Photo taken from Dover Police facebook public site
Right now there is an issue within the Dover Police Department that has caused some major conceren from our citizens and we want to get to the bottom of this along with the truth.
That instance is detailed on another page within this website.
There have been several instances inside the Dover Police department that the average citizen has not heard about or knew was going on. We have received a copy of some of these instances and felt obligated to share this with the public so they could form their own opinion.
Ethical Issues concerning Leadership in the Dover Police Department.
The following letter is to serve as an account of numerous issues concerning leadership and upper management of the Dover Police Department. Many of these matters are compiled of accounts of past Officers that have been affected by this poor quality and bias form of leadership. Many times the work ethic and form of leadership shown to Officers under the command of Chief Wallace have forced numerous Officers to leave the department to seek employment elsewhere for less pay, less benefits and worse work hours. They have tried on numerous occasions to speak with members of the City Council about the actions of Chief Wallace often to go unanswered and it seemed to them that Chief Wallace could do no wrong and no matter how past employees have felt and their reasons for leaving, it did not matter and eventually work continued as normal at the police department. At what point are these matters going to be addressed and corrective actions implemented?
Many of the accounts that are to follow, if done in bigger departments such as Metro or Clarksville Police Department would have ended up in the news or an investigation done on the matter. I hope that the following letter would open the eyes to some of the members of City Council and hopefully an internal investigation can be completed before an outside agency is contacted to complete an investigation of their own.
•Travel Expenses: Chief Wallace travels throughout the year to attend various meetings and retreats. Chief Wallace will claim these meetings are vital and beneficial to her status as Police Chief, and also how attending these meetings involve training. The majority of these retreats consist of expensive dinners, fancy hotel rooms with little to no training at all. How can Chief Wallace justify being gone several months per year while being paid to act as Police Chief, yet rarely ever actually working for the benefit of the City of Dover and its citizens?
•In 2006, Chief Wallace was involved in covering up a case involving her brother, Brian Mullins. Chief Wallace’s brother and his girlfriend were involved in a breakup. Mr. Mullins had driven out of state to take his vehicle back to Tennessee. Mr. Mullin’s girlfriend called the police and reported the vehicle stolen. Upon learning the police were looking for him, Mr. Mullins immediately contacted his sister, Chief Kim Wallace, explaining to her the situation. Chief Wallace spent the majority of the day on the phone attempting to justify her brother’s situation to the out of state police department. When her brother returned to Stewart County, Chief Wallace instructed two of the Dover Police Department’s officers to search the vehicle. While conducting the search, one of the officers found marijuana in the ashtray. Chief Wallace immediately stated that it could not have been her brothers, but rather that of his former girlfriend. No charges were filed, nothing was written on a complaint card, nor was an incident report filed. Is this how any other citizen stopped by the police department would be treated or would any other person have been arrested and charged?
•Chief Wallace claims that while under the direction of the former City Manager, she was instructed to work on the administrative side of the department, and to leave the patrol operations to the officers. On numerous occasions Chief Wallace has used this excuse to remain in the office and not assist on calls, traffic enforcement or basically any duties related to law enforcement. On rare occasions, if it is an event or action that will place Chief Wallace in the public eye and make it appear that she in fact, does work as a law enforcement professional, she will go through the motions of pretending to work, most of the time for a photo opportunity that may help her status with the community, or end up in a newspaper article. Many times Chief Wallace has had to contact her officers to ask them what specific laws and guidelines are concerning certain T.C.A violations. Why should a Chief have to rely on advice from officers to perform her duties, should it not be the other way around? She has said many times that the public relations with the community are not where they need to be and whatever we can do to change the image of the department we need to do. Maybe it’s all the citations that we issue to help the revenue that affects our public relations, not the police department as a whole.
•Chief Wallace on a few occasions has initiated a traffic stop for something she had witnessed a driver do while operating a vehicle on the streets of Dover. Instead of completing the stop, she will call another on duty officer to cite the driver for something they in fact did not witness. She would then clear the scene and leave it to the other officer to complete her traffic stop so she is not tied up in court. This behavior of having another officer cite someone for something they did not witness or occurred in their presence is considered illegal so why is it acceptable for the Chief of Police to do this?
•Often, Chief Wallace has instructed officers to cite individuals with fabricated violations that do not exist in the TCA book, such as windshield violations, just in order to issue a citation. During one instance, officers had pursued an individual on foot and eventually apprehended the subject by Dover Elementary School. Chief Wallace arrived on the scene and instructed that she wanted him charged with felony evading. The officer then in turn corrected Chief Wallace by informing her that you could only charge an individual with felony evading if they were in a vehicle. It was misdemeanor evading on foot. This upset Chief Wallace to the point that when all individuals arrived back at city hall, Chief Wallace verbally reprimanded the officer for being insubordinate for making her look bad in front of the other officers. Why is it the fault the officer that Chief Wallace was not aware of the proper TCA to charge the individual with?
