NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Millersville Police Department will now have its chief and assistant chief working part-time after NewsChannel 5 discovered neither is certified to do the job.
Chief Melvin Brown and Assistant Chief Glenn Alred appeared before the Tennessee POST Commission Friday morning to explain why both were working as full-time officers without being POST certified.
The POST Commission is the agency responsible for certifying all full-time police officers in the state of Tennessee.
Brown told the commission he and Alred had only just recently accepted the job after former police chief Dustin Carr stepped down in December.
Brown said he was initially hired by Millersville as a part-time officer just weeks earlier. By rule, part-time officers do not have to be POST certified since the expectation is they’re working alongside an already certified officer.
When Carr stepped down, officers moved up and that’s when Brown says City Manager Scott Avery approached him to take the chief job.
Brown said he wasn’t aware too much time had passed since he was last certified, which meant he had to enroll in transition school.
Our investigation discovered Alred was working full-time without certification and making traffic stops on his own. Both are against Millersville and POST Commission policy.
Following our investigation, the POST Commission launched its own inquiry and soon discovered that Brown was also not certified.
POST Commissioner Chad Partin called it an embarrassment.
This was now the second time they had to address officers being put on the street to work full-time, without being certified.
“These agencies and these city leaders. Mayors and aldermen, better get their acts together. I’m tired of my state being in the national news. I can already tell there’s monkey business going on, and I’m sick of it,” Partin said.
Alred had filed for a waiver to avoid having to return to the police academy, which Partin made clear was likely not going to be approved.
Minutes later the commission voted to deny his waiver request and send Alred back to the academy.
Partin praised Brown as a “cop’s cop” and the man believes can help the city of Millersville make the necessary changes if they plan on having a police department at all.
“He knows the laws and the city of Millersville better be listening to Melvin Brown and city managers better be listening, too, because this is serious business. We’re not mall cops,” Partin said.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates caught up with Brown, Avery, and Alred right after the meeting. Brown said he’s already scheduled for transition school in May, while Alred is scheduled for the academy in June.
“It creates a hardship for an assistant police chief to be away for 12 weeks, but that’s okay. We’re going to make that work,” Brown said.
Brown said he and Alred will focus on administrative work while they wait for training.
He also said he was not personally aware that Alred was making traffic stops alone but did not elaborate on if Alred would continue making stops.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Brown if he had anything to say to the people of Millersville, and he began by reassuring them that they have certified officers available to protect the city.
“If you have a problem with anything about the police department, you contact me, and I’ll be glad to talk to you. It seems like there’s always an adversarial relationship between the government and the media. We’ll tell you, too, the media is important and the media coverage of this, even if it seems biased at times, is still important because that’s the only way you’re going to know,” Brown said.
The POST Commission told all three men they would share the findings of their investigation with the local District Attorney for review.
The commission also required Millersville officials to return in three months with an update.
