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Montgomery Police Chief Daryl Albert resigned on Thursday afternoon, ending a tumultuous two-year tenure leading the police force in Alabama’s capital city.
Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said in a statement issued late Thursday that Albert submitted his resignation and that it was accepted.
“Today, Darryl Albert informed me that he is resigning from his post as Chief of Police, and I have accepted his resignation,” said Reed. “MPD Deputy Chief John Hall will continue to serve as acting chief. Improving public safety is a priority for our city. We are committed to confronting violent crime with community-based solutions.”
Hall has been serving as acting chief for the past two weeks, since the time Albert was placed on administrative leave by city officials. Although Reed and other officials have declined to provide details on Albert’s administrative leave, a source familiar with the situation told APR that Albert’s suspension originated from a city investigation into allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior.
The source said those allegations arose from a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by former officer Rene Helton, who claimed she was terminated after resisting Albert’s sexual advances. Helton claimed to have evidence of Albert’s harassment, including screenshots of text messages and voicemails.
Helton went public with her allegations in late January, conducting media interviews with her attorney Mickey McDermott and leveling allegations against both Albert and city officials. Several sources close to MPD and city officials told APR at the time that while Helton’s allegations were being taken seriously, her claims that the mayor’s office ignored her or attempted a cover up were false.
In fact, the city revealed that it had undertaken an investigation into Helton’s claims. According to a source familiar with that investigation, information uncovered during the course of looking into Helton’s claims, and the claims of other officers, led to Albert being placed on administrative leave.
This was not Albert’s first issue with sexual harassment. According to a New Orleans TV station, WVUE, Albert faced an internal review in 2018 after being accused of sexual harassment while leading the New Orleans PD’s crime lab. The results of that investigation were never released publicly. According to the source close to Montgomery city officials, NOPD didn’t report any findings or issues to Montgomery officials when the city was looking to hire Albert and made inquiries about the review.
