Image Credit: LaVergne Police Department / Facebook & lavergnetn.gov
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Former LaVergne Police Chief Burrel “Chip” Davis was decertified after a unanimous vote by the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards & Training Commission on Thursday.
This decision means Davis will never be allowed to serve as an officer in the state of Tennessee again, and it will likely mean that obtaining employment elsewhere will prove to be difficult.
Commissioners said their decision was made because Davis did not exemplify the professional standards of a police officer or chief during or after a sexual harassment investigation that involved several officers in his department.
Davis was over the LaVergne Police Department when news broke of sexual escapades between married female officer Maegan Hall and several male officers. That investigation began in December 2022.
Davis claimed he was unaware of the sexual relationships between any officers prior to the investigation, but evidence was presented showing text messages between Davis and another office that included messages and images of Hall.
According to Davis, investigators for the city found that he had done nothing wrong and allowed him to return to work.
However, after Hall filed a suit against the city claiming she was “sexually groomed” by the male officers and was manipulated into the sexual acts, Davis was fired. Hall was awarded a $500,000 settlement from the city.
Davis also filed a racial discrimination suit against the City of LaVergne, but that was denied because it was filed after the deadline.
Throughout the meeting with the Commission, Davis continued to attempt to shift the blame away from himself, calling the text messages he exchanged “text messages between two friends that were not on city phones.”
He continued, “First of all, all of this stems from a private party on a houseboat and had nothing to do with the PD other than the fact that an officer was there. If they were concerned about me, well my head of internal affairs had sex with her on the boat, but he’s still working there.”
Commissioners told Davis, “You’re a police officer 24/7 and you’re a chief 24/7. I think your conduct was very unbecoming.”
