Report: JCPD sexual assault investigations didn’t meet legal requirements, industry standards
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — The Johnson City Police Department’s policies and procedures for sexual assault investigations met neither legal requirements nor industry standards, an audit of the department released Tuesday shows.
That was among eight findings from a comprehensive look at JCPD’s operations, particularly related to sexual assault, that took place over the past year.
Daigle Law Group (DLG), a nationally recognized expert in law enforcement issues, conducted the audit at the request of city leaders. That followed public outcry over a federal lawsuit that included claims JCPD failed to properly pursue multiple allegations against downtown business owner Sean Williams.
DLG reviewed more than 325 sexual assault investigations in cases that occurred between January 2018 and December 2022. It reviewed files, interviewed personnel and sought community input.
Other findings include that JCPD’s “investigations are found to be inconsistent, ineffective and incomplete,” according to a City of Johnson City news release detailing the findings in the 45-page report. The report also found that supervision of investigations “was insufficient to ensure a full, fair and complete investigation,” that training wasn’t sufficient to effectively conduct sexual assault investigations and that the department’s process for closing investigations “is flawed and inaccurate.”
City Manager Cathy Ball provided what may be the most direct apology to sexual assault victims since the city began publicly confronting the issue last July in the wake of Kat Dahl’s lawsuit and the protests that followed.
“We acknowledge that victims of sexual assault have not always received the best possible treatment and care from our police department,” Ball said in a cover letter.
“The department’s new leadership team is dedicated to continued changes toward compassionate and effective service so that all citizens know they are safe and protected.”
Karl Turner, who was police chief in 2022 and whose ouster was demanded by protestors, retired Feb. 28 as part of an early retirement incentive the city offered. So did a chief investigator, Kevin Peters. Longtime JCPD officer Billy Church was named permanent chief on May 23, and the JCPD’s entire upper management has changed this year.
Advocate unsurprised at findings, hopes for progress
Ben Putland helps lead a citizens group that formed following initial protests last July. He said a quick review of the audit findings didn’t surprise him that much.
“As we started to roll up and gather information and try to figure this thing out at the very beginning of it all, every story we heard was some version of the same — the police didn’t do enough,” Putland said.
He said that at some level he feels vindicated on behalf of victims.
“We’ll see what happens going forward and what happens with what has been found, but at least for now it has to be nice for people who have been clamoring all this time and people who have been doing work this whole time. Everybody knows they’re not crazy, you know?”
Putland said Ball “has been good to at least listen to us and hear us, and take some steps however small they might be to turn the track the right direction
“Hopefully that machine can spool up a little faster now and we can try to find some justice and maybe prevent some more cracks from forming in the ship.”
The DLG report noted numerous examples of JCPD’s processes “discouraging victim participation,” and said its review showed “JCPD’s interactions with women reporting sexual assault all too often reflect reliance on gender-based stereotypes and bias.” It said that discrimination “is responsible in part for the deficiencies in JCPD’s response to sexual assault.”
The report also found some JCPD practices “create unnecessary barriers to building trust and rapport with women reporting sexual assault and make reporting unnecessarily burdensome for the victim.”
Putland called those findings “incredibly important.”
“One of our main tenets from the beginning is that there is … a top to bottom culture within the department regarding how they address sexual assault, how they treat victims whether they be women or not, and a very ‘why were you dressed that way’ attitude towards dealing with the victims of sexual assault,” he said.
Putland said he believes the advocacy group, which doesn’t have an official name, helped spur the city to conduct the audit — something Ball herself has said.
“They had no incentive to look within before,” Putland said.
He said as servants of taxpayers, governments need to serve people and their investment the best they can.
“They weren’t doing that and … they would have continued on, we would have people still working at the department who aren’t working there anymore — the pressure would have never been released on that valve.”
Putland said Ball has met several times with his group and was set to again Tuesday afternoon to review the audit.
“It doesn’t feel like an attempt to save face, because they have met with us a couple of times over the last few months,” he said. “They take feedback, so far.”
