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Charles Bost refused to resign from the Leland Police Department.

The police chief told me (in February), It’s not working out so we think you should resign,’ he said.

But Bost told Police Chief Timothy Jayne he felt he had done nothing wrong. If it came to that, Bost recalled saying, fire him and he would file a hostile work environment complaint. Bost said he has since filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint.

Bost was the first officer to be fired this year, but not the last.

Since the beginning of 2011, the department has posted a 14 percent turnover rate, losing five of its 34 officers through resignations or terminations.

In the past month, Officer Kevin Foss was suspended with pay by Town Manager Bill Farris pending an investigation into his termination by Jayne.

Those who say they are familiar with the inner workings of the department attribute the high turnover to supervisors who force out those they dislike. It’s among a number of problems the town has ignored for too long, detractors say.

Some have spoken publicly, but others won’t, saying that speaking out could hurt their plan to file a lawsuit or a complaint. Some have expressed fear for their safety.

But Jayne says those who left the department have a vendetta against the top brass. Those who were asked to resign or were terminated, he said, did not comply with his vision for community policing a philosophy of fighting crime by becoming active members of the community and enlisting citizens’ help.

I have given everyone ample opportunity to get with the program, he said.

Jayne, who became chief in 2008, also says many allegations are coming from Michelle Cox, Leland’s former assistant town manager, to disrupt and take down the department.

Caught in the crossfire of charges and countercharges, town board members hope several investigations will clear the air.

One, probing any criminal wrongdoing, is under way by the State Bureau of Investigation at the town’s request. Farris, the retiring town manager, said he has given the SBI results of an investigation that a private investigator, J.J. Lightner, conducted for the town for free. And the new town manager, David Hollis, said he is interviewing each officer to find out what kind of changes the department needs.

We don’t want a black cloud hanging over Leland, said Mayor Pro Tem Brenda Bozeman, who will become mayor next month. This is not an easy fix and there are so many different stories, but we are working on it right now.

Some changes are already in the works, Farris said. Some things are being addressed in how management interacts with staff and how management interacts with each other.

What’s the problem?

Those willing to talk publicly have complaints similar to those who wish to remain anonymous.

Bost, who had been a senior lieutenant, said Jayne created a hostile environment where Bost was alienated, made to feel uncomfortable and treated with disrespect. Bost said Jayne stripped him of responsibilities until he barely had enough work to keep him busy.

I found projects to do, he said. There were many times they would hold command staff meetings and not include me.

Before Jayne fired him, Bost said, he was forced to work out of a small closet.

I left one day in September and came back, and my office was in the copy room closet, he said.

Bost, who is a Belville town commissioner, said he felt exiled.

In September 2010, Bost had been placed on a 90-day probation period to correct his performance. Five months passed, and then he was fired for unsatisfactory performance.

They never got back to me on what I was supposed to correct. They gave me no guidance, he said.

Former officer Sherry Lewis shared a similar story.

Lewis was the subject of an EEOC complaint that said Sgt. Michael Landen targeted her during a training incident and repeatedly shot her in the groin with paintball-like ammunition. She settled with the town and resigned in September with no admission of fault or liability by either side.

Lewis had been the odd woman out in the department since she started in 2006, she said, but the harassment didn’t start until Jayne took command.

You knew that if you were on their hit list, you’re done, she said. It doesn’t matter what kind of officer or what kind of job you’ve done. They can paint you to look horrible.

After Jayne was hired, Lewis was stripped of many responsibilities, she said, including most of her community involvement duties. He demoted her soon after, saying in a memorandum her record did not justify her corporal rank.

Supervisors would frequently joke about her body style and hair, she said. She would hear from them that she was worthless.

I built a wall to it, she said. The person that I am, I just accepted it and did my job.

Jayne insists that under his watch everyone has been treated equally.

People are treated with respect, given opportunities, and given second and sometimes third chances, he said. I have an obligation to get the best officers out into the field.

Getting the best meant cleaning up a department that he described as having issues when he took over.

While many describe former Chief Osey Sanders as being strict, Jayne said Sanders did not terminate those who had marks on their records.

While he was a disciplinarian, he left a lot of employees that had a lot of violations in their folder, Jayne said.

But the turnover rate this year has been much higher than when he began. Between June 30, 2008, and Jan. 1, 2010, the department had an attrition rate of about two employees per year, or 5 percent.

In 2010, Jayne lost three employees, or 8 percent. Two of them resigned at the end of the year.

Jayne said he has fired a total of six employees and eight have resigned since he started in 2008. He has hired 11 employees.

Since last November, two of those he hired have resigned and one has been terminated.

Town email messages released at the request of the StarNews point to trouble boiling over in the police department soon after the incident involving Lewis on March 10.

An initial investigation of the incident was conducted by Cox.

Cox said her investigation on April 4 showed no fault by the town. But she said she was uncomfortable with the results.

That’s when I began looking into what was going on in that department, she said.

After a number of exit interviews with officers, Cox said, she began to question the department’s management even more.

Cox documented many of her findings through email.

In an email to Farris on May 11, she expressed her concerns. It said Detective John Holman wished to step down to patrol because of the constant harassment he had been enduring in the police department.

It also said Deputy Chief Karl Smith is ready to quit and find a new job.

Smith would not comment on the matter, and a reporter was unable to contact Holman.

In her email, Cox also said many within the department felt Jayne was an embarrassment to the force. The email alleges that Jayne was leaving work early every day at 3 p.m. and having Smith cover for him.

In an email five days later, she said Detective Timothy Floyd resigned because of his work environment and Holman stepped down to patrol because of constant verbal abuse.

Detective Floyd turned in his resignation today and said he will not work in that situation’ anymore, the email said.

A reporter was unable to reach Floyd by email or phone.

Cox’s findings, she said, culminated in a report to Farris on May 25. In it, she recommends that Jayne be removed for willful misconduct or maladministration in office.

The report alleges that Jayne had driven his take-home car for personal use and transporting his children to school, allowed members of his staff to work at his home while on duty, and allowed and participated in discriminatory practices.

These are fabrications on her part, Jayne said. She did all of this behind the scene because I found out about her smoke screen of lies and attacks.

He said Cox worked to get his commanders to exchange fictitious information to discredit him.

She told them, I will give you his job and promote the rest of you,’ he said. She set this up to undermine my authority and remove me. She knows no limits.

Though Cox resigned in June, she says she was forced to do so by Farris.

He told me, The police department doesn’t trust you now,’ Cox said. And then he said, I don’t know how this can possibly work.’

Farris would not comment further on her resignation.

Although she is not named in the town’s letter requesting an SBI investigation, Cox said she apparently is the former employee referred to in a section that asked investigators to look into unlawfully released personnel records.

Jason Gonzales: 343-2075