’s strengths and weaknesses.
“Unfortunately, in law enforcement, maybe even government, people think they want change until you start making it and then it rubs them wrong. And so sometimes when you have to make hard decisions and changes, it upsets people.” He said former Chief Freddie Blackmon got fired for everything that went on in previous years but nobody else in the department “who should have, who were a little bit culpable in the direction of the agency” was ever held accountable.
Mathis determined almost immediately upon arrival that the police department had “toxic leadership.”…