He said he’ll spend the coming days digesting the audit, “figuring out where the citizenry can apply pressure.”
Putland said he expects more public comment and public gathering in coming weeks. “If the results of the study don’t push the levers in the direction that we think they should be pushed, then we will push them.”
City has made some changes
The city already has taken several steps to address some of the major findings, including committing $100,000 toward training, $50,000 toward a new records management system and the creation of a more welcoming space in which sexual assault victims can be interviewed.
JCPD is also assessing additional staffing needs and reviewing all its policies and procedures.
The records management system’s inadequacy was another DLG finding, with the firm noting it was “inadequate to support the effective operation of the department.”
I really didn’t want to see this movie. Does anyone want to see a movie about horrific crimes against children and the systems that support or fail to stop child sex trafficking? But I felt an obligation to support “Sound of Freedom.” And I was happy to hear the buzz in the conservative media sphere. “Sound of Freedom” was making noise in all the right places.
So I bought my tickets online and told myself that I had at least done my duty to financially support this worthy cause. My seat was sold, and if it went unfilled, the movie theater would still make money. Despite my best efforts to be somewhere else, I found myself in the seat on July 4.
I still don’t quite understand how I left the theater feeling hopeful. I had expected to feel hopeless and disgusted after watching a movie about child sex trafficking. And there were certainly moments of those feelings during the course of the movie. But the power of art to move the human heart is very real, if hard to describe, even after experiencing it.
It’s also hard to describe a movie without spoiling the plot for others. Here are five impressions this movie left on me, and I hope they inspire you to see the movie.
1. “God’s children are not for sale.”
This is the motivation for the main character to move beyond the soul crushing work of tracking organized pedophile networks to rescuing their victims. “Sound of Freedom” made me reflect, once again, on the work we ask others to do in our name: policing, soldiering, guarding. It is hard work, mostly done by men, who lay down their lives to protect and serve others. We ask them to deal with many of the things we do not want to face. Many do this work because of a higher calling, one that needs our support in prayer.
2. “I feel like she’s my daughter.”
Mrs. Tim Ballard texts this message to her husband while he is away searching for a victim. Her love and support for him and his work is beautifully communicated in this movie. She is also asked to bear part of the burden her husband shoulders on our behalf. She represents a much larger group of people who deserve our gratitude and our prayers.
3. “I was that darkness.”
A man contemplates his role as a consumer in the adult sex industry. His redemption from direct involvement is by the grace of God. But this character made me think about what I could or should be doing to address this grave injustice against women and men, girls and boys. At a minimum, opposing the legalization of “sex work” would be a start. Removing pornography and pornographic content from school libraries and curricula is also imperative.
4. “You’re on your own, Tim.”
Government redress of grievances is limited. Tim Ballard, the main character, had to operate on his own to follow the call to protect God’s children. But as Christians we have an obligation to prove that Tim is not alone. Each of us is called to combat the sex industry, whether through promoting organizations like Covenant Eyes that guard against pornography, by speaking out against endeavors to normalize pedophilia, or simply by living a life that upholds the dignity of every male and every female as a human being — not objects for exploitation.
5. “Could you sleep if your child’s bed was empty?”
The plea of a father for his trafficked daughter. This theme was the main reason for my initial reluctance to see the film. And it was one of the reasons why, if I had to see it, I would see it in a theater. Hearing a question like that asked in a movie theater for me is very different from hearing it asked in my living room, with my own children’s beds right upstairs.
There are some movies to see and “leave” at the theater rather than experience them at home. But this movie is one to share with others, at a theater or at your church, or even in your home. While it is not for young children, this movie is a remarkable work of art about a horrific topic. I’m grateful to Angel Studios for distributing the movie, and I encourage you to see it. I am glad I did.
Celebrating July Fourth Rings Hollow Without Fidelity To America’s Founding Ideals
Scott Powell - July 3, 2023
Let’s make this July Fourth a day of celebration of our founding ideals and a time of renewed commitment to engage and wake up our nation.
