In another response to the recent reassignment of 10 Chattanooga police officers after an inquiry was made by the U.S. Attorney's Office, a police union official says Chief Celeste Murphy's leadership has lowered the department's morale.
"Chief Murphy continues to make ill-informed decisions, creating an environment where our members have lost confidence in her leadership abilities," said Vincent L. Champion, Southeast regional director of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers union, in a Tuesday news release. "These officers have been punished a second time for past actions. We believe that our officers have been treated unfairly and have been disciplined a second time for past sustained allegations."
The statement came in response to last week's action by the Chattanooga Police Department to reassign 10 officers to non-law enforcement duties following a request from the U.S. Attorney's Office for a list of officers who had previously sustained allegations of misrepresenting the truth or filing a false report.
Champion told the Chattanooga Times Free Press at least two of the officers he has spoken with had internal affairs investigations conducted 11 and 14 years ago, respectively, for misfiling information in reports -- investigations that were closed more than a decade ago. Since then, the officers continued with their careers at the department without incident, he said.
"The understanding that we have is that these officers were put in internal affairs investigations for some 'misrepresentation or falsifying of reports' because some information went into one report that should have gone into another," Champion said in a telephone interview. "Why is it an issue now?"
In her statement announcing the reassignment of the officers, Murphy said, "It is unacceptable that a case could be jeopardized due to an integrity issue with an officer who was found to have previously misrepresented the truth or filed a false report."
Champion said both the officers and the union have been provided with very little information as to why the officers were removed from enforcement duties, making the move a type of demotion -- although the officers retain their ranks.
"These officers are no longer patrol officers. The job that they're doing is not part of their job description," Champion said. "To the best of our knowledge, they're answering phones and taking reports. That is not the job they signed up for."
Champion said the union has spoken to at least four of the officers about the reassignment and their new duties, adding that the director of the Chattanooga chapter of the organization has reached out to Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly's office.
"We are exploring every avenue that we have. The local president has reached out to the mayor and reached out to (human resources)," Champion said. "(Murphy) said that she's the one that did this, and that's fine, but we want to know what's the reason and how this came about."
The Police Department has yet to release the names of the officers and the internal investigation conclusions that led to their reassignment.
"There's no intent to not be transparent," Assistant Chief Jerri Sutton, the department's spokesperson, said in an email to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "We have bases that we must cover with legal counsel before we send information. Once we've completed those conversations, we'll take the next steps in this process."
Janie Varnell, an attorney with the firm Davis and Hoss -- which represents another union, the Fraternal Order of Police -- echoed Champion's statement that the officers had already been disciplined for department policy violations.
"In each prior case against the officers, there was sustained conduct for which each officer was disciplined," Varnell said in an email to the Times Free Press. "In each case, the officer served that discipline and has continued to remain an employee.
"Some have been promoted since these offenses. Some have been asked to be field training officers for newer officers in the department," Varnell said. "They each served their discipline and moved on from these cases. Now, the chief has unilaterally reopened these matters and has imposed additional punishment, which is in violation of their due process rights."
As previously reported by the Times Free Press, in an Aug. 18 news release, Sutton said Murphy wanted to make it clear the officers were not demoted or fired and the decision to reassign them was Murphy's alone.
"The decision to transition the officers to a non-enforcement capacity was made by Chief Murphy in the interest of integrity," the news release said. "These officers have not been terminated or demoted."
The first union to respond to the announcement, the Fraternal Order of Police, said six of its members were not given prior notice of any investigation or reassignment.
"This was done with no prior notice and no opportunity for these members to be heard," the release said. "These officers who were relieved of duty were given deceptive reasons for the meeting and given 17 hours' notice."
The officers are being informed their reassignment is permanent, according to Varnell.
Contact La Shawn Pagán at lpagan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow her on Twitter @LaShawnPagan.