Aftermath of Perryville chief's resignation distresses police department

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- No moves were made Wednesday night in Perryville to place a new leader in the city's police department, but several options were brought up during the board of aldermen meeting, and officers themselves got a chance to weigh in on the circumstances surrounding the resignation of the former chief through the city's attorney, Thomas Ludwig.

The office of police chief is vacant due to Keith Tarrillion's resignation last month. Allegations of misconduct by Tarrillion made in February by a police department employee led to his resignation after an investigation found Tarrillion may have filled out a November 2010 report on property damage at his own home, damage for which he later collected $5,700 in insurance money. The original allegations by a subordinate, however, accused the former chief of other serious offenses, ranging from sexual harassment and improper relationships to misappropriation of city funds. There was no mention of the 2010 report in the original complaint. Tarrillion has denied all the allegations and since taken some of his former employees to task, publicly accusing them of lies and betrayal.

In an address to the board of aldermen and the public Wednesday night, Ludwig said he had a "very unpleasant meeting" Wednesday afternoon with police officers, who asked him to respond to Tarrillion's statements.

"There are many good officers in this department that have had their credibility attacked in the last few days," Ludwig said. "It is important that the community understand that no officer, that we know of, and certainly the vast, vast, vast majority of the officers did nothing, other than to give the best information possible to the investigator. During that investigation, it was so hard on some of those officers that they even broke down during the investigation. Once the investigation was sealed by the court, Mr. Tarrillion has taken every opportunity to paint the members of the police department, at least some members of the police department, as conspirators, and himself as the innocent party."

Records pertaining to the former chief's resigation, with the exception of the report compiled by a private investigator, were released by the city last week after a judge's order to comply with an open records request made by the Southeast Missourian. Tarrillion attempted to block the city from releasing the records when the newspaper made the request. The judge ordered the investigative report could not be made public until the investigation becomes inactive under Missouri Sunshine Law specifications because it included potential criminal liability.

Tarrillion has said that he only hired an attorney after he was repeatedly denied a chance to be interviewed by the private investigator. City officials have said all other members of the police department were interviewed during the investigation.

Tarrillion was present at the meeting. He came, he said, to see what the city planned to do in regard to the chief position. In response to Ludwig's comments, Tarrillion said he doesn't think there was a department-wide conspiracy against him, and he knows there are good people who work in the department.

City administrator Brent Buerck presented several options for filling the position in the interim until an election can be held, including appointing an officer from within the department, appointing someone from the community with certain law enforcement certifications or appointing a retired law enforcement officer after a regional search.

Buerck also laid out possible issues that could come from appointing a current officer, since in the case the officer wanted to run for chief, he or she would have to resign as a city employee when filing for election. An interim would also have to be appointed to fill in for the officer who ran for the chief's position, Buerck said.

Buerck suggested the board form a community committee to look at what should happen with the chief's position long term.

Perryville residents decided several years ago at the ballot box they wanted to continue to elect their chief instead of having one appointed by city officials, but Buerck said a community committee should revist the option of changing to appointment only, as many cities like Perryville have.

"It's certainly gone by the wayside. It's not as popular as it once was," Buerck said.

He also said a community committee could look at other options, such as keeping the position an elected one, or modifying duties so that an elected city marshal would serve, but an appointed person would handle administration of the police department.

Tarrillion said following the meeting that Buerck's mention of appointing a chief as an option came to him as no surprise -- the city administrator approached him over a year ago with the same suggestion. He said he does not agree with the idea because it takes the choice away from voters. Tarrillion was elected every four years since he became chief in 2002.

Mayor Debbie Gahan said the board needed to take its time looking at options and that discussion would pick up during the board's next regular meeting.

"We really think there's a lot of value in taking this back and looking at it hard, and bringing it up in another meeting," she said. "We're not trying to dodge the issue, but there are so many moving parts to this puzzle."

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

215 N. West St., Perryville, MO