NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee POST Commissioners say they believe officers from the Millersville Police Department are “illegally” working full-time hours when they’re not certified to do so.
Commissioners met Friday with investigators offering an update on the latest with Millersville Police Department and a letter from Sumner County District Attorney Ray Whitley.
Investigators said they spoke with Millersville City Manager Scott Avery the day before and Avery explained that Police Chief Melvin Brown was working full-time.
Tennessee state law requires that all full-time law enforcement officers be certified with the Tennessee POST Commission.
Chief Brown’s certification has long expired, but he accepted the Millersville job in December after former chief Dustin Carr stepped down.
Commissioners told Brown in a March meeting that because too much time had passed since he was last certified, he was required to attend transition school.
The same was true about Assistant Police Chief Glenn Alred, who agreed to attend the police academy before returning to full-time.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Brown what he planned to do next after the meeting, and he explained that both he and Alred would change their status to part-time and focus on administrative duties.
Brown later requested a waiver after an injury and now plans on attending transition school in August.
Avery told investigators he believed this waiver, which bought Brown more time, also allowed him to work full-time without his certification.
POST officials denied this as Avery confused two separate issues. They said the waiver was only to give Brown another six months before training. It wasn’t however a waiver granting him the ability to work full-time with being certified.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates also know that Alred enrolled for the police academy, but never showed up.
This all came after our NewsChannel5 Investigation where we discovered Alred had been responding to calls and pulling people over on his own, although the law says he must be certified to do so.
Investigators sent these findings to Sumner County District Attorney Ray Whitley who declined to prosecute, instead saying: “This does not appear to be a blatant disregard of the law by anybody, and corrective measures are being taken to comply with POST Commission requirements according to law.”
NewsChannel 5 Investigates reached out to Whitley’s office but did not hear back.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Chad Partin and others seemed to disagree with Whitley's assessment and concluded that Millersville was not in compliance.
"If the district attorney is watching, these are illegal actions and when a district attorney general doesn’t take action, unfortunately like in many other states, the governor of the state has to take action,” Partin said.
Partin pointed out that in order to get the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation involved, the request would have to come from the district attorney's office.
When a district attorney is unwilling to make the request, Partin said it's then up to the governor to launch an investigation through the State Attorney General's Office, although he hopes it doesn't get to that point.
“If we’ve got law enforcement operating outside the scopes and bounds and is not complying with the laws and rules in the state of Tennessee, we keep going up to the higher powers,” Partin said.
Commissioners entertained all options including sending a “cease & desist” letter to the city of Millersville, to keep Alred and Brown from working full-time until they're certified.
Investigators told commissioners that since March, they now get 2-3 complaints a week that Alred is still working full-time hours. They did clarify that none of these claims had been corroborated.
Commissioners requested that investigators return to Millersville for a full audit of Alred and Brown’s timesheets, which they believe may answer some questions.
“I don’t feel like this commission is getting full transparency with Millersville, and I for one would like to see more supporting documents and cooperation, said Commissioner Jonathan Beverly.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates reached out to Millersville City Manager Scott Avery who said he wasn’t aware of Friday’s POST Commission meeting.
He confirmed that he met with POST investigators the day before, but was not notified that Millersville was on the agenda.
POST officials told us they did not send a notice to Millersville because this was only supposed to be a review of DA Whitley’s response.
Avery said he told investigators that while Brown is working full-time, he’s doing so without a uniform and only doing administrative work.
He went on to say that Millersville planned to keep Alred on part-time, which means he’s no longer required to be certified.
Commissioner Partin shared final remarks by first pointing out that both Alred and Brown have been around law enforcement long enough to know when they’re skirting the law.
“It’s cut and dry. If you’re not in compliance, you’re not in compliance. You’re in the public’s eye. We see you. Everybody sees you, and you can’t hide if you’re working as a police officer in this state,” Partin said.
