Salazar reinstates fired Park Police chief

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is reinstating a former U.S. Park Police chief who was fired in 2004 after complaining publicly that her department was understaffed and underfunded.

Teresa Chambers will return to her former position on Jan. 31, Salazar said Friday. A federal board ordered last week that Chambers be reinstated, saying she is entitled to back pay, interest and other benefits. She had sued and claimed protection under the Whistleblower Protection Act.

Chambers was suspended in December 2003 and fired the following July. The Interior Department said she was fired for insubordination and failing to follow the chain of command. She said the police agency lacked enough officers to protect national park land, including the Washington Monument and other sites on the National Mall. The federal Merit Systems Protection Board ruled in favor of Chambers on Jan. 11.

Chambers, 53, is now police chief in suburban Riverdale Park, Md. She said Friday she was honored to return as Park Police chief.

Every day, Park Police officers and National Park Service rangers "walk through the pages of history as they protect and secure our national monuments and parks and those who visit them," Chambers said.

Chambers, who was unemployed for several years after she was fired, said the seven-year fight for her job "does take a toll" but said it was worth the effort.

"In hindsight there are certain things that are worth fighting for," she said. "One is integrity and right and wrong and to stand fully for the truth. Those are things that were instilled in me as a child and are things that are worth sticking to your convictions."

Chambers said she was thrilled that current Park Police Chief Salvatore Lauro will serve as a senior adviser. "He's a tremendous guy and I know he's left the Park Police in very good shape," she said.