•Many officers have personal problems while working as a police officer. It is a responsibility as Chief of Police to see these signs and make sure the officer knows that there is an open door policy to speak about these issues if the officer wishes to. However, Chief Wallace on many occasions discusses personal problems that other officers are having whether it be personal, financial or family issues with other officers. This in itself is unethical and not something that a professional Chief of Police would do. An officer needs to know that what is discussed with your supervisor will be kept between the two parties, not openly discussed between other officers.
•Chief Wallace has used a department vehicle for long periods of time to travel back and forth to teach at Hopkinsville, KY, which serves as a secondary income for her. This travel had nothing to do with the Police Department, so how is it authorized to use a departmental vehicle to teach the class when anyone else would be told to park their patrol car and drive their personnel vehicle. Chief Wallace regularly uses a departmental vehicle to conduct personal business such as shopping trips to the store, hair cuts and other activities any other officer would be wrote up for violating the patrol vehicle use policy because she has stated a number of times that officers are not to conduct personal business on duty while operating a Dover Police Department vehicle.
•In the fall of 2008, Chief Wallace’s son, Benjamin Wallace was involved with leaving the scene of an accident where property was damaged. A US Fish & Wildlife officer along with THP Trooper worked the accident. Chief Wallace instructed one of the city officers to go out of the city to ensure “her son was treated fairly”.
•In the winter of 2008, her son, Benjamin Wallace, while under the influence of alcohol, was involved in a fight with his girlfriend. Later, he was assaulted by several individuals during an altercation. Mr. Wallace was seriously beaten by these individuals and had to be hospitalized. Afterwards, while recuperating at Chief Wallace’s residence, several threats were made to his safety by the individuals that assaulted him. Chief Wallace instructed city officers to make periodical residential checks on her residence in the county. Any other time a city officer leaves city limits, an Outside Activity sheet must be filled out and turned in. Yet, for some reason, none of the sheets were asked to be completed.
•In the late summer of 2008, Benjamin Wallace assaulted another individual in front of Westside Market. Several witnesses stated they witnessed Mr. Wallace strike the other individual several times in the face before getting into his vehicle and driving off. A county deputy was first on scene before a city unit could respond. The city officer, upon arrival, was instructed not to obtain statements from any of the witnesses on scene. No incident report was ever filed. The assault was simply worded as verbal only and it was put on a complaint card. A deputy assisting was instructed over the radio to stand down and that assistance was not needed.
•On Thanksgiving Day of 2005, Chief Wallace’s son, Benjamin Wallace was cited for drag racing in the city limits. Mr. Wallace and another vehicle were clocked driving over 70 m.p.h past Westside Market during a high traffic time of day. Mr. Wallace after being cited, denied it was him. His girlfriend provided a written statement indicating that it was in fact Mr. Wallace. Chief Wallace instructed the officer to omit her statement from the report. A drag racing citation brings a one-year suspension of the driver’s license according to TCA 55-10-502. Chief Wallace instructed the officer to reduce the citation to a speeding offense instead. The news media recently reported on a Police Chief losing his job after trying to help a nephew out of a speeding violation. How serious are the actions of Chief Wallace continuously covering up and omitting important details of the actions of her family and friends? What discredit will it bring on the Town of Dover if the news media finds out about many of these accounts?
•In 2007, a Dover Police Department Sergeant worked a traffic accident that involved the sister of a Mayoral Candidate and First Responder on the way to a call. The DPD Sgt. worked the accident according to the way the wreck occurred, which had shown the sister of the prominent political candidate at fault. Chief Wallace then decided to have THP Troopers Smith and Williams review the accident. They came to the same conclusion as the DPD Sgt., which once again indicated who was at fault. Chief Wallace not satisfied with the Troopers’ conclusion, decided to contact a retired THP Trooper friend of hers to assist her on how the report could be written and worked. She explained the situation to him and asked him to also provide a narrative on the report. Chief Wallace then placed the re-worked accident report on the Sgt.’s desk and instructed him to fill out a new traffic crash report exactly as the retired Trooper had done, even copying word for word his narrative, and then simply had the Sgt. Sign his name on the report, as if it were his actual report. The Sergeant, not wanting to cause problems between himself and Chief Wallace complied and re-submitted the traffic crash report. All of this was done as a favor for the possible mayoral candidate and her sister, to secure Chief Wallace in her position with the City of Dover.
