Herald exclusive: Former Chester police chief to run for sheriff

Just months after abruptly resigning as Chester’s police chief, Andre Williams announced Friday he will run for Chester County sheriff in 2016.

Williams, 43, said he will run as a Democrat, setting up a potentially politically bruising primary battle with incumbent Alex Underwood in the spring.

Underwood, a retired State Law Enforcement Division agent, was elected Chester’s first black sheriff in 2012, defeating incumbent Richard Smith. Smith has not said if he intends to run in 2016.

Williams said he had not planned to challenge Underwood, but several “concerned citizens” asked him to run. He hand-delivered letters to schools officials Friday stating he will stay on as schools security head during the campaign.

“I want to bring Chester back together,” Williams said Friday. “Chester has had too much division, too much divisiveness.”

Underwood said he plans to run for re-election in 2016 and likely would announce campaign plans in January. He declined to comment on Williams’ candidacy.

“I am going to run again to continue to serve the people of Chester County,” Underwood said.

Candidates can’t officially file to run for public office until March.

Chester County, with a population of about 33,000, has been plagued by gang shootings and killings over the past couple of years.

The sheriff in Chester makes $57,000 per year.

Williams resigned July 1 after four years as police chief to become chief of security for Chester County schools – a job created after the school district hired private security guards to replace school resource officers provided by the sheriff’s office.

Underwood has publicly criticized the school district’s move to private security, and the relationship between the schools and sheriff’s office has been frosty ever since – including allegations by a schools employee that former Superintendent Agnes Slayman was out to get Underwood.

Williams vowed to repair the broken-down communication between the schools and law enforcement.

“As soon as the name Andre Williams is announced as being elected sheriff of Chester County,” he said, “that relationship between the police and the schools will be rebuilt.”

The relationship between Underwood, school officials and Williams has been bumpy, to say the least:

▪ More controversy erupted when a report conducted by an independent consultant hired by the school board found that Slayman had inflated Williams’ salary without telling the school board. The job had been advertised with a salary of $38,000, but Slayman agreed to pay Williams $61,000.

▪ This fall, school officials asked the Chester City Council to extend the city limits to take in Chester High School, allowing the district to hire off-duty Chester police officers – instead of Underwood’s deputies – to assist Williams’ school security staff at football games. The City Council declined.

▪ Soon after Williams resigned, the Chester Police Department abruptly moved out of the Chester County Law Enforcement building after a dispute with the sheriff’s office over office space.

Williams vowed to fix that rift immediately, if he is elected.

“My first agenda item as sheriff will be to bring the Chester Police Department back to the law enforcement center where it belongs,” he said.

Police Chief Williams

Williams is a Claflin University graduate with four children. He worked as a police officer in Colleton County before being hired as Chester police chief. He also is a former firefighter.

His tenure as Chester police chief was filled with both achievements and controversy:

▪ His department actively targeted lawbreakers and he often rode at night to support his officers. His officers dismantled three methamphetamine labs and apprehended several drug dealers, violent felons and fugitives. He started a new ticketing policy to ensure better community service and safety.

▪ Williams alleged that then-Chester City Councilman Odell Williams threatened to kill him in a bathroom after a council meeting. Odell Williams, who is not related to Andre Williams, was under indictment for threatening the chief when he was gunned down in 2014 in an unrelated killing police said was gang-related.

▪ Williams and city administrators and City Council members have clashed over how he ran the police department. At least one City Council member tried to have Williams fired before he resigned to take the schools job.

▪ In late 2014, Carlos Williams, who is not related to Andre Williams, demanded that the chief be fired over the way he had handled a traffic stop involving his twin sons. City leaders defended Andre Williams, and Carlos Williams was later elected to Chester City Council.

Although Williams said Friday his decision to run for sheriff is about him and not about Underwood, there is no avoiding the history of conflict between the two.

Before the disputes of the past two years, Williams and Underwood had at least a cordial relationship. Williams has said he gave Underwood keys to his home to watch it while Williams was out of town.

The two appeared together in July 2014 at a Chester anti-gang summit after a teen was gunned down in the middle of a street near downtown.

Underwood has had his controversies, too. He clashed with Chester political leaders over his budget and was sued by a former deputy on accusations of sexual harassment. The female deputy claimed in her lawsuit that Andre Williams’ house was one place where incidents occurred.

Both Underwood and Williams denied those claims.

Underwood was sued by two volunteer firefighters over the handling of the firefighters’ arrests in February 2014, prompted by an argument over closing a road after an ice storm. One of the firefighters had said over emergency radio that Underwood would feel backlash when he came up for re-election in 2016.

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 12:37 PM with the headline "Herald exclusive: Former Chester police chief to run for sheriff."