The two-day suspension given to Pine Bluff Police Lt. Bob Rawlinson was reversed Friday by a civilian review panel, overturning a decision by the police chief following an internal investigation into the mishandling of evidence in the Cleashindra Hall missing person’s case.
The panel — consisting of Assistant City Attorney Daryl Taylor, Fire and Emergency Services Capt. Mike Davis and Inspection and Zoning Director Robert Tucker — said in their explanation that according to the position description for a crime scene technician that was given to them, it was the technician’s responsibility to send or transport evidence to the crime lab and to package, label and preserve the evidence, rather than Rawlinson, who was a lead detective on the case at the time.
Additionally, the panel noted that Rawlinson was transferred out of the detective division within four working days after the search warrant was served, “indicating that he was no longer the lead detective.”
Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones had suspended Rawlinson for violating department policy on handling evidence after he took items collected from the house at 5309 Faucett Road — where Hall was last seen — home with him in the trunk of his car and turned them in to a crime scene technician the following day.
In a news release Friday afternoon, Capt. Greg Shapiro quoted Davis-Jones as saying “I respect the appeal process.”
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The release also said no member of the department would be available for an interview on the appeal.
During testimony at his appeal hearing Tuesday, Rawlinson said Crime Scene Technician Cathy Ruhl, who collected the evidence, had left the scene and he was unable to reach her on the radio.
The internal investigation followed the discovery that the evidence remained at the police department from March 29, when the search was conducted, to May 8 before it was sent to the crime lab in Little Rock for analysis.
Ruhl was suspended for five days by Davis-Jones in connection with the same investigation and has said she became involved in other cases and forgot about the evidence.
Rawlinson was the lead detective on the Hall case until he was reassigned by Davis-Jones on April 4 and is currently assigned as a patrol supervisor on the night shift. Davis-Jones has said his transfer was unrelated to his handling of the case.
The review panels took the place of the Civil Service Commission which the city council abolished last year.
Five officers have appealed disciplinary actions they were given by Davis-Jones before those panels and in four of the five cases, including Rawlinson, the panels overturned or modified the chief’s actions.
Those included:
• Lt. Rowland Dorman, who was returned to duty after being fired by Davis-Jones for alleged sexual harassment. The panel reduced Dorman in rank to sergeant, suspended him for 30 days, and ordered him to complete a sexual harassment class.
• Officer Robert Treadwell, who Davis-Jones reduced in rank to patrolman and suspended for 30 days for allegedly using profanity in front of other officers while working as a shift supervisor, failing to turn in evidence, and failing to arrest a wanted person. The panel reduced Treadwell’s suspension from 30 days to 20 days but could take no action on his reduction in rank because he was still in his probationary period.
• Officer Charles (Marty) Harrison, who was suspended for 10 days because he could not find his off-duty weapon had his suspension reduced to five days, and in its final disposition form, recommended that the police department develop a “streamlined outline for disciplinary actions,” noting “punishment appears to be arbitrary.”
The only officer whose disciplinary actions were not changed by a review panel was Officer Andrea Cherry, who was suspended for 30 days for missing court. Cherry had several prior disciplinary actions taken against her.