•In 2007, officers received a memo from Chief Wallace referring to officer discretion. The memo also stated that when it came to underage alcohol use, officer discretion was not an option, but that each case was to be handled in the same manner and that officers were to prosecute these violators to the fullest extent of the law. The weekend after this memo, a city officer made a traffic stop based on a noise violation. The driver of the vehicle was Benjamin Wallace. The officer detected a strong odor of alcohol and marijuana emitting from the vehicle. The officer gave Mr. Wallace a field sobriety test and determined that he was under the influence of an intoxicant. After a search of the vehicle, the officer found an open bottle of vodka, beer and a bag of marijuana. The officer called Chief Wallace and informed her of the situation. The officer was advised to do his job, in which an arrest was made. Chief Wallace stated she would not come in, since it would look bad since it was her son. This arrest occurred on a Saturday evening. That following Monday, that officer received a phone call stated that Chief Wallace, James Scurlock and a city secretary were viewing the video tape of the DUI. The officer arrived at City Hall about an hour later to find Chief Wallace and the secretary still viewing the videotape over and over. It was obvious, they were not viewing the tape to see the wrongful actions of Mr. Wallace being intoxicated, they were looking for mistakes the officer may have made during his arrest. Chief Wallace then approached the officer and stated that she would not discuss this without Mr. Scurlock present as a witness. Officers were present and witnessed the conversation between Chief Wallace and the arresting officer. Officers heard Chief Wallace state that the officer was wrong for arresting her son and that officer should have used “officer discretion” and should have shown her son some leniency. It was like the memo from a previous week did not apply in this situation. The officer turned in his notice that day to take a deputy position with the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office, since in past incidences Chief Wallace has found ways to have the officer fired or cause the officer to eventually quit due to working conditions at the department. Whenever an officer questions the Chief or does anything not up to her standards, quality of life around the department for that officer starts a downward spiral.
•Whenever an officer decides to leave the department, for whatever reason, Chief Wallace will pressure the officer to write a letter stating that it is their decision to leave the department and that it is not the result of the working conditions or administrative issues within the department, since Chief Wallace is constantly worried of being questioned about the high turnover rate of officers at the Dover Police Department. Over the past 8 years over 9-10 officers have left the police department due to the actions and working conditions for Chief Wallace. On numerous occasions many of these officers have spoken with members of the City Counsel on why they left but again nothing ever changes in the police department. Officers have continued to leave due to Chief Wallace and her corrupt actions. These same officers have accepted jobs that pay less, offer less benefits, higher insurance fees and difficult schedules. These officers leave due to Chief Wallace and the way she runs the department and how she treats officers.
•Another incident involved her other son Jake, while attending the Stewart County High School he was charged with firing off a fire extinguisher and a later search of his locker revealed that he had marijuana inside of it. Instead of saying that her son was wrong and accepting the consequences, Chief Wallace formed what was known as the fair treatment of Jake committee. She claimed that members of the Sheriff’s Office are out to get her kids and Jake was probably set up. Many meetings took place at city hall including the members of this so-called committee. Her son in turn was only sentenced to 3 weeks at the alternative school. The actions of forming this committee and stating that her son was set up is not something that a Chief of Police should do. This is bringing discredit not only to herself but also to the Dover Police Department. There was plenty of talk around the community about her actions.
•Chief Wallace claims to be a supporter of the Governor’s Highway Safety Office. While she claims to promote various campaigns sponsored by the GHSO like “Click It or Ticket” by enforcement of seat belt laws, yet she has stated many times to the officers they need to write more speeding citations, since the City of Dover does not make any money on seat belt tickets. Chief Wallace has stated many times the Police Department does NOT have a citation quota, yet during officer meetings, will suggest that “activity is down” and that the officers need to get out on the roads and write more citations. •Chief Wallace often uses threats of moving officers to the midnight shift whenever she feels their citation writing activity is “down”. Chief Wallace will often make these comments to one officer and has that officer filter the information to the officer she is referring to, instead of speaking directly to that officer.
•Tom Wardlaw, a past employee of the police department was forced to file workers comp due to an injury that had occurred while on duty for the police department. During this time, another officer who was currently serving as a sergeant for the department had sit in on many meetings with the Chief of Police and past City Administrator when comments were said that Mr. Wardlaw was milking the injury by not returning to work and staying on medical leave. Chief Wallace was overheard on numerous occasions that “we need to make sure that all of our paperwork is in order on Mr. Wardlaw” because if they decided to fire him or let him go he couldn’t come back and sue them. She would constantly talk about this officer and his work performance. When he came back to work, Mr. Wardlaw met with two county deputies just to say hi and be welcomed back to the job. However, when Chief Wallace heard of this she saw another opportunity to further push Mr. Wardlaw out of the police department. She had the sergeant write him up for speaking with these deputies while on duty in the general view of the public. Mr. Wardlaw immediately came into the department and turned in his equipment and left the Dover Police Department. Another example of a good officer being pushed out of the department.
•Chief Wallace has also made comments about another past employee Gary Schwall. She would say many times that she did not want him going to anything in the school system because he cannot speak in public and she did not want anyone to associate the whole police department with how he conducted himself while in front of other people. She would constantly tell other officers that he needed to gain more self-confidence and he will probably always be scared while on duty. This should have been a matter that she discussed with Mr. Schwall not other officers.
