A detective who was placed on leave with pay pending an internal investigation earlier this month has filed an appeal of the discipline imposed by Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones.
Pine Bluff Police Department Detective Marty Harrison will appear before the city’s Review Committee at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 29, to appeal the decision. The committee is made up of city employees and has heard city personnel appeals since the Civil Service Commission was abolished in 2011.
Police Department officials have not released any details about why Harrison was investigated or what disciplinary action Davis-Jones imposed after the conclusion of the investigation.
The only details released by PBPD officials were that Harrison was placed on leave on Feb. 2 and that the internal investigation concluded on Feb. 10.
The Commercial filed a request under the state Freedom of Information Act for access to the internal investigation file associated with the incident. The city attorney’s office responded that the file was exempt under the law pending a “‘final administrative resolution’ of his suspension” and noted that the final resolution has not yet occurred.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Assistant Police Chief Ivan Whitfield was also placed on leave with pay on Feb. 2 in what police officials said stemmed from a separate incident. Whitfield told The Commercial on Feb. 10 that he had been fired. On Monday, the Pine Bluff City Council convened a special called meeting where they amended two ordinances, applied them retroactively to Feb. 1 and reinstated Whitfield.
The Commercial also filed an FOI request for Whitfield’s investigation file and his personnel records, but the city attorney’s office responded that those documents are exempt from disclosure because in the end, his firing was overturned.
The police department has not detailed why Whitfield was placed on leave or fired. Whitfield has told Pine Bluff City Council in a letter obtained by The Commercial that one of his service weapons was found on a person of interest in a homicide investigation, but that he believes he was actually fired by Davis-Jones in retaliation for an incident involving her boyfriend.
The specific provision of FOI law reads: “… all employee evaluations or job performance records, including preliminary notes and other materials, shall be open to public inspection only upon final administrative resolution of any suspension or termination proceeding at which records form a basis for the decision to suspend or terminate the employee and if there is a compelling public interest.”