The city of Chattanooga has settled with 14 Chattanooga police officers who were reassigned after allegations of untruthfulness or misrepresentations, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly's office announced Wednesday.
"In the course of raising department standards for officer truthfulness, several process and legal concerns were raised by affected employees asserting that related reassignment and personnel changes were out of compliance with existing department policy," the news release said. "This issue was complex and took lawyers months to untangle, due to questions that involved HR policy, state law, due process and other issues."
The settlement is expected to cost less than $60,000 including legal fees, according to the release.
The remaining settlement after legal fees will be divided equally by the 14 officers and the city is “moving forward with higher standards for police integrity,” Ellis Smith, the director of special projects for the city of Chattanooga, said in a phone interview.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga police chief: 'Officers have not been terminated or demoted')
"The department will proceed under the new, higher standards for truthfulness and officer conduct, which mandates termination for any officer who lies or knowingly misstates facts," the release said.
Chattanooga Police Chief Celeste Murphy has worked to eliminate gray areas from the Chattanooga Police Department's policy manual, Kelly's Chief of Staff Joda Thongnopnua said in the release, adding that Kelly's administration supports that move.
"This discussion could have dragged out quite a bit longer, but after consulting with our attorneys, all parties agreed that it was in the best interests of our residents to settle the legal questions of the past and focus on moving forward with the department's new, higher conduct standards," Thongnopnua said.
(READ MORE: Reassigned Chattanooga police officers had policy violations as recently as this year)
The Chattanooga Police Department announced Aug. 17 the reassignment of 10 officers away from law enforcement duties after the department received a request from the U.S. Attorney's Office for a list of officers who had "sustained allegations of untruthfulness or misrepresentation," according to a news release from the department. An internal audit of department records later revealed an additional five officers who had also sustained such allegations.
Later that month, the department released the names of the initial 10 officers who had been reassigned, one of whom retired after the announcement. On Sept. 2, the officers were allowed to return to their law enforcement duties pending an additional review, and according to Smith, they have since been reinstated.
Police unions and attorneys representing the officers objected to the reassignment and claimed some of the allegations had been sustained more than a decade ago and had already gone through the internal affairs investigative process, which led to disciplinary actions at the time.
Union representative Vince Champion, the southeast regional director of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, said he could not comment on the settlement. Chris Mullinix, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Rock City Lodge 22, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Contact La Shawn Pagán at lpagan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.