•In 2005, officer Derose and officer Shoaff was told they would be attending the Governors Highway Safety Office awards ceremony in Boston. When they were informed that Chief Wallace had decided to go to the ceremony also, they were instructed that they would have to stay at another cheaper hotel and not the one she decided to stay at.. Chief Wallace stayed in the hotel that was originally set up for the two officers which was around $300.00 a night but the other officers had to choose a cheaper motel. Why was it acceptable for the Chief to stay in the hotel but not the officers that had put all the work in on the material that won them the awards? In the following year, another book was put together for the law enforcement challenge. The officers that designed and made the book were instructed by Chief Wallace to fabricate statistics such as traffic accidents in order to make the book and the Town of Dover’s police departments statistics look more impressive. This is an unethical and immoral choice for a Chief of Police to make to benefit her department.
•In 2004 or 2005 a former police officer serving as sergeant had pursued after a motorcycle, which was traveling through the city at speeds in access of 110 mph. The motorcycle was eventually stopped on Hwy 49 and Chief Wallace was contacted informing her of the situation. The following day she called the officer into her office and instructed him that he was in violation of the pursuit policy and the next time he pursued a motorcycle he would be written up. Over the next month, the officer was beginning to be scrutinized over everything he did. He stated that he was being pushed out of the department because he had been a supervisor for numerous years and seen how the process goes when an officer is no longer wanted in the department. A month and a half later, Chief Wallace placed a letter on the desk of this sergeant informing him “after further review, he was found in violation of the pursuit policy and informed that the letter would be placed into his permanent file”. How can you verbally reprimand someone and a month and a half later find them in violation of the same policy you already spoke to him about? The next day, the officer turned in his notice and stated that he could not work in these conditions.
•This same Sergeant had implemented a K9 program into the department. The dog was a vital part in the success of finding narcotics in the school system as well as being used while conducting searches of vehicles on the roadway. The dog remained with the officer living with his family and children for around three years. After he left, another officer was given the responsibility of K9 officer. On numerous occasions the sergeant had informed the police department that if they decided to end the K9 program, he would love to have the dog for his family and retire the dog. When the police department decided to end the program, they asked the current K9 officer if he wanted to take the dog as a family pet. When the officer informed the Chief that he thought the dog would have a better life with the sergeants family, she immediately stated he is not getting the dog, he would take it to the sheriffs office. This shows how vindictive she really is. If she was so into getting drugs out of the schools and loved the public relations the dog provided with the children, why would she be afraid the dog would be used in the County? Would it have not have been a good idea to keep the dog still in the county? The Chief, then secretively after being told again that the past K9 officer would like to have the dog back, took the dog to Clarksville where she gave it to the Clarksville Police Department. That officer later placed an article into the Stewart Houston times explaining why he was so upset with the Chiefs actions as well as a lot of unanswered questions by the general public to her actions.
•For many years during past Mayor elections, Chief Wallace had been overheard stating how bad it will be if the current Mayor got elected. She had constantly spoken badly about this individual and her sister and family members. However, the minute this individual was elected as Mayor, Chief Wallace was the first individual to call a meeting at city hall to welcome in and introduce the new Mayor. It is very apparent to current and past officers of the department that she has no problems speaking about individuals behind their back only to put on another personality when the individual is in front of her. There are so many other examples of the mistreatment of officers while employed by the Dover police department. The question I ask to all of you is why if it is such a good place to work, have over 9 officers left the department and every one has stated that it is not the department but rather it is the leadership and work ethic of Chief Wallace? Every one of the past employees has stated that working for the police department would be an excellent place to work if it wasn’t for the leadership. All officers both past and present feel that everything is smooth sailing while working there if you agree with everything that the Chief says but the minute you start to questions her actions, you are on your way out the door. Many of the past employees that have worked under this administration have stated that they are embarrassed to have been a part of the cover-ups that have occurred along with other issues that have been implemented by the Chief of Police.
Something needs to be done immediately; these actions cannot continue to occur. If they do, how many officers will have to leave before someone asks, “what is the source of the problem”? I hope that this letter has opened the eyes of many of you to what truly goes on behind the doors of the police department. Chief Wallace has always stated it is all about civil liability, when it is the actions of the Chief that is ultimately placing this department and town in a liability situation. I ask you how much of an embarrassment would it be to you as citizens of Dover found out about half of the incidents that have occurred within their police department? You cannot continue to turn a blind eye to her actions; if you do it will ultimately be on the members of counsel to answer to the negligence for not implementing some form of corrective action. I would hope that you would contact the City Council, any news investigation team and other citizens of this fine city to put an end to this right here right now and help start the change for the benefit of the department and the citizens of Dover.
