Toxic culture allowed sexual misconduct to permeate Nashville police department, report says

A once-obscure advocacy group has amplified individual allegations of sexual misconduct within the Nashville police department, leading to a groundswell of outrage and three investigations into the agency and its culture.  

The parallel investigations bring added scrutiny to a department already facing accusations of systemic racism, and raise new questions about the agency's slate of mostly male leadership.

Silent No Longer Tennessee said they surveyed 10 current and former police employees earlier this year, spoke to an undisclosed number of women and logged two allegations of sexual assault. At least two women described incidents of sexual harassment.

In a report shared with journalists earlier this month, the group said its survey and interviews pointed to five department leaders, including former Chief Steve Anderson, who had created a toxic culture that allowed harassment and misconduct to permeate the ranks.

Allegations were emailed to Mayor John Cooper and the police department in April, but the mayor didn't publicly address the matter until the group's leader, former police detective Greta McClain, shared her findings with reporters this month.

On Aug. 8, Cooper said he hadn't seen much about the allegations. But on Aug. 10, after reviewing the report and other details McClain provided, Cooper said they were "troubling" and called for an investigation by the district attorney and the city's human resources department.

District Attorney Glenn Funk asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to conduct a criminal investigation, and an internal police review is ongoing.

Council members who reviewed the details made their own calls for thorough investigations into the department. At-large Council member Bob Mendes said “the volume of people" included in Silent No Longer documents underscored the need for a wide-ranging inquiry.

“If it’s one or two people maybe there’s room for it to be a fluke," Mendes said. "With this number of people complaining it definitely warrants attention.”

Interim police Chief John Drake, who replaced Anderson this month, joined in the call for a TBI investigation into an allegation of a 2016 sexual assault, involving Capt. Jason Reinbold and a female officer. But the investigation also will include additional claims contained in documents provided to the city by Silent No Longer.

McClain said the group was not able to verify all of the allegations she put forward, but said she shared them publicly so they could be investigated.

The documents, some of which are heavily redacted or vague, describe a culture that does not aggressively address sexual misconduct allegations.

Police said internal investigators started reviewing documents from the advocacy group but asked for more “substantive information.”

“I want to be clear that I and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department have absolutely no tolerance for sexual harassment or sexual misconduct," Drake said last Tuesday in a statement. "Any allegation of that nature against any police department employee will be taken very seriously and investigated."

McClain said additional employees have come forward to share stories of sexual misconduct since her report attracted media attention this month.

STORIES THAT MATTER TO YOU:Help support more stories like this. Become a subscriber today.

That pattern has become familiar in the Me Too era since 2017 when high-profile public allegations against celebrities, media stars and top corporate executives empowered other women to come forward with their stories of harassment, assault and mistreatment in the workplace. Often, those women had remained silent about incidents that happened years ago because of fear they wouldn't be taken seriously or that they would be retaliated against.

McClain shared redacted accounts from two women who accused Reinbold of sexual assault. Two women said he made inappropriate comments, according to the report.

Reinbold is a longtime officer who made headlines earlier this year when a video captured him cursing and berating people having a picnic at a public area behind his home.

One of the claims against Reinbold involves a 2016 sexual assault allegation, according to a Metro human resources report obtained by The Tennessean.  A female officer accused Reinbold of locking the door to his office and groping her in 2016, the report said. She filed a formal complaint to human resources in August 2019.

The Tennessean does not generally name people who say they are victims of sexual assault.

“She said she was too intimidated to report it at the time, and that she was not ‘strong enough to come forward then,’” according to the November 2019 report.

The female officer asked for a full investigation and monetary "personal damages," the report said.

Reinbold denied the allegation, according to the report. Because there were no other reported witnesses, the claim was dismissed.

“One party disputes that this incident happened, and without further evidence Fact Finders were unable to substantiate the claim," the document stated. “Both parties tacitly acknowledged to Fact Finders that the incident, as alleged, would produce no evidence other than the testimony of each person. It is difficult to verify the facts.”

The female officer's complaint also said she faced gender discrimination and a "hostile work environment" after the 2016 incident.

The woman said Reinbold denied her request to use his department car during a 2018 assignment, but gave the car to a male coworker who asked later. She also said another supervisor mocked her heavy workload during a meeting with other staff members.

But the human resources report said interviews with seven other members of the police department contradicted the woman's accounts.

“Each of the allegations fall within management’s rights to assign work and institute process that accomplish the objectives of the Criminal Investigations Division,” the report stated.

“They found what they found," said attorney Bob Delaney, who represented the woman.“My client’s understanding of the facts and the circumstances were wholly different from that.”

Reinbold declined to comment Friday on the allegations until he consulted with his attorney Jack Byrd.

“Obviously I disagree with the allegations,” Reinbold said.

Cooper called the group's allegations of sexual assault and harassment "deeply concerning." Last Monday, he said he shared the allegations with human resources and the district attorney for "a comprehensive and independent investigation into each criminal and civil allegation of misconduct."

"I hope this process gains the confidence of those alleging misconduct and encourages them to share more information so an independent review comes to a just conclusion," Cooper said.

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.