Officials on Tuesday said GW Police Department Chief James Tate has resigned from his role effective immediately, following The Hatchet’s reporting late last month on former officers’ allegations of departmental gun safety violations and inadequate training.
Vice President for Safety and Operations Baxter Goodly sent a pair of emails to GWPD officers and the Campus Safety Advisory Committee on Tuesday stating that Acting Chief Ian Greenlee will continue to head the department as the University launches a national search for a permanent police chief in “the coming weeks.” Tate’s resignation follows a Hatchet investigation last month that detailed previously undisclosed departmental safety violations and internal disarray, including two firearms unregistered in D.C. carried by the force’s top two officers during the first month of GW’s arming rollout, insufficient firearms training and high staff turnover due to a poor workplace culture in the past year.
Following The Hatchet’s reporting last month, officials on Friday placed Tate on leave and ordered a third-party investigation into GWPD’s arming implementation and current training protocols, as well as “several new questions” raised to officials “recently.”
“I have appreciated the chance to work at a prestigious institution with talented colleagues,” Tate said in the Tuesday email to Campus Safety Advisory Committee members. “I am grateful to GW’s leadership for their support in leading the department over the past four years.”
Six former GWPD officers told The Hatchet last month that the department’s firearms training left officers unprepared to respond to major emergencies, with internal disagreements over the arming implementation process sparking mass department departures. Tate and former Captain of Operations Gabe Mullinax allegedly carried firearms unregistered in D.C. from Aug. 30 to Sept. 27, 2023, and Tate in 2023 “routinely” stored his loaded firearm in GWPD’s armory, according to former officers and human resources reports.
University spokesperson Julia Metjian confirmed that Tate resigned from his position and that Greenlee will serve as interim chief while officials evaluate “next steps” in selecting a permanent chief. She declined to comment on when Tate resigned, if the University asked Tate to step down and if the third-party investigation played a role in his resignation. She also declined to comment on whether the third-party investigation will remain in progress following Tate’s departure.
“I recognize that this has been a period of uncertainty and change, and I appreciate your patience and understanding as we move forward and chart GWPD’s direction together,” Goodly said in the email announcing Tate’s resignation to GWPD officers.
Goodly said last week that officials “investigated, addressed and resolved” prior complaints that community members raised during GWPD’s first arming phase, which began in August 2023 by arming Tate and Mullinax, before officials shifted to phase two in February.
Faculty senators probed University President Ellen Granberg, Goodly and other officials earlier this month about The Hatchet’s reporting on the alleged safety violations and lack of training. In response, Granberg said the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Human Resource Management & Development were investigating the allegations, adding that the “very disturbing article” requires the University’s attention.
Tate has helmed GWPD since January 2020 and many community members hoped his hiring would end a history of department tumult underscored by GWPD cycling through four leaders in the roughly two years before Tate stepped into the role. Tate made strides to enhance GWPD’s transparency, overseeing a series of departmental reforms like body-worn cameras and implicit bias and de-escalation training. He also introduced Coffee with the Chief, a monthly opportunity for students to meet with him to discuss campus safety.
Tate’s departure is the latest in a series of GWPD leadership exits over the past year. Three of the department’s top six officers have left GWPD since April, with Mullinax leaving in April and former Lieutenants Sean Brown and Christina Hunsicker leaving in May and August, respectively. Ryan Monteiro, a former sergeant who left in May, said last month that about six sergeants left the department in a roughly two-month period around the time he left.
“I want to thank Chief Tate for his service to the University, and I am grateful that Acting Chief Greenlee has agreed to serve GW in this capacity,” Goodly said in his email to Campus Safety Advisory Committee members.
Greenlee has overseen shift operations, coordinated crime prevention efforts and police response to special events and has acted as a liaison to the Metropolitan Police Department, Goodly said in the email. He added that Greenlee has fulfilled the University’s training and experience requirements for arming.
Greenlee joined GWPD in February 2023 as a lieutenant of the special services unit before becoming captain of administration in fall 2023 and filling the position as interim chief Friday. He previously served 15 years at American University’s police department, as a shift supervisor from 2008 to 2015 and as an assistant manager at American University’s’s Department of Public Safety-Police Operations, according to Greenlee’s LinkedIn.
The Board of Trustees directed GWPD to arm about 20 of its officers in April 2023, a decision met with student protests and letters in opposition from faculty. The Faculty Senate passed a resolution at the end of the first arming phase in October 2023 demanding officials halt arming until officials publicize data and community feedback on the decision.
The department delayed the second phase until February, but Tate said last spring that faculty senators’ resolution “certainly wasn’t a factor” in the decision to pause the rollout. Last month, officials announced that they completed the final phase of the arming implementation plan, which would equip about 22 officers with handguns once the department filled remaining vacancies. Monteiro, the former sergeant, said about six or seven officers are currently armed because of department turnover.
At the Faculty Senate meeting earlier this month, Patricia Hernandez, a faculty senator, said she was introducing a resolution calling for a “thorough and independent investigation” into the quality and nature of members of the GWPD.