DO THE RIGHT THING BECAUSE IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO
That instance is detailed on another page within this website.
There have been several instances inside the Dover Police department that the average citizen has not heard about or knew was going on. We have received a copy of some of these instances and felt obligated to share this with the public so they could form their own opinion.
Ethical Issues concerning Leadership in the Dover Police Department.
The following letter is to serve as an account of numerous issues concerning leadership and upper management of the Dover Police Department. Many of these matters are compiled of accounts of past Officers that have been affected by this poor quality and bias form of leadership. Many times the work ethic and form of leadership shown to Officers under the command of Chief Wallace have forced numerous Officers to leave the department to seek employment elsewhere for less pay, less benefits and worse work hours. They have tried on numerous occasions to speak with members of the City Council about the actions of Chief Wallace often to go unanswered and it seemed to them that Chief Wallace could do no wrong and no matter how past employees have felt and their reasons for leaving, it did not matter and eventually work continued as normal at the police department. At what point are these matters going to be addressed and corrective actions implemented?
Many of the accounts that are to follow, if done in bigger departments such as Metro or Clarksville Police Department would have ended up in the news or an investigation done on the matter. I hope that the following letter would open the eyes to some of the members of City Council and hopefully an internal investigation can be completed before an outside agency is contacted to complete an investigation of their own.
•Travel Expenses: Chief Wallace travels throughout the year to attend various meetings and retreats. Chief Wallace will claim these meetings are vital and beneficial to her status as Police Chief, and also how attending these meetings involve training. The majority of these retreats consist of expensive dinners, fancy hotel rooms with little to no training at all. How can Chief Wallace justify being gone several months per year while being paid to act as Police Chief, yet rarely ever actually working for the benefit of the City of Dover and its citizens?
•In 2006, Chief Wallace was involved in covering up a case involving her brother, Brian Mullins. Chief Wallace’s brother and his girlfriend were involved in a breakup. Mr. Mullins had driven out of state to take his vehicle back to Tennessee. Mr. Mullin’s girlfriend called the police and reported the vehicle stolen. Upon learning the police were looking for him, Mr. Mullins immediately contacted his sister, Chief Kim Wallace, explaining to her the situation. Chief Wallace spent the majority of the day on the phone attempting to justify her brother’s situation to the out of state police department. When her brother returned to Stewart County, Chief Wallace instructed two of the Dover Police Department’s officers to search the vehicle. While conducting the search, one of the officers found marijuana in the ashtray. Chief Wallace immediately stated that it could not have been her brothers, but rather that of his former girlfriend. No charges were filed, nothing was written on a complaint card, nor was an incident report filed. Is this how any other citizen stopped by the police department would be treated or would any other person have been arrested and charged?
•Chief Wallace claims that while under the direction of the former City Manager, she was instructed to work on the administrative side of the department, and to leave the patrol operations to the officers. On numerous occasions Chief Wallace has used this excuse to remain in the office and not assist on calls, traffic enforcement or basically any duties related to law enforcement. On rare occasions, if it is an event or action that will place Chief Wallace in the public eye and make it appear that she in fact, does work as a law enforcement professional, she will go through the motions of pretending to work, most of the time for a photo opportunity that may help her status with the community, or end up in a newspaper article. Many times Chief Wallace has had to contact her officers to ask them what specific laws and guidelines are concerning certain T.C.A violations. Why should a Chief have to rely on advice from officers to perform her duties, should it not be the other way around? She has said many times that the public relations with the community are not where they need to be and whatever we can do to change the image of the department we need to do. Maybe it’s all the citations that we issue to help the revenue that affects our public relations, not the police department as a whole.
•Chief Wallace on a few occasions has initiated a traffic stop for something she had witnessed a driver do while operating a vehicle on the streets of Dover. Instead of completing the stop, she will call another on duty officer to cite the driver for something they in fact did not witness. She would then clear the scene and leave it to the other officer to complete her traffic stop so she is not tied up in court. This behavior of having another officer cite someone for something they did not witness or occurred in their presence is considered illegal so why is it acceptable for the Chief of Police to do this?
•Often, Chief Wallace has instructed officers to cite individuals with fabricated violations that do not exist in the TCA book, such as windshield violations, just in order to issue a citation. During one instance, officers had pursued an individual on foot and eventually apprehended the subject by Dover Elementary School. Chief Wallace arrived on the scene and instructed that she wanted him charged with felony evading. The officer then in turn corrected Chief Wallace by informing her that you could only charge an individual with felony evading if they were in a vehicle. It was misdemeanor evading on foot. This upset Chief Wallace to the point that when all individuals arrived back at city hall, Chief Wallace verbally reprimanded the officer for being insubordinate for making her look bad in front of the other officers. Why is it the fault the officer that Chief Wallace was not aware of the proper TCA to charge the individual with?
