Five Paris officers punished but not fired by city commissioners

Five police officers accused of spending too much time in a dispatch room will keep their jobs but will continue to be suspended without pay for several months, the Paris City Commission decided Thursday morning.

Paris Police Chief Rob Williams had suspended the five Feb. 9 and had recommended to the city commission that they be fired. Williams said the officers should have been on the street patrolling rather than sitting in the dispatch room.

But the city commission opted for lesser punishments.

“We’re pleased that our clients are remaining on the force,” said Luke Morgan, one of the Lexington attorneys representing the officers. “These are good men. Termination of their employment was way too much, and the commission agreed with that.”

Morgan said the officers are “pleased that they are going to be able to serve the citizens of Paris. They look forward to the opportunity to return to the police force.”

In a statement, Chief Williams said: “I join with the Paris City Commission in making clear that our entire police department will ensure that every Paris police officer — at all times — will vigilantly keep watch over our town and make wise use of taxpayers’ resources. Working as a collective team, we all proudly serve the members of the Paris community.”

Lt. Robert Puckett and Lt. Jon Luke Humphries are suspended without pay for six months from Feb. 9, according to the “holding,” or written decision, of the city commission. Officer Abdullah Bholat is suspended without pay for four months. Officers Kevin Anderson and James Primm are suspended without pay for three months.

All five officers will be on probation for one year after returning from suspension. In addition, the commission held that all five had failed to conform to rules and regulations, and it found evidence of insubordination, inefficiency and dereliction of duty.

The commission also held that Puckett, Humphries and Anderson failed to properly enforce rules of conduct as ranking officers. Puckett was stripped of his rank as lieutenant.

Puckett, Humphries, Anderson and Bholat will remain ineligible for promotion and advancement for two years. Primm will be required to retire at the time he becomes eligible to do so, which Morgan said would be late this year.

The attorneys for the officers said Williams, the police chief, had sought retaliation because the officers didn’t want to switch from 10-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts.

But Temple Juett, an attorney for the city commission, ruled Monday that such “alternative theories” were not allowed to be considered by the commissioners in their decision.

The commission watched multiple video recordings of the dispatch room that depicted the officers entering, leaving and sitting with their feet propped up on desks.

Williams has been chief since June 1 and was assistant chief for more than four years before that. He began an investigation Dec. 11 after a dispatcher in training complained about the officers sitting in the room. Williams said he didn’t want the officers in the dispatch center because it might distract the dispatchers from their jobs. The chief said he watched hours of video of the dispatch room.

“I think all of this could have been avoided had this much effort been placed into effective management of personnel on the front end,” Morgan said.

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 7:27 AM with the headline "Five Paris officers punished but not fired by city commissioners."