Safety Commissioner Resigns - Bredesen Slips

This from today's Tennessean. Fred Phillips, Governor Phil Bredesen's State commissioner of Safety resigned yesterday. A 41 year bureaucrat veteran and appointee of Bredesen resigned presumably over all the problems at the department, most recently over the revelation that 41 out of 855 Tennessee Highway Patrolmen have questionable charges in a recent criminal background check.

Bredesen has NO good luck it seems, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

This will cast a long shadow over Tennessee. For example, as I was traveling this week, I passed a highway patrolman and the first thought in my mind is are you one of the forty-one?




This from a previous Tennessean article:

"It will take more than a sudden change in leadership for the Tennessee Highway Patrol to regain trust. A sustained effort to erase the stain on the agency is necessary. The most recent embarrassment is the forced resignation of Col. Lynn Pitts, commander of the THP. According to Safety Commissioner Fred Phillips, Pitts broke state law by attempting to buy a boat at auction that had been seized by troopers and put up for sale by the state.

Prosecution of Pitts should follow, as should an investigation into any other attempts to buy confiscated items in the past by Pitts or any other officers. But Pitts' boat purchase was only the latest of a long line of problems at the highway patrol. Just this week 48 state troopers who have turned up in criminal background checks began heading into THP headquarters in Nashville to answer for any charges on their records. Pitts, in an October memo, had told officers it was their responsibility to have any felonies on their records expunged, as though such a background and action would be acceptable.

Recent scrutiny had also uncovered a culture of political influence, where two-thirds of officers promoted under Gov. Phil Bredesen had given money to his political campaign or had family or political patrons who did. Of those two-thirds, more than half were promoted over officers who scored better on exams. Further, accounts surfaced of officers having given rides on occasion to elected officials, and there was discovery of a program for honorary THP badges and IDs that closely resembled those of officers given to campaign donors, political insiders and friends of the powerful. Bredesen ended the badge program.

The revelations have created an image of an agency that will take time to overcome. The resignation of Pitts helps, but the highway patrol will need to display a new way of operating so an average citizen can see that law enforcement officials are in place based on ability, not political influence or corruption. The recent developments also are most unfair to patrol officers who advance on their merit, not on political ties or campaign contributions. The THP has generated one ugly story after another in recent weeks. It is certainly time for change at high levels, but it's also time for change in the mindset of the force as well."