THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 13, 1997 TAG: 9701130051
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 148 lines
The resume of Jimmy L. Wilson, who will become police chief today, reads like a high-powered novel with cops and robbers, national politicians, diplomats and terrorists.
The pages are filled with a police investigation into an attempted presidential assassination, planned terrorist takeovers in the nation's capital and an airplane disaster.
At 51, Wilson has been praised for his leadership of the 6th police precinct in Washington, his management of the department's internal-affairs division and his role as head of homicide detectives.
Though Suffolk - with its rural and urban mix - is far removed from the national political scene, officials here say Wilson is the ideal person to head the 116-member police force. He takes over as the city grapples with growth and struggles to provide services.
The 29-year police veteran was tapped from among 100 applicants after a nationwide search to replace Chief G.F. Jackson, who retired last June. Wilson's starting salary will be $67,500 a year.
In a telephone interview last week, Wilson said he appreciated City Manager Myles E. Standish's vision for the Police Department and the city.
``He's . . . focused on progress and doesn't talk in terms of what happened yesterday,'' Wilson said. ``He talks about the future and what the city is going to mean to our grandchildren.''
Wilson said he also was attracted to the city's location and opportunities for boating and fishing, two of his favorite pastimes.
A native of Durham, N.C., Wilson served four years in Army intelligence, including a tour of duty in Turkey during the Vietnam era. In 1968, he joined the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, rising from patrolman to deputy chief.
While in Washington, Wilson earned a bachelor's degree in administration of justice from American University, and he has pursued further training and education throughout his career. He also insists that officers get training, aggressively pursuing funds and grants to subsidize it.
He left Washington in 1992 to become chief in urban Jackson, Miss. He was fired in May 1994. In 1995, he took the job in small-town Canton, Miss.
A 1994 story in Newsday reported that Wilson had been brought to Jackson by Mayor J. Kane Ditto to reform a department plagued with racial strife and problems with brutality.
It was widely reported in the media that Wilson made many improvements in the department but struggled with local and federal authorities who blocked his investigation into alleged corruption at the juvenile jail.
Ditto, who had dismissed Wilson's predecessor after eight months, moved his office into the Police Department to take a hands-on approach in April 1994. A month later, he fired Wilson.
Ditto did not return telephone calls from The Virginian-Pilot.
A $5.8 million lawsuit for breach of contract filed by Wilson against Ditto and city officials is pending.
Eight months after his firing, Wilson took over the 30-member police force in Canton, about 20 miles north of Jackson, intending to stay only a year.
Canton Mayor Alice Scott praised Wilson, saying, ``All he wants is for his supervisor to allow him to do his job.''
City Attorney William R. Collins said Wilson brought out strong feelings in Canton.
The ``cloud of secrecy'' that surrounded Wilson's departure from Jackson created tension within the community, Collins said. ``Nobody really knows a lot about his past,'' Collins said.
And some complained that the chief continued to live in Jackson, although he owned a house in Canton. His contract did not require him to live in town, he said.
Both homes are on the market. And for now, he will rent a furnished, downtown apartment in Suffolk.
Last fall, Wilson considered retiring. He had completed his goal of strengthening the Canton department. He was teaching police science at Jackson State University. But he also applied for several law enforcement posts.
He was a finalist in Pompano Beach, Fla., but wasn't picked. And he was one of two top finalists in Gainesville, Fla., though City Manager Wayne Bowers passed on both candidates and reopened the search.
Wilson had gotten high marks in background screenings, and Bowers said he felt he would make an excellent chief - just not in Gainesville, home to the University of Florida. Their management styles didn't mesh, Bowers said.
The Suffolk post will be Wilson's first job in a city manager-council type of government, in which the police chief doesn't answer directly to elected officials.
Newspaper accounts of his days in the nation's capital show Wilson was no stranger to controversy.
The internal-affairs office he headed was criticized for its investigations into the 1986 Operation Caribbean Cruise drug raid and former Mayor Marion Barry's alleged drug overdose in 1983.
Alexandria Police Chief Charles E. Samarra, Wilson's supervisor at the time, said Wilson did not leak the information to the press that compromised the drug raid. And if Wilson deserved any blame in the Barry investigation, Samarra said it was only in not providing a full report to the department on what officers had learned about alleged cocaine use.
Wilson handled a lot of sensitive cases, Samarra said.
``He just was a very intelligent, hard-working guy who had a lot of integrity.''
However, in 1988 Wilson and one of his supervisors were accused of making false statements to a D.C. police department panel that investigated alleged improprieties in the department's drug-screening program. Wilson's supervisor was transferred and replaced by Melvin High, now Norfolk's police chief and a member of the panel that interviewed the top five candidates for the Suffolk post.
Metropolitan Police Chief L. Soulsby called Wilson a ``consummate professional,'' saying the only criticisms he had heard about Wilson were from ``people who wanted him to compromise his integrity.''
One sign of Wilson's integrity: He chose to arrest a friend on the D.C. police force on an embezzling charge rather than assign the job to another officer.
``You have to accept the unpleasant things with the pleasant,'' Wilson said. ``As long as I intend to be a police officer, I will do my job.''
Standish said his employees are expected to provide the highest quality of service to the community.
``I quickly saw that that was his goal, as well,'' he said.
Once in Suffolk, Wilson said, he will analyze needs before making changes, and he expects to be a team player.
``Everyone has to work together to fight problems - crime, poverty and (lack of) education,'' he said. ``No separate organization can do it all themselves.'' ILLUSTRATION: Jimmy L. Wilson
JIMMY L. WILSON'S CAREER
1964-1968 - Served in Army.
1974 - Earned bachelor's degree in administration of justice,
American University.
1968-1992 - Served in Metropolitan Police Department, Washington;
Joined force as patrolman and rose to deputy chief.
Reduced crime in the 6th precinct; started the Citizens' Police
Academy; headed police investigation into attempted assassination of
former President Ronald Reagan and shared responsibility for
immediate on-scene investigation with the FBI and the Secret
Service; and directed investigations of several terrorist activities
in capital.
1992-1994 - Served as chief of police in Jackson, Miss.
Increased security measures in the police department; authorized
use of semi-automatic weapons after a policeman was shot to death
while responding to a burglary; provided bullet-resistant vests for
officers; and reorganized the department.
1995-1996 - Served as chief in Canton, Miss.
Strengthened Neighborhood Watch programs; created a police
advisory committee; and upgraded technology in the department.
Jan. 13, 1997 - Takes post of chief in Suffolk.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE SUFFOLK POLICE CHIEF