Nashville Police Turn Blind Eye to Domestic Abusers on the Force

The Tennessean reports that the Nashville police force allows officers with domestic violence charges to keep their jobs.

The paper reports: "At least 10 Metro Police officers have been arrested on domestic violence charges in the last five years. Eight of those were allowed to keep their jobs after their arrests, and the remaining two cases are pending." The maximum punishment was an eight-day suspension.

If their convictions actually went through, then they would be kicked off the force, Nashville Police promised. This is probably true, because it's hard to get around: federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor to possess a firearm. But it's difficult to obtain a conviction in domestic violence cases, and all of these men got off. That doesn't make inaction by the police force acceptable: once under arrest for domestic abuse and with charges pending, an officer should not be able to continue to work and carry his gun.

Since domestic violence calls are common, it's worth wondering how a policeman who has been violent with this own family will respond to such a situation. It's especially troubling coming just months after a report that the Nashville police don't seem to take domestic abuse very seriously. As I wrote then, "In 2005, [Nashville] police cleared 211 cases without making an arrest. One year later, the number jumped to 3,866, and by 2009, it was 5,600." Clearly, there's something serious going on that is causing the department to prematurely close and dismiss thousands of cases -- sometimes with fatal results.

To be clear, no one is claiming that a bunch of domestic abusers are holed up in the Nashville Police Department where they sabotage thousands of domestic violence cases. The point is that both among cases in the community as well as on the force, domestic violence is not taken seriously, investigations go uncompleted, and perpetrators go unpunished. If the police force doesn't see zero-tolerance on its own force as a priority, then it cannot truly understand or address the problem in the community.

Even more depressing, the problem in Nashville isn't isolated. Apparently, assault is relatively common among law-enforcement; according to the National Center for Women and Policing, domestic violence is two to four times higher in police families. Theoretically, that means there are 50,000 offenders serving in blue. I wish police departments, which turn rape victims away, ignore rape kits, and ignore domestic violence cases, would stop pretending violence against women isn't a crime. It feels like I say this once a week, but if society actually took gender violence seriously, I wouldn't have to write stories like these.

Tell the Nashville Police Department and city leadership to get serious about domestic violence both on the force and in the community. This includes adopting a zero-tolerance policy towards domestic violence on the force and rededicating the force to preventing that violence in the community.

Photo credit: SashaW