A Decatur administrative police officer is accused of calling the incoming police chief's former employer and posing as a member of human resources to obtain "the good and the bad."
Councilman Billy Jackson said he expected some pushback after the council hired Torry Mack as the new chief because Mack was the only candidate interviewed. However, he said the officer called Fultondale Police Chief Marcel Walker and told him he was part of the hiring team, which was not the case.
Jackson said he spoke to Walker, who said the officer also spoke to his wife, who previously worked with Mack at the Birmingham training academy. He said the officer asked for information about Mack and "wanted the bad and the good."
Walker told him he had worked with Mack for a long time and there was no bad blood. He said he was an alpha leader and that people would only have problems if they didn't do what they were supposed to do.
"Apparently, it wasn't what the administrative officer was looking for, so it was a short conversation, according to Chief Walker," said Jackson.
Jackson called Decatur's HR department and shared the issue. He said they had spoken to Walker the day before, and they were handling the issue by having a conversation with interim Chief Nadis Carlisle. They said the incident would go into the officer's personnel file and be used as a "teachable moment." Jackson said he sees the incident as a fireable moment.
This was a very egregious act," said Jackson. "They misrepresented their role, they misrepresented their task and what role they were playing in saying they were part of the hiring team. So, I'm bothered. I'm truly bothered by the fact that we would allow this to be a coachable moment when not long ago, we had a lieutenant stripped of two ranks from accusations and innuendo."
"Then this person has deliberately misrepresented themselves and now we're going to use it as a coaching movement, when before we stripped this person of rank in what I consider a far less egregious situation," he added.
Jackson did not name the officer.
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