•Many officers have personal problems while working as a police officer. It is a responsibility as Chief of Police to see these signs and make sure the officer knows that there is an open door policy to speak about these issues if the officer wishes to. However, Chief Wallace on many occasions discusses personal problems that other officers are having whether it be personal, financial or family issues with other officers. This in itself is unethical and not something that a professional Chief of Police would do. An officer needs to know that what is discussed with your supervisor will be kept between the two parties, not openly discussed between other officers.
•Chief Wallace has used a department vehicle for long periods of time to travel back and forth to teach at Hopkinsville, KY, which serves as a secondary income for her. This travel had nothing to do with the Police Department, so how is it authorized to use a departmental vehicle to teach the class when anyone else would be told to park their patrol car and drive their personnel vehicle. Chief Wallace regularly uses a departmental vehicle to conduct personal business such as shopping trips to the store, hair cuts and other activities any other officer would be wrote up for violating the patrol vehicle use policy because she has stated a number of times that officers are not to conduct personal business on duty while operating a Dover Police Department vehicle.
•In the fall of 2008, Chief Wallace’s son, Benjamin Wallace was involved with leaving the scene of an accident where property was damaged. A US Fish & Wildlife officer along with THP Trooper worked the accident. Chief Wallace instructed one of the city officers to go out of the city to ensure “her son was treated fairly”.
•In the winter of 2008, her son, Benjamin Wallace, while under the influence of alcohol, was involved in a fight with his girlfriend. Later, he was assaulted by several individuals during an altercation. Mr. Wallace was seriously beaten by these individuals and had to be hospitalized. Afterwards, while recuperating at Chief Wallace’s residence, several threats were made to his safety by the individuals that assaulted him. Chief Wallace instructed city officers to make periodical residential checks on her residence in the county. Any other time a city officer leaves city limits, an Outside Activity sheet must be filled out and turned in. Yet, for some reason, none of the sheets were asked to be completed.
•In the late summer of 2008, Benjamin Wallace assaulted another individual in front of Westside Market. Several witnesses stated they witnessed Mr. Wallace strike the other individual several times in the face before getting into his vehicle and driving off. A county deputy was first on scene before a city unit could respond. The city officer, upon arrival, was instructed not to obtain statements from any of the witnesses on scene. No incident report was ever filed. The assault was simply worded as verbal only and it was put on a complaint card. A deputy assisting was instructed over the radio to stand down and that assistance was not needed.
•On Thanksgiving Day of 2005, Chief Wallace’s son, Benjamin Wallace was cited for drag racing in the city limits. Mr. Wallace and another vehicle were clocked driving over 70 m.p.h past Westside Market during a high traffic time of day. Mr. Wallace after being cited, denied it was him. His girlfriend provided a written statement indicating that it was in fact Mr. Wallace. Chief Wallace instructed the officer to omit her statement from the report. A drag racing citation brings a one-year suspension of the driver’s license according to TCA 55-10-502. Chief Wallace instructed the officer to reduce the citation to a speeding offense instead. The news media recently reported on a Police Chief losing his job after trying to help a nephew out of a speeding violation. How serious are the actions of Chief Wallace continuously covering up and omitting important details of the actions of her family and friends? What discredit will it bring on the Town of Dover if the news media finds out about many of these accounts?
•In 2007, a Dover Police Department Sergeant worked a traffic accident that involved the sister of a Mayoral Candidate and First Responder on the way to a call. The DPD Sgt. worked the accident according to the way the wreck occurred, which had shown the sister of the prominent political candidate at fault. Chief Wallace then decided to have THP Troopers Smith and Williams review the accident. They came to the same conclusion as the DPD Sgt., which once again indicated who was at fault. Chief Wallace not satisfied with the Troopers’ conclusion, decided to contact a retired THP Trooper friend of hers to assist her on how the report could be written and worked. She explained the situation to him and asked him to also provide a narrative on the report. Chief Wallace then placed the re-worked accident report on the Sgt.’s desk and instructed him to fill out a new traffic crash report exactly as the retired Trooper had done, even copying word for word his narrative, and then simply had the Sgt. Sign his name on the report, as if it were his actual report. The Sergeant, not wanting to cause problems between himself and Chief Wallace complied and re-submitted the traffic crash report. All of this was done as a favor for the possible mayoral candidate and her sister, to secure Chief Wallace in her position with the City of Dover.
