CHIEF

From page A1

Pope believed in holiday saturation patrols. For Independence Day weekend he partnered with State Police, and the Marion Police. Pope held a press conference touting the successful efforts and arrests over the weekend. He never mentioned a fatal shooting on July 4 at an Interstate motel in the city. Critics both inside and outside the department quickly pointed to the omission as the lack of transparency. The Evening Times _led a Freedom of Information Act request about the shooting which the department never answered. City council members knew about the incident and challenged the chief during its August commission meeting.

“The public has a right to know about these things,” said Councilwoman Lorraine Mohamed.

The department failed in transparency under Pope, not making a single timely or complete answer to any of the six FOIA requests from the Evening Times during his tenure. Pope created a public information position but never _lled it.

Attrition under the chief escalated. Pope issued staf_ng reports to the Police Commission. Of_cers challenged Pope’s head counts in emails to the mayor and copied this reporter.

“Does he even know how many openings there are in the Patrol Division,” wrote one of_cer to the mayor.

The shortage of patrol of_cers led to the reorganization of the Violent Crime Suppression Unit which ran on a separate shift schedule than the standard patrol day watch and night patrol. VCSU of_cers were moved to standard shifts to bolster patrol numbers. A pair of Captains quit under Pope.

Those coupled with other separations from the department meant a loss of decades worth of experience policing West Memphis. The result was a younger, less experienced department full of un_lled openings.

Ultimately the pursuit of other interests the chief cited in his resignation letter led to the end. Photos of the Chief’s of_cial vehicle overnight Saturdays and Sunday mornings at the casino surfaced. Of_cers also reported repeatedly to the mayor that Pope had driven his of_cial vehicle to DeSoto County to moonlight in security work. Driving a government vehicle for personal purposes violated policy.