Too many Americans underappreciate the meaning of holidays such as July Fourth, also known as Independence Day. While some connect fireworks with the firing of cannons in the Revolutionary War, most forget that when the 56 members of the Continental Congress agreed to put pen to parchment and affirm the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, all knew that being a signatory put a death threat on their heads as traitors to Britain.
The War of Independence was in its second year by July 1776, and George Washington’s rag-tag colonial army was about half the size of the highly trained professional British army and the German mercenary troops fighting for the English. Additionally, Washington’s army was undertrained, underequipped, and underfunded.
The naval mismatch was even greater at the outset of the war. In the first year of the war, the Continental Navy had fewer than 10 converted merchant ships while the British amassed 250 dedicated warships, concentrated along the coastline and in ports between the Delaware Bay and Boston. Things appeared grim indeed for the patriot cause.
The last sentence of the Declaration of Independence before the space allotted for signatures reads, “…for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protections of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” Indeed, July Fourth for the founders was a serious and somber occasion.
As we think about July Fourth, we should remember that America was first in human history to establish a free and independent constitutional republic based on two political and moral principles. First, the government was required to protect its citizens’ inalienable God-given freedom and rights, which would later be formalized in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Second, it was the first country to establish that the legitimacy of government resides exclusively in the people, who elect their leaders.
Modern Americans need to remember that prior nations around the world for thousands of years were undemocratic and hierarchical, with rulers and their inner circles at the top having the power and privileges while people at the bottom had few rights. Before America was established, freedom and rights as we understand and experience them simply did not exist. We must never forget the courage, determination, and godly principles that were necessary to establish the United States.
General George Washington was in New York, preparing its defense, when on July 6, 1776, a courier from Philadelphia arrived to deliver a copy of the Declaration of Independence that had been agreed upon by delegates of the Continental Congress just two days before. There were just two signatures on that document: John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, and Secretary Charles Thomson. Because the odds of prevailing against the British were so low and the penalty for treason was death, it had been decided not to reveal the identities of the other 54 who had voted for the Declaration.
Less than six months later, however, after Washington had back-to-back victories, defeating British forces in Trenton, New Jersey, the day after Christmas 1776, and then routing the British in nearby Princeton eight days later, the Continental Congress perceived that a trend toward victory had begun and decided to release the 56-signature Declaration and distribute it throughout the colonies.
As it turned out, Washington would lose more battles than he won, but he persisted for five more years, never doubting the patriot cause. Myriad developments that only providence could have arranged made Washington’s final victory at Yorktown possible in 1781.
In retrospect, what was more remarkable was not the reversal of odds resulting in the American military victory, but rather the spiritual power of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, which established that the rights of the people came from God and not the state and that the sovereign powers of the state would be shaped and limited by those inalienable rights of the citizens.
When God was progressively driven out of American culture starting 60-odd years ago, that void became filled with false idols and divisive influences such as cultural Marxism and critical race theory. Little wonder that average Americans today feel demoralized and confused about the self-destructive direction of the country. A corrupt ruling elite in America seems to have neither respect for the people’s welfare nor for the Constitution that served previous generations of Americans so well.
Everything can change if Americans align their interests with God, who assures us that in time truth will triumph over lies and good over evil. Just as success followed the resolve expressed on July 4, 1776, we too can tap into the same unstoppable spiritual power that enabled the founders to overcome impossible odds.
Coming full circle from the opening observation that many have an insufficient appreciation for the meaning behind holidays, when the term holiday originally came into usage it was synonymous with “holy day.” July Fourth is truly the American holy day for the reasons described.
It is axiomatic that almost everyone resists others seeking to deny or take away valuable possessions from him. Let’s make this July Fourth a day of celebration of our founding ideals but also a time of renewed commitment to engage and wake up our nation.
We know it’s time to resist creeping tyranny and reclaim precious possessions — our freedoms and rights. It’s time to become active in the patriot cause, knowing that — just as the sun comes up in the east — persistence, courage, and the truth of our cause are the shield and sword that assure victory.
