Public hearing for suspended Paris officers

PARIS, Ky. (WTVQ) – It’s been a tense morning for 5 Paris officers who were suspended without pay two weeks ago. A public hearing was opened on Monday morning, to figure out if the officers violated policies.

Lt. Jon Luke Humphries, Lt. Robert Puckett, and officers James Primm, Kevin Anderson and Abdullah Bholat are accused of conduct unbecoming an officer, failure to conform to rules and regulations, insubordination, inefficiency, and dereliction of duty.

Police Chief Rob Williams said it started December 2015, when he received a complaint from a dispatcher that several officers were spending a lot of extra time hanging around Dispatch, while on duty.

At the hearing, Chief Williams said officers were allowed to be in Dispatch to fill out paperwork or take a lunch break, but were not supposed to be there for more than 30 minutes at a time.

Chief Williams shared video of what he said is evidence of the excessive amount of hours these officers were in Dispatch, over several weeks. One of the videos shows an officer using a personal laptop in the room.

Williams claims the officers were told several times to limit their time in dispatch.

An attorney for the officers says the officers are being targeted for not complying with the shift changes, from 10 to 12 hours. In the hearing, the Chief responded, saying the shift change is entirely voluntary.

The hearing is currently ongoing, predicted to continue well into the evening. More updates to follow.