Chattanooga police officers who were reassigned as a result of past sustained allegations of untruthfulness or misrepresentations have been given the option to return to enforcement duties while their situation is reviewed, city officials said Friday.
Unions and lawyers for the officers have complained since the Aug. 17 reassignments to desk duty that it amounted to additional punishment under Chief Celeste Murphy when any previous discipline was already meted out.
“The city and the Chattanooga Police Department are continuing to collaborate closely with employee groups to finalize the details of the internal review process for each of the 15 affected officers. As part of this collaboration, CPD yesterday granted those officers the option to fulfill their originally assigned duties while the review process is underway,” city spokeswoman Kirsten Yates said in an email.
“As previously stated, the review process involves evaluation by an internal committee of each officer’s assignment through the lens of their career and previously sustained relevant violation. The committee will provide a recommendation to Chief Murphy, who will make the final decision on the affected officers’ assignments.”
Assistant Police Chief Jerri Sutton confirmed that at least 12 have returned to patrol duties, with another two handling calls via the Teleserve program which processes reports by phone.
“That was their previous assignment due to injury,” Sutton said in an email to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
A 15th officer retired, she said.
Davis & Hoss, the law firm which represents the Fraternal Order of Police and some of the affected officers individually, has repeatedly criticized the city’s actions.
“Their previous discipline was over,” the firm said in a statement. “These officers were actively serving and protecting this community when the new chief took her own unilateral action. There is no city policy that allows for the new chief to punish officers more severely for past actions than policy allows. Make no mistake about it, this was the city’s idea to correct her violation of these officers’ due process rights.”
In response to the officers being moving back to their enforcement duties, Janie Varnell, an attorney with Davis & Hoss, said the reassignment should have never taken place.
“This never should have happened in the first place,” Varnell said in an email to the Times Free Press. “We are glad that the Mayor’s Office chose to step in and reinstate these officers to active duty. On behalf of our clients, Davis & Hoss will continue to monitor this situation for any future developments.”
The department announced it was reassigning the officers Aug. 17 after receiving a request from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee for a list of officers who had sustained allegations of misrepresenting the truth.
After an internal audit, five more officers were identified, making it a total of 15 officers who had sustained such allegations.
Contact La Shawn Pagán at lpagan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow her on Twitter @LaShawnPagan.