•In 2007, officers received a memo from Chief Wallace referring to officer discretion. The memo also stated that when it came to underage alcohol use, officer discretion was not an option, but that each case was to be handled in the same manner and that officers were to prosecute these violators to the fullest extent of the law. The weekend after this memo, a city officer made a traffic stop based on a noise violation. The driver of the vehicle was Benjamin Wallace. The officer detected a strong odor of alcohol and marijuana emitting from the vehicle. The officer gave Mr. Wallace a field sobriety test and determined that he was under the influence of an intoxicant. After a search of the vehicle, the officer found an open bottle of vodka, beer and a bag of marijuana. The officer called Chief Wallace and informed her of the situation. The officer was advised to do his job, in which an arrest was made. Chief Wallace stated she would not come in, since it would look bad since it was her son. This arrest occurred on a Saturday evening. That following Monday, that officer received a phone call stated that Chief Wallace, James Scurlock and a city secretary were viewing the video tape of the DUI. The officer arrived at City Hall about an hour later to find Chief Wallace and the secretary still viewing the videotape over and over. It was obvious, they were not viewing the tape to see the wrongful actions of Mr. Wallace being intoxicated, they were looking for mistakes the officer may have made during his arrest. Chief Wallace then approached the officer and stated that she would not discuss this without Mr. Scurlock present as a witness. Officers were present and witnessed the conversation between Chief Wallace and the arresting officer. Officers heard Chief Wallace state that the officer was wrong for arresting her son and that officer should have used “officer discretion” and should have shown her son some leniency. It was like the memo from a previous week did not apply in this situation. The officer turned in his notice that day to take a deputy position with the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office, since in past incidences Chief Wallace has found ways to have the officer fired or cause the officer to eventually quit due to working conditions at the department. Whenever an officer questions the Chief or does anything not up to her standards, quality of life around the department for that officer starts a downward spiral.
•Whenever an officer decides to leave the department, for whatever reason, Chief Wallace will pressure the officer to write a letter stating that it is their decision to leave the department and that it is not the result of the working conditions or administrative issues within the department, since Chief Wallace is constantly worried of being questioned about the high turnover rate of officers at the Dover Police Department. Over the past 8 years over 9-10 officers have left the police department due to the actions and working conditions for Chief Wallace. On numerous occasions many of these officers have spoken with members of the City Counsel on why they left but again nothing ever changes in the police department. Officers have continued to leave due to Chief Wallace and her corrupt actions. These same officers have accepted jobs that pay less, offer less benefits, higher insurance fees and difficult schedules. These officers leave due to Chief Wallace and the way she runs the department and how she treats officers.
•Another incident involved her other son Jake, while attending the Stewart County High School he was charged with firing off a fire extinguisher and a later search of his locker revealed that he had marijuana inside of it. Instead of saying that her son was wrong and accepting the consequences, Chief Wallace formed what was known as the fair treatment of Jake committee. She claimed that members of the Sheriff’s Office are out to get her kids and Jake was probably set up. Many meetings took place at city hall including the members of this so-called committee. Her son in turn was only sentenced to 3 weeks at the alternative school. The actions of forming this committee and stating that her son was set up is not something that a Chief of Police should do. This is bringing discredit not only to herself but also to the Dover Police Department. There was plenty of talk around the community about her actions.
•Chief Wallace claims to be a supporter of the Governor’s Highway Safety Office. While she claims to promote various campaigns sponsored by the GHSO like “Click It or Ticket” by enforcement of seat belt laws, yet she has stated many times to the officers they need to write more speeding citations, since the City of Dover does not make any money on seat belt tickets. Chief Wallace has stated many times the Police Department does NOT have a citation quota, yet during officer meetings, will suggest that “activity is down” and that the officers need to get out on the roads and write more citations. •Chief Wallace often uses threats of moving officers to the midnight shift whenever she feels their citation writing activity is “down”. Chief Wallace will often make these comments to one officer and has that officer filter the information to the officer she is referring to, instead of speaking directly to that officer.
•Tom Wardlaw, a past employee of the police department was forced to file workers comp due to an injury that had occurred while on duty for the police department. During this time, another officer who was currently serving as a sergeant for the department had sit in on many meetings with the Chief of Police and past City Administrator when comments were said that Mr. Wardlaw was milking the injury by not returning to work and staying on medical leave. Chief Wallace was overheard on numerous occasions that “we need to make sure that all of our paperwork is in order on Mr. Wardlaw” because if they decided to fire him or let him go he couldn’t come back and sue them. She would constantly talk about this officer and his work performance. When he came back to work, Mr. Wardlaw met with two county deputies just to say hi and be welcomed back to the job. However, when Chief Wallace heard of this she saw another opportunity to further push Mr. Wardlaw out of the police department. She had the sergeant write him up for speaking with these deputies while on duty in the general view of the public. Mr. Wardlaw immediately came into the department and turned in his equipment and left the Dover Police Department. Another example of a good officer being pushed out of the department.
•Chief Wallace has also made comments about another past employee Gary Schwall. She would say many times that she did not want him going to anything in the school system because he cannot speak in public and she did not want anyone to associate the whole police department with how he conducted himself while in front of other people. She would constantly tell other officers that he needed to gain more self-confidence and he will probably always be scared while on duty. This should have been a matter that she discussed with Mr. Schwall not other officers.
