The Nashville Community Review Board recommended that MNPD’s Office of Professional Accountability reopen its investigation into CC2024-043 after the board’s staff found investigative gaps and concluded the officer may have violated department policy on honesty and truthfulness.

The complaint alleges an MNPD officer used the TLO database to locate a Clarksville Police Department detective’s personal phone number and then contacted him; the detective said he never met the MNPD officer and did not authorize the contact. OPA concluded that the officer acted within policy and that the allegations were unfounded, partly because OPA deemed the contact investigative in nature.

But the board’s review noted omissions in OPA’s process — specifically, that OPA did not interview an available civilian witness (a CIT worker present during part of the encounter) and did not interview the suspect whose phone number was at issue. The assistant director’s review recommended the case be returned to OPA and that MNPD consider adding a violation for honesty and truthfulness.

An excerpt from the board’s written analysis says OPA “relied heavily on the testimony of the officer” and “failed to take into consideration and should have considered” the testimonial and timeline discrepancies the board identified. The board recommended the OPA investigator pursue witness interviews and reexamine whether the officer appropriately used TLO and later represented the call history in a way that affected the investigation’s outcome.

Action: the board voted to adopt the assistant director’s report and to authorize returning the case for further review.

Context: TLO (a licensee database used for investigative leads) is an approved investigative tool in many departments, but the board’s recommendation focused on whether the officer’s use and subsequent representations in this matter were fully documented and evaluated.

Ending: The board sent its recommendation to OPA and requested a fuller evidentiary review, including interviews with all available witnesses.