The Little Rock Civil Service Commission has ruled that the discipline handed down to a police sergeant who reportedly withheld a policy violation from his superiors for more than a month was too harsh.
A hearing concerning the conduct of Sgt. Willie Davis in the fall months of 2017 determined that although Davis had violated department policy -- as found by the Little Rock Police Department's internal affairs investigation -- the 10-day suspension for his actions was not appropriate.
"It sounds to me that you have no faith in your chain of command," commission member Obray Nunnley said during the hearing Thursday. "It tells me that the racial climate in the Little Rock Police Department is frightful."
The commission ruled that Davis should have been suspended three days. Police Chief Kenton Buckner, who testified at the hearing, said Davis would receive seven days compensation for the time he was suspended.
Though the exact dates were never determined, Davis testified that in late August or early September of 2017 he received an image of a social media post containing a racial slur that a white police recruit had written in 2013.
The post was sent to him from a black recruit from the same class, Davis said. More than a month after receiving the post, Davis said he showed it to members of the Little Rock Black Police Officers Association and drafted a letter from the association saying the post was offensive and that the recruit in question should be terminated.
Davis was suspended after an internal investigation found that he should have reported the post to his superior officer and that not doing so was in violation of department policy.
Davis was suspended for 10 days, a loss that totaled to $2,771.10 in lost compensation, said retired Circuit Judge Marion Humphrey, who was Davis' attorney.
Three police recruits connected to the post -- Brandon Schiefelbein, who made the post, Katina Jones, who found it and Brandon Gurley, who sent the post to Davis -- were fired as a result of an internal investigation.
Jones was terminated because she, too, had used a racial slur in one of her social media posts.
Schiefelbein and Jones reached a $50,000 settlement with the city after suing the department for unfairly singling them out for termination.
Metro on 09/19/2018