Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr. said Monday that he might have misspoken last month when he said there had been an internal affairs investigation into allegations against Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones.
“I said there was an investigation done,” Redus said. “So it wasn’t done by internal affairs, but it was investigated.
“I might have misspoken,” Redus said.
Redus was responding to Alderman Bill Brumett at Monday’s Pine Bluff City Council meeting. Brumett has been asking for more than a month for documentation that an investigation was conducted into the allegations against the chief.
Davis-Jones has not commented on Brumett’s questions and did not return phone messages left by The Commercial in the latter half of last month. She said Monday during a meeting of the council’s Public Safety Committee that she was on vacation and was not familiar with what Brumett was talking about.
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Asked by Brumett for her response, Davis-Jones said the allegations were investigated.
“That part of the investigation was done as a totality, it was not a separate investigation for me,” Davis-Jones said. “When the investigation was done regarding the allegations [about Assistant Chief Ivan Whitfield], the whole process was done.”
Whitfield alleged in a letter from his lawyers to aldermen and other city officials in February that Davis-Jones fired him in retaliation for refusing to identify a source who had provided him with information that reflected poorly on her alleged boyfriend. Whitfield further alleged that Davis-Jones used her power to take care of a situation in which the boyfriend was drinking, was driving her vehicle on a suspended license and was about to be arrested. Whitfield was later reinstated by the council.
Redus and Davis-Jones have both said the allegations are false.
Asked for more information after the council meeting Monday as to what kind of investigation — if not an internal investigation — had occurred, Redus said that he, an attorney with the Arkansas Municipal League and Deputy Chief Kelvin Sergeant discussed the allegations, which he said were found to be unfounded and not worthy of an internal affairs investigation.
Sergeant supervises the Investigations Division, which includes detectives and vice and narcotics, but Whitfield has said Sergeant conducted the internal affairs investigation into Whitfield after one of his service weapons was found in February on a man who was arrested. Whitfield alleged in his letter to the council that Sergeant witnessed some of the comments Davis-Jones made to Whitfield while she was trying to get him to reveal the source of the information about her alleged boyfriend.
Brumett said Monday he first asked Redus for documentation about the allegations about the chief during a closed-door executive session Feb. 13 when the aldermen discussed reinstating Whitfield. He again asked for documentation or a formal, written response from Davis-Jones at the March 19 council meeting.
“Research that was done by internal affairs on that situation, those accusations were found to be untrue,” Redus said during the March 19 discussion, which concluded with Redus telling Brumett he would provide him with the documentation he sought.
But on March 22, Brumett provided The Commercial with a copy of the response he received from police department officials after he submitted a Freedom of Information Act Request for the results of the internal affairs investigation into the allegations against the chief. The response was that no such investigation was conducted.
On March 23, Redus responded by saying he needed more time to look into the matter before commenting further on the situation.
“I think I need to hold of, get a good understanding, speak with the chief and the people in the police department about what exactly transpired, and after that I would be more than happy to make any corrections or clarifications if any need to be made,” Redus said on March 23.
During Monday’s discussion, Brumett said that as of now, he tends to believe the allegations against the chief because he has not been presented with anything to counter them. Brumett said he would like something in writing.
Redus said he has sought legal counsel about how to respond to Brumett’s request because it involves documents that could have been inspected by the aldermen in executive session, but the council chose not to do so when they met in executive session to consider Whitfield’s reinstatement.
Redus said he has been advised by the legal counsel that Brumett should make his request in writing to the Mayor’s Office and the City Attorney’s Office.
Brumett asked if Redus meant a Freedom of Information Act request, and Redus said he was not sure, but that was probably the best thing. The Commercial has already filed an FOI request or the internal investigation file on Whitfield, but it was rejected by the City Attorney’s Office, which argued that it was not public information because in the end, Whitfield was not fired or suspended.
“The answer doesn’t necessarily come from the chief,” Redus said. “The answer comes from me and the attorneys that were representing and looking into the matter, and that matter deals with the fact that the council chose to make a decision in executive session without seeing any information that had to do with the investigation.
“If the council wants to see the information that has to do with the investigation, that information can be provided — or that information can be requested, let me say that — by the city council, to deal with the overall investigation. So based on talking with the counsel, if the council would like to see that information, they can make a request to see the information as it relates to the investigation. By that way I will not miscommunicate, I will not misspeak or anything of that nature.”
Contacted Tuesday, Brumett said he has sent his request to the City Attorney’s Office and the Mayor’s Office and has not received a response.
Making a general comment during the discussion Monday, Alderman Irene Holcomb asked how the mayor would like aldermen to request information because she has had trouble getting information she has sought.
“What is the protocol of getting information?” Holcomb said. “Why is it so cumbersome?”
Redus said he didn’t think it was cumbersome and that this particular issue was complicated by the executive session issues involved. He advised her to request information of the department head and copy Redus on the request.
“Keep in mind, all information is public information. We don’t have anything to hide,” Redus said.
During the discussion Brumett had with Davis-Jones during committee, Davis-Jones said she had no problem going through Whitfield’s letter item by item and responding to the accusations.
“I have no problem with that,” Davis-Jones said. “I can probably do that in about four words.”
She said she would and type a response for Brumett and bring it back to him, but Brumett had not received the information Tuesday.