The sexual misconduct policy proposed for Nashville’s police department remains in limbo three months after it was released by the Community Review Board. But Metro Human Resources is said to be finalizing a review of the proposal, which likely will determine if and how it is implemented.
“Metro’s existing Civil Service and employment provisions prohibit sexual harassment and discrimination,” Alex Apple, a spokesperson for Mayor Freddie O’Connell, told the Banner. “However, Metro Human Resources is reviewing the CRB’s proposed sexual misconduct policy to identify any opportunities by which they could be improved and strengthened.”
The Metro Nashville Police Department initially said its leadership would review and respond to the proposed policy. Later the department said it had shared the policy with Metro HR for review. Now, department spokesperson Don Aaron told the Banner, the MNPD is waiting to hear back from Metro HR. At a meeting last week, CRB Executive Director Jill Fitcheard said she’d been told that review was nearly complete.
The Metro Council approved a nonbinding resolution in September calling on the MNPD to adopt the policy.
The proposed policy was released by the CRB in August and modeled after practices endorsed by End Violence Against Women International and the International Chiefs of Police. It came in response to a 2020 report from then-Mayor John Cooper’s Policing Policy Commission, which called for the MNPD to “create a ‘zero tolerance’ policy around sexual assault and sexual harassment.” A former MNPD lieutenant who came forward with a 61-page complaint in May, alleged that the department has failed to implement and enforce such a policy.
The MNPD has rejected that allegation, pointing to sections in the department manual that explicitly address sexual harassment and discrimination. But community advocates, including former MNPD officers, have repeatedly pointed to a culture and enforcement practices that undermine those policies. The Banner examined a case in September in which a former officer won a sexual harassment lawsuit against the department and found that few of the officers involved faced any internal consequences beyond lost vacation days.
While existing department policies primarily focus on workplace conduct, the CRB policy is also concerned with interactions between officers and the public.
The CRB has received reports in recent years accusing officers of sexual misconduct involving the civilians they’re sworn to protect. A report accompanying the CRB’s policy proposal in August said the board received an anonymous complaint in 2022 alleging that an MNPD officer had an “ongoing sexual relationship” with a young unhoused woman. In part because the unhoused woman declined to identify the officer, the MNPD’s Office of Professional Accountability later closed its internal investigation without taking any action. In the report released along with its policy proposal, the CRB noted that this case served as an example of the nuances of police sexual misconduct that any policy should take into account.
“While the unhoused young woman and the MNPD officer are both ostensibly consenting adults, the officer’s position in law enforcement calls into question whether the young woman feels coerced into providing consent,” the CRB report reads.
Federal investigations in recent years have revealed that sexual misconduct by officers is a problem in other big city police departments. Department of Justice reports on departments in Chicago, Baltimore and Louisville uncovered problems with how officers responded to sexual misconduct cases as well as lacking accountability for officers accused of misconduct.
Discussion of a sexual misconduct policy at the MNPD also comes as the department is taking part in the nationwide 30X30 Initiative, challenging departments to increase the number of women in their ranks by 30 percent by 2030. Metro Police Chief John Drake was one of the first police chiefs to sign onto the pledge, which requires departments “to develop a culture that is inclusive, respectful, and supportive of its female officers.”