Tag: Police Chief Steve Anderson

Nashville Police Chief: Department Rules Don’t Penalize Affairs Between Security Detail and Person They Are Assigned to Protect

Chris Alto

During an extended interview, Metro Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson indicated that he’s “not seeing anything that we would change” as far as rules, regulations or policies under which the police department operates despite Mayor Megan Barry’s public admission of committing two years of adultery with the head of her security detail, Sgt. Robert Forrest, while he was an employee of Metro’s police department. Police Chief Anderson appointed by then Mayor Karl Dean in 2010, accepts Mayor Barry’s characterization that her affair with Sgt. Forrest was strictly a personal matter. But Anderson makes it clear that he does not endorse people who work together having sexual relationships. He points out, however, that even if Sgt. Forrest had not “retired” and was still providing security for the Mayor, no specific rule or policy of the police department would have been violated. Current police department policy only prohibits personal relationships between supervisors and subordinates and would not extend to the sexual relationship between the Mayor and the security detail assigned to her office by the police department. According to Police Chief Anderson, Sgt. Forrest’s chain of command and direct supervisor is the Specialized Investigations Division (SID) but that Forrest’s day to day…

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Justice for Jocques Coalition Angry With Nashville City Officials Over Officer Shooting

Wendy Wilson

The Justice for Jocques Coalition held a town hall meeting Saturday at which they slammed Nashville city officials for what they perceive as injustice in the case of a white police officer who fatally shot an armed black man. Officer Josh Lippert was found to be acting in self-defense in the Feb. 10 shooting of Jocques Scott Clemmons. Called “The People’s Town Hall,” Saturday’s event was held at First Baptist Church South Inglewood. City officials were invited to attend. District Attorney Glenn Funk and Mayor Megan Barry sent representatives who listened but referred concerns to Funk and Barry directly. The Metro Nashville Police Department did not send anyone. “When is the mayor going to be the mayor and handle the police chief?,” said Davie Tucker, pastor of Beech Creek Missionary Baptist Church, according to NewsChannel 5. “When is the DA going to be the DA and be the chief prosecutor in this jurisdiction and stop allowing the police to do it?” Clemmons was shot by Lippert at the Cayce Homes public housing development in East Nashville after the officer saw Clemmons run a stop sign, which led to a foot chase, physical confrontation and Clemmons pointing a gun toward the officer.…

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Police Chief Steve Anderson Rebukes District Attorney’s Office For ‘Misstatements’ About Handling Of Officer Shooting

Wendy Wilson

Police Chief Steve Anderson has slammed the Nashville district attorney’s office for criticizing the police department’s handling of the Feb. 10 fatal shooting of an armed black man by a white officer acting in self-defense. In a report and at a press conference last week, officials with the district attorney’s office criticized the language the Metro Nashville Police Department used in a report and for supposedly concluding only several hours after the incident that the shooting was justifiable and saying the investigation was complete. While District Attorney Glenn Funk concluded that Officer Josh Lippert did act in self-defense in shooting Jocques Scott Clemmons, the report released by his office said the police department contributed to an appearance of bias in the case, which provoked a strong reaction in the community and raised questions of fairness. WKRN News 2 reported that in a letter Monday to Deputy District Attorney Amy Hunter, who spoke at the May 11 press conference, Anderson said his department had provided the district attorney’s office in advance with an explanation of the language used in the police report, adding that police follow guidelines from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Anderson said Hunter’s statement at the press conference, taken…

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Nashville’s Citizen Police Academy Offers Inside Look At Law Enforcement

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  The Metro Nashville Police Department is accepting applications for its next Citizen Police Academy, which offers Nashville area residents an inside look at local law enforcement. The summer session, to be held at the Hermitage precinct, begins Monday, June 12. The free course runs 12 weeks. The program will feature various guest speakers, including members of the police department’s specialized units. Topics will include gangs, narcotics enforcement, domestic violence, traffic/DUI enforcement, internet crimes, emergency preparedness, crime prevention and the judicial process. There will also be tours of the Emergency Communications Center and demonstrations by the aviation, canine and mounted units. “The Citizen Police Academy provides a unique view of this department and Nashville’s law enforcement professionals,” said Chief Steve Anderson in a news release.  “We invite folks from all neighborhoods to consider applying.  Class members will come away each week with knowledge about police work that they didn’t have before.”  It will be the 37th session of the Citizen Police Academy since the popular program began in 1995. Classes will be held on Monday nights from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. through August 28th in the community room of the Hermitage precinct, located at 3701 James Kay Lane.  Class size is…

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Memorial Service Held For Nashville Police Killed in the Line of Duty

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee–An annual memorial service was held Wednesday in downtown Nashville to honor fallen law enforcement officers and to show appreciation for the police who daily protect the public at risk to their own lives. The event was sponsored by the Andrew Jackson Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police and took place at First Baptist Church. The memorial was also held to observe National Police Week, which is May 14-20. Nashville Mayor Megan Barry thanked officers for putting their lives on their line. “We can never thank you enough for what you do for all of us every day,” said Barry, who also expressed gratitude to the families of officers for their sacrifices. In his speech, Steve Anderson, chief of the Metro Nashville Police Department, spoke of Eric Mumaw, the officer to die most recently in the line of duty. Mumaw drowned Feb. 2 while trying to save a drunk and suicidal woman whose car plunged into the Cumberland River in Madison. The woman has been charged in his death. “If wealth were measured in friendships, Eric would have been wealthy beyond belief,” Anderson said. Anderson told of a young boy whom Mumaw befriended through a program that…

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