DeKalb County Police Chief Mirtha Ramos, who has been the first female and longest-serving DeKalb County police chief in more than two decades, said she was “completely surprised” to be asked to resign.
She said DeKalb County COO Zach Williams told her that CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson wanted the county to move in a “different direction” and so she should step away from her duties as police chief.
During a press conference on Thursday, CEO Cochran-Johnson stated that the police chief is on administrative leave. Cochran-Johnson declined to comment further on the situation but announced that Assistant Chief Gregory Padrick will serve as interim chief.
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Ramos has served as the county’s top cop for the past five years. Michael Thurmond, the then-CEO of DeKalb, hired her in 2019 after she had worked for the Miami-Dade Police Department for 22 years.
DeKalb County observed notable drops in crime under Ramos’ leadership, according to a press release given to FOX 5 Atlanta.
The release stated that property and violent crimes have declined by 13% overall, while homicides decreased by 85% in January 2023 and are already down 77.3% year to date.
In an interview with FOX 5 Atlanta on Friday, the outgoing chief narrated how she was asked to leave her position.
“Well, on Wednesday, I was summoned to the COO’s office. And at that time, [COO Zach Williams] advised me that CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson was moving in a different direction, and that I was to step away from my responsibilities as police chief, effective immediately. I was advised that I have 21 days to either resign, or immediately be fired.”
“So, I was asked to step away from my responsibilities. So, that is indeed factual. And so, I’m considered to be on administrative leave until the 21 days expire. At that time, depending on my decision of resigning or not resigning, they will take the necessary steps to fire me, and that would be effective immediately upon the expiration of the 21 days,” she continued.
She said it took some time for everything to soak in, even though the meeting was only five minutes long.
“So, I was in and out, and I went and sat in my car and just contemplated what happened because it happened fast,” she continued.
According to Ramos, she had no idea that she would be asked to step down.
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She recounted, “Well, I knew that she obviously has the right to choose whoever she wants to be her police chief. I don’t think at that time that I would be removed, considering all of the improvements that we’ve been through over the last few years. We started out 2023 with a bang. Our numbers are looking good. We have not had any scandals. We didn’t have any challenges. So, I guess maybe I was naive enough to believe that doing really good work was enough. But apparently, I was chosen to be dismissed.”
The outgoing chief stated that one of her major regrets is that she would not be given a befitting send-off.
“I did not get to say goodbye to the officers. I didn’t get to say goodbye to the community. I didn’t get to say goodbye to the people that I work with every day,” she lamented.
She continues to reflect on the five years she spent serving.
“I’m very proud of those five years because I think we’ve done a lot in the last five years. Even though we faced so many challenges, we still overcame them,” she said.
“Well, I just want to say that I was grateful for this opportunity. I sincerely thank CEO Michael Thurmond for taking a chance on someone when he had no idea who I was. He gave me this job on merit and thought that I was the right person. And I think that at that time, I definitely was the right person to steer the ship in a different direction. And I think we’re going in a great direction. And if we just stay on that course, I think we’ll be able to see and reap some of the benefits of the hard work that we’ve put in these last few years,” she noted.
She is now taking her time processing being unemployed for the first time as an adult.
She remarked, “For five years, I really had not had any free time. Working 60 hours a week, phone ringing off the hook at all hours of the night. So, I’m just going to take a few days to process things, figure out what I want to do, if anything.”
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