Praise, rants and pledges defined the final weeks of Thomas Glover and Josh Guillory

In the weeks before his abrupt firing of Lafayette Police Chief Thomas Glover, Mayor-President Josh Guillory heaped praise and dumped rants on the city’s top cop in text messages obtained by The Daily Advertiser.

Pages of heavily redacted messages between Glover, Guillory and other top brass at Lafayette Consolidated Government show a chief who frequently reaffirmed his commitment to the first-term mayor-president even as Guillory swung between praise and admonition for the chief of just 10 months.

More: Mayor-President Guillory fires LPD Chief Thomas Glover after just 10 months on the job

After months of welcoming and praise from Guillory for the new chief, the mayor-president’s tone took a dramatic shift, with the worst of the swings coming in mid-September as Glover faced a surge of violent crime, issues with the department’s oversight board and a fraught evaluation during a week that culminated in a drive-by shooting.

Issues emerge

On Monday, Sep. 13, Guillory and Chief Administrative Officer Cydra Wingerter sat Glover down for an evaluation that the chief later called “makeshift” and “patently false.” Glover said the objectives he laid out after he was hired, which Guillory accepted, were “tossed aside” in the evaluation and he was instead judged based on notes from his December interview for the job.

He has since appealed his firing on the basis of that evaluation. The appeal will go before Lafayette’s Fire and Police Civil Service Board.

More: Terminated Police Chief Thomas Glover will have appeal heard by civil service board

Two days later at that board’s Sep. 15 meeting, Glover was forced to address a complaint filed in January alleging that he failed to investigate a complaint about a police captain who was said to have used his power to intimidate a landlord.

Glover told the board a shift-level investigation into the matter was ordered after the incident was brought to his attention in January, but he made a decision not to move forward on that investigation. He said claims filed in the complaint were “frivolous,” which was supported by body-worn camera footage.

More: Police chief says no evidence of misconduct between captain, landlord

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But the short-term chief and LPD’s attorney Michael Corry bickered with the board’s chairman, LPD Sgt. Paul Mouton, over whether a shift-level investigation into the complaint had actually been conducted.

The matter was to be reviewed by interim Chief Wayne Griffin and brought back before the board. But Griffin was placed on administrative leave after a sexual harassment complaint was filed against him, and the matter has not reappeared before the board.

More: Interim LPD Chief Griffin on leave as LCG investigates sexual harassment allegation

Mounting frustration

The same day, a juvenile was shot while inside a house that was under construction. An 18-year-old was charged with negligent injury in the incident. Hours later, police responded to a possible drive-by shooting that may have been retaliation for a shooting earlier in the week, KLFY reported.

Guillory’s frustration clearly began to mount in messages sent to the chief, with the board meeting and the string of gun violence leading to a directive to “find the bad guys. Arrest the bad guys,” from the mayor-president.

But days later on Sep. 19, two people were hospitalized after being shot while sitting in their car on Edison Street.

More: Man facing charges after police say he injured two people while they were sitting in car

Guillory sent a tirade later that day to Glover and Wingerter demanding that the police department be more aggressive “within the confines of the law.”

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“Get every single officer out of their damn office. They have admin work to do? Get their ass out in the field and do it. Get out the damn vehicles, get out of the offices and do more doing,” he wrote.

“We have too much watching, too much talking, and not enough policing. Outside a small element actually guarding HQ or in dispatch, all officers should be out in the field.

“You want to change the culture and remove violent criminals, Chief Glover? Then do it. Period. If not, then let us know so I can get someone that will rip the rug from under the table. My patients (sic) with these statistics is no more.”

Who does the next Lafayette police chief need to be?: Someone who mends relationships, leaders say

The next day, Glover’s response was a lengthy, rambling pledge in which he said some officers were “silently trying to disrupt our mission.”

“As the chief, I will never concede the city of Lafayette to criminals. The good officers on the dept. Know that, and work to achieve the mission. There are others who spend their time silently trying to disrupt our mission. I am identifying them. They spread the lies and distortions in an effort to keep things from reforming, getting to where you want be,” the chief texted.

“I told u, all that I would have your back and u told me and constantly tell me the same. I made a momentous decision to uproot after 40 years and relocate. It was one that I gave tremendous thought on just like you and your supporters did with me. We both made good decisions,” he continued.

“Under my leadership the LPD will be changed, those inside fighting it, will be identified, isolated and will be out. People in the community, any media, and the pundits who want me to fail, will not succeed. I have never made a decision based on race, gender, political identity etc. My integrity is impeccable, but most of all, like u said in a debate ‘I lead with my heart.’ I’M READY!!”.

His message went unacknowledged.

‘Your favorite chief’

Weeks later, on the night before Glover would be fired, a woman was shot and killed when she answered a knock on the door of her north Lafayette home. Glover appears to have updated Guillory and Wingerter in their group chat, although the text was redacted.

'She's a good person': Woman fatally shot after opening to knock at door, police say

An hour later, Glover told the pair of LCG leaders he worked “24/7 on the crime” that had shocked the woman’s neighbors. He again said forces within the department wanted him out for “pushing the agenda (he) was hired to do,” but insisted he and the mayor-president “need(ed) to show a united front.”

“U once told me I was your favorite chief and u did not just say it,” he wrote. “My leadership will be on display and the adm., the citizens, etc will see it during a short term crisis.”

Within hours, he was fired.

In the weeks since, Guillory has continued to withhold an explanation for Glover’s ousting, calling it a personnel issue that he cannot comment on.

More: Ousted Police Chief Glover confronts Guillory on call-in radio show

“As a former employee, you know, everybody has a right to go to the media and say whatever they want," the first-term mayor-president said after being confronted by Glover on his Oct. 14 call-in radio show on KPEL.

"As a mayor-president, I don't always have that luxury. It's not responsible for me to do that."

With Griffin, Guillory’s replacement for Glover, on administrative leave as the administration investigates the sexual harassment complaint lodged against him, Maj. Monte Potier is currently atop the department as its fifth leader in just five years.

Turnover and turmoil at LPD: 5 chiefs in 5 years raises questions as investigations loom

Contact Ashley White at adwhite@theadvertiser.com or on Twitter @AshleyyDi. Contact Andrew Capps at acapps@theadvertiser.com or on Twitter @JAndrewCapps.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Praise, rants and pledges defined the final weeks of Glover & Guillory