One week after former Lafayette Police Chief Thomas Glover was fired by Mayor-President Josh Guillory 10 months after being appointed, Glover called in to Guillory's weekly show on KPEL Thursday morning to speak directly to the Mayor-President regarding his termination.
Glover called during the final segment of 'Lafayette Live,' after another caller said he'd like to hear in Guillory's own words why he "suddenly let Glover go." The Mayor-President responded by saying he knows Interim Chief Wayne Griffin will do a great job, but did not provide any reason for Glover's termination.
"We're all committed to public safety here in Lafayette, and that's kind of my motivation to work with [Griffin]," said Guillory. "It's a personnel matter in regards to our former chief, so that's more proper to discuss with our HR director, legal department. But looking forward to the future and I know our police department's in good hands."
When the caller pressed again for an explanation, Guillory repeated his answer.
"Appreciate your kind words. We're just focused on the future. If I could say some other things, I would, but we're going to respect the process and it's a personnel matter and we're going to leave it at that."
The show then moved to the next caller, who introduced himself as former Chief Glover. He began by congratulating Griffin, saying he had nothing but good things to say about the interim chief, who previously served as the department's Public Information Officer.
"I noticed when I got there what his role was and I kept him close to me. My comments are strictly for the Mayor-President. After he terminated me illegally without any reason he actually is now trying to manufacture things. He's going around asking officers and people in the community what did I do as chief of police so that he can come up with something. It seems the cart before the horse. He should have asked what I was doing before he terminated me. So I'm very disappointed."
Glover then mentioned how he's worked to improve his and LPD's relationship with the community.
"The LPD is closest to the community as it's ever been. I started the community relations committee meetings back up when I took office. The walk that's planned for October 25, the food that's being served, I orchestrated all of that. So I'm very disappointed. All of the murders that were committed in Lafayette, they were bad, they were terrible, but I had developed such a good relationship with the community that all of them, all of them had been solved with the exception of one. And so I'm very disappointed."
He said there has to be a way for Guillory to "explain to the community and to me why was I terminated without any reason." Glover finished by saying he is not giving up.
"The only thing I can say is I am relentless in my pursuit for justice. I will continue this for the next two years up until election time. I will not, I will not stop. He's counting on the people of Lafayette having a short memory. He's counting on the people forgiving him for the injustice that he did to me. And he's going to, I promise you this, he's going to pursue and do the same thing for the next two years what I've been doing for 10 months."
Glover added he would love to return to KPEL because, after being on earlier this week, "a lot has been exposed to me ... I'm in an undisclosed location now working on my retort to all this, and it's going to be devastating to the Mayor-President to do what he did for me and I will, I will get justice. And that's all I have to say."
"The group that I will never count short is the people of Lafayette," Guillory responded. "I have the utmost respect for our wonderful citizens, our wonderful community. As a former employee, everybody has a right to go to the media and say whatever they want. As a Mayor-President, I don't always have that luxury, it's not responsible for me to do that. Those conversations as far as previous employment, personnel files, it really is a personnel matter, and I'm going to respect the process, and I'm going to respect our former employees, all of them, [and] defer to our HR department, legal department..."
Listen to the full segment with Glover's call and Guillory's response from KPEL below:
READ MORE from KPEL: Listen: Fired Lafayette Police Chief calls into Mayor's radio show
PREVIOUS STORIES: LPD Chief Thomas Glover fired 10 months after being appointed
Former LPD Chief Glover speaks one-on-one day after he was fired
State senator, former LCG employee, responds to Glover departure
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