Former Nashville Police Chief Heather Burris, who was recently demoted, resigned from her position Monday “under duress and coercion”. Her attorney said town officials had made it impossible for Burris to carry out her duties as an officer and broke the law in handling her disciplinary case.
Burris appeared Monday morning before a meeting of the Nashville Safety Board, which had convened in executive session earlier “to discuss information concerning … alleged misconduct,” according to its official notice.
Before the board could act, however, Burris’ attorney, Charles Braun of Indianapolis, offered the board her letter of resignation.
“My client, effective at 12 a.m. this morning, has decided to resign from the police department here in Nashville, under duress and coercion. She is being forced to resign,” Braun told the board.
“Ever since my client was demoted — unreasonably so, I might add — from chief of police, the town, mainly the town council, has gone on a warpath against my client to make it impossible for her to work anymore as a patrol officer here for the Nashville Police Department,” Braun told the board.
He said after Burris was demoted, she had her take-home car taken away but also “was ordered not to place herself on town hall property or police department property, against her First Amendment rights … and at every angle, (town officials) have tried to make it impossible for her to continue on as a patrol officer.”
In August, the town council removed Burris as chief due to her performance after an investigation. After Burris’ demotion, Scott Bowling was named interim chief of police and continues to hold that position.
A letter to Burris at the time of her demotion listed performance issues that town officials cited as reasons. Among the issues listed in the letter were these:
- Failure to provide coverage in town on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
- Failure to provide foot patrol presence in town
- Failure to stop reserve officers from using vehicles for personal use
- Failure to move within 20 miles of Nashville
- Failure to cut down overtime hours.
“These are all performance issues, which the council believes are important to the town and to the residents of the town who need to feel safe and protected,” the town council said in a press release at the time of Burris’ demotion. “When residents stop calling for police protection because they feel there are no police available, it is time for a change.”
But Braun, speaking for Burris on Monday, focused on the town’s performance in dealing with the former chief’s discipline.
“Not only did the town go on the warpath against my client, they decided to fire all of the merit board members — the town board did this — they eliminated the merit board altogether in an effort to further harass and intimidate those on the merit board that would support her interest in continued employment,” Braun said.
“It gets worse. The town council illegally creates this governing body, completely against state law,” he told the members of the Nashville Safety Board, comprised of Alyn Brown, Mike Rozzi, Arlene Moffit, Chuck Harper and chair Ric Fox.
Braun said under state law, when a town lacks a merit board, the town council itself becomes the safety board. “There is no option, there is no procedure where the town council can create a separate public safety board when you have a town marshal system,” Braun said. “The only public safety board is the town council, and they are the ones that must consider all police discipline. It was clearly illegal for the town council to create this governing body. … State law has clearly been violated in terms of who decides her fate as a police officer.”
He further said the town had only provided Burris notice of Monday’s disciplinary proceeding on the prior Wednesday.
“It is a shame that this has happened. She loves working here for the community of Nashville. It’s a great community, and she thinks she has served with honor and dignity and has treated everyone with respect,” Braun said.
“It’s unfortunate it has reached this point. Obviously in a hostile workplace environment, there’s many legal issues that we are examining in terms of legal remedies … but she is not giving up.
“… This is an attempt to destroy her ability to be a police officer, not only here, but anywhere in the state of Indiana, so this is a very important, high priority for her, and this is not the last that you will see of her.”
At the conclusion of Braun’s presentation, Fox, the board chair, said, “If I could, I’d like to address some of this,” before he was advised against doing so, after which the meeting was adjourned.
After the meeting, Burris said, “I took an oath to serve and protect, and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
Look for more on this story in the Oct. 16 issue of The Brown County Democrat.