•In 2005, officer Derose and officer Shoaff was told they would be attending the Governors Highway Safety Office awards ceremony in Boston. When they were informed that Chief Wallace had decided to go to the ceremony also, they were instructed that they would have to stay at another cheaper hotel and not the one she decided to stay at.. Chief Wallace stayed in the hotel that was originally set up for the two officers which was around $300.00 a night but the other officers had to choose a cheaper motel. Why was it acceptable for the Chief to stay in the hotel but not the officers that had put all the work in on the material that won them the awards? In the following year, another book was put together for the law enforcement challenge. The officers that designed and made the book were instructed by Chief Wallace to fabricate statistics such as traffic accidents in order to make the book and the Town of Dover’s police departments statistics look more impressive. This is an unethical and immoral choice for a Chief of Police to make to benefit her department.
•In 2004 or 2005 a former police officer serving as sergeant had pursued after a motorcycle, which was traveling through the city at speeds in access of 110 mph. The motorcycle was eventually stopped on Hwy 49 and Chief Wallace was contacted informing her of the situation. The following day she called the officer into her office and instructed him that he was in violation of the pursuit policy and the next time he pursued a motorcycle he would be written up. Over the next month, the officer was beginning to be scrutinized over everything he did. He stated that he was being pushed out of the department because he had been a supervisor for numerous years and seen how the process goes when an officer is no longer wanted in the department. A month and a half later, Chief Wallace placed a letter on the desk of this sergeant informing him “after further review, he was found in violation of the pursuit policy and informed that the letter would be placed into his permanent file”. How can you verbally reprimand someone and a month and a half later find them in violation of the same policy you already spoke to him about? The next day, the officer turned in his notice and stated that he could not work in these conditions.
•This same Sergeant had implemented a K9 program into the department. The dog was a vital part in the success of finding narcotics in the school system as well as being used while conducting searches of vehicles on the roadway. The dog remained with the officer living with his family and children for around three years. After he left, another officer was given the responsibility of K9 officer. On numerous occasions the sergeant had informed the police department that if they decided to end the K9 program, he would love to have the dog for his family and retire the dog. When the police department decided to end the program, they asked the current K9 officer if he wanted to take the dog as a family pet. When the officer informed the Chief that he thought the dog would have a better life with the sergeants family, she immediately stated he is not getting the dog, he would take it to the sheriffs office. This shows how vindictive she really is. If she was so into getting drugs out of the schools and loved the public relations the dog provided with the children, why would she be afraid the dog would be used in the County? Would it have not have been a good idea to keep the dog still in the county? The Chief, then secretively after being told again that the past K9 officer would like to have the dog back, took the dog to Clarksville where she gave it to the Clarksville Police Department. That officer later placed an article into the Stewart Houston times explaining why he was so upset with the Chiefs actions as well as a lot of unanswered questions by the general public to her actions.
•For many years during past Mayor elections, Chief Wallace had been overheard stating how bad it will be if the current Mayor got elected. She had constantly spoken badly about this individual and her sister and family members. However, the minute this individual was elected as Mayor, Chief Wallace was the first individual to call a meeting at city hall to welcome in and introduce the new Mayor. It is very apparent to current and past officers of the department that she has no problems speaking about individuals behind their back only to put on another personality when the individual is in front of her. There are so many other examples of the mistreatment of officers while employed by the Dover police department. The question I ask to all of you is why if it is such a good place to work, have over 9 officers left the department and every one has stated that it is not the department but rather it is the leadership and work ethic of Chief Wallace? Every one of the past employees has stated that working for the police department would be an excellent place to work if it wasn’t for the leadership. All officers both past and present feel that everything is smooth sailing while working there if you agree with everything that the Chief says but the minute you start to questions her actions, you are on your way out the door. Many of the past employees that have worked under this administration have stated that they are embarrassed to have been a part of the cover-ups that have occurred along with other issues that have been implemented by the Chief of Police.
Something needs to be done immediately; these actions cannot continue to occur. If they do, how many officers will have to leave before someone asks, “what is the source of the problem”? I hope that this letter has opened the eyes of many of you to what truly goes on behind the doors of the police department. Chief Wallace has always stated it is all about civil liability, when it is the actions of the Chief that is ultimately placing this department and town in a liability situation. I ask you how much of an embarrassment would it be to you as citizens of Dover found out about half of the incidents that have occurred within their police department? You cannot continue to turn a blind eye to her actions; if you do it will ultimately be on the members of counsel to answer to the negligence for not implementing some form of corrective action. I would hope that you would contact the City Council, any news investigation team and other citizens of this fine city to put an end to this right here right now and help start the change for the benefit of the department and the citizens of Dover.
DO THE RIGHT THING BECAUSE IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO