A proposal from Pine Bluff Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones to change the type of hats worn by non-supervisor-level police officers and establish policy guidelines for periodic inspections of the officers and their equipment was rejected by the Pine Bluff City Council on Monday.
Alderman Glen Brown cast the sole vote in favor of the proposals. Alderman Irene Holcomb was absent. All other aldermen voted against the changes.
“This is a lot of changes for a hat,” Alderman George Stepps said.
Alderman Wayne Easterly said the hats — which would be worn for inspections and formal events like funerals — were not a necessity and said it was unfair to require officers to buy them when the annual clothing allowance of $600 hasn’t been increased in about 15 years.
“What’s the need to change the uniform just for inspection?” Easterly said.
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Davis-Jones and Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr. disagreed, saying that it was required by policy. Easterly said it hasn’t been a problem before, and Davis-Jones responded that they had not had formal inspections in the past. Easterly said it did not make sense to require the hat just for inspection, and Davis-Jones responded that they are also required for military events and formal events like funerals.
“You don’t have to, that’s just the way you have it set up,” Easterly said.
“No, that’s the policy,” Davis-Jones and Redus said in quick succession.
“That’s right, you don’t have to, that’s the policy that’s set up,” Easterly said.
Davis-Jones had actually already purchased the hats, taking the funding for them out of the officers’ clothing allowance money. Alderman Thelma Walker questioned Davis-Jones at the April 16 council meeting about why the hats had been purchased without first bringing the uniform policy change before the council. Davis-Jones attributed the mistake to advice she got from Lt. Bob Rawlinson.
Rawlinson had denied giving Davis-Jones that advice. Davis-Jones has since reassigned Rawlinson from supervisor of the day-shift detectives staff and department spokesman. She initially reassigned him to fleet manager and grantwriter. He has now been reassigned to night-shift patrol supervisor.
Walker has accused Davis-Jones of retaliating against Rawlinson by reassigning him. Davis-Jones has denied those allegations.
After Walker pointed out the failure to bring the policy change before the council, Davis-Jones drafted legislation that would have officially changed the hat and also set up a system for periodic inspections.
Davis-Jones said that although a hat is required by current policy, she discovered at least 60 percent of the officers had never purchased one because it is expensive. Also, uniform inspections had not been conducted in the past and many of the department’s officers are new. Davis-Jones said that she personally had not purchased a hat.
The hat style she wanted to change to would have been less expensive for the officers, while retaining the more expensive hat for supervisors, sergeant ranking and above. The more expensive hat and all the elements that go with it costs $136, Davis-Jones said, although the items that she listed out as required for the hat totaled $142. The less expensive hat costs $52.
“I just have a problem with, you know, their allowance hasn’t been raised … in probably 15, 16 years. And now you’re coming in and asking them to spend that kind of money,” Easterly said.
Davis-Jones said that’s why she was trying to change the policy to where the required hat was cheaper.
Easterly said he will work on a proposal to raise the uniform allowance for both police and fire employees.
Alderman Steven Mays said he was concerned about the proposed inspection policy because it would have stipulated that officers be sent home if they failed inspection.
Davis-Jones said that officers need to be responsible for their equipment and need to be prepared for duty.
“That’s almost like them coming to work without a weapon, or coming to work without their pepper spray, or coming to work without their Taser, you have to come to work proper, with the proper equipment on,” Davis-Jones said.
Another reason Davis-Jones wanted to adopt inspection policies is that she is trying to move the department toward obtaining accreditation from an international law enforcement standards agency, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc.
It was unclear what would happen to the hats that had already been purchased or how much had already been spent on the new hats that were rejected by the council. Davis-Jones left the council meeting immediately after the vote on her proposals, and department spokesman Lt. JoAnn Bates did not have information on the fate of the hats Tuesday afternoon.