In the weeks since the Annapolis Police union issued a vote of no confidence against Chief Ed Jackson, little progress has been made to mend the relationship between the department’s command staff and its rank-and-file, Jackson said Friday.

“I don’t think things are improving at all,” the chief said, adding he has had only one interaction with United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400, which represents Annapolis police officers, since the Aug. 8 vote. The union had filed a grievance, he said.

In an email to members earlier this month, John Lee, the union’s collective bargaining director, reiterated the Local 400’s plan “to work together until [Jackson’s] administration is removed and APD is once again a department free from unlawful retaliation … and mismanagement of city resources.”

Lee condemned the recent trial board convened for two Annapolis Police officers facing termination. Though such proceedings are a component of the state’s police accountability laws, he criticized Jackson’s pursuit of the cases, saying they were “completely unnecessary.”

Jackson argued the complaints against the two Black officers — one accused of saying a racial slur during a call for service, and the other for mislabeling body-worn camera footage — did not “reflect [his] values” of law enforcement.

“I have an absolute right to set the tone and the conduct as to how our officers should act when they’re dealing with the public,” the chief said.

Neither officer was terminated. One received a letter of reprimand and the other a loss of leave, according to Lee’s email.

The union’s discontent with Jackson and his leadership team became public knowledge in July, after the five-year commander suspended two officers who’d met with Mayor Gavin Buckley months earlier.

Though the union described the officers as “whistleblowers” who were reporting “waste and mismanagement” within the department, Jackson said he had lost faith in the officers’ “ability to take direction” and was concerned by a “rogue investigation” into Deputy Chief Maj. Stan Brandford while he was tending to his sick daughter.

Jackson, the second Black chief in the department’s 157-year history, also said he believes racism is a factor in the union’s frustrations, a claim the union has denied.

An independent review by the Baltimore Police Department, where Jackson and Brandford once worked, found the officers had not committed a “clear breach of internal policy” and the suspensions were lifted.

However, tensions within the agency continued to escalate, with union representatives calling for the removal of Jackson and his “Baltimore-based command staff,” and the chief saying while he wants Local 400 to like him, he doesn’t “need them to.”

This summer’s troubles climaxed in August, when 54 of 99 eligible union members supported a no-confidence vote against Jackson; 30 opposed the measure, according to union spokesperson Jonathan Williams. Despite the numbers, Jackson has blamed the effort to remove him on a few influential officers in the department, saying they do not reflect the sentiment of all his staff.

Williams was not immediately available for comment Friday.

The vote of no confidence was ceremonial and has no effect on Jackson’s position. Area Black leaders have praised Jackson’s community policing model and Buckley has repeatedly affirmed his “full confidence” in the chief, whom he appointed in 2020.

Even so, following the vote, the mayor’s office recognized the need for arbitration and stated it would facilitate mediated talks between the union and Jackson’s team. In separate phone calls Friday, both Jackson and Buckley said those conversations have yet to start and they were currently vetting parties to act as a mediator.

The chief said as long as he has the support of the city’s government and citizens, he will not step down. His issues with the union are internal, he said, and have neither affected his ability to perform nor the department’s ability to function.

Gun violence, for example, is not as prevalent in Annapolis as it is in other metropolitan areas, though the city has seen larger, high-profile killings in recent years, such as a 2023 mass shooting in which three fathers were killed in an alleged hate crime.

Since Jackson suspended the two officers in mid-July, four people have been injured in shootings throughout the city, doubling the number of such incidents this year. None were killed and suspected gunmen have been arrested in two of the cases, according to department spokesperson Miguel Dennis. A third person faces ammunition charges in one of the shootings, as well, Dennis said.

On Friday, Buckley said he was saddened by the continued disagreements within the police department.

Though the strained relationships will remain a cause for concern, he said to this point, the agency has managed to compartmentalize its differences and keep the city safe.

“Everyone shows up every day,” the mayor said.