Highway Patrol needs its dignity restored
Over the past month, the integrity of the Tennessee Highway Patrol has been pounded by allegations of corruption and political favoritism.
As a result, the highway patrol’s top two officials, Safety Commissioner Fred Phillips and Col. Lynn Pitts, resigned last week.
Pitts was forced to quit immediately when it was discovered he was awarded the winning bid during an online auction for a boat that was confiscated by the highway patrol.
Pitts resigned Friday after an onslaught of allegations kept piling up. The problem reached a boiling point when the agency was accused of promoting officers based on campaign donations and favors to high-ranking officials.
“In light of events that have recently surfaced in the Tennessee Department of Safety, I feel it is in my best interest to resign my position as Commissioner,” Phillips wrote in his resignation.
With its top two officials gone, it is an opportune time to revamp the upper administration of the Highway Patrol. Gov. Phil Bredesen should seize this opportunity to make meaningful moves to restore much-needed trust in the organization.
The citizens of Tennessee deserve that ? and so do the honest state troopers who work hard every day and don’t stretch the rules. Phillips made that point clear in his resignation letter.
“There are hundreds of men and women, in particular those who put their life on the line each day, who have earned the admiration and appreciation of every Tennessean,” Phillips wrote.
A few bad apples shouldn’t spoil the bushel. At the same time, the Highway Patrol must be held to high standards. When a few members act inappropriately, it unfortunately reflects badly on everyone.
State troopers should, without a doubt, be held to the same rules as all Tennesseans. It’s hypocritical to let the officers who enforce our laws ignore those laws themselves. The men and women who enforce the law should never be above it.
If anything, deputies, police officers and state troopers should be held to even higher standards. That’s part of the responsibility that accompanies a career in law enforcement.
Yet Tennesseans can’t feel comfort in knowing the Highway Patrol determines who gets a promotion based on who donated the most money.
An evaluation of 126 Highway Patrol promotions since Bredesen took office in 2003 revealed 62 of the promoted officers (49 percent) contributed or had close family members who contributed to the governor’s campaign before they were promoted.
Thirty-six officers who gave campaign money, or whose family members gave to Bredesen, advanced even though their promotion test scores or ratings were lower than those of other applicants. Among that group were Pitts’ two sons, who are also state troopers.
This sort of favoritism must stop and the Highway Patrol needs to rise above a public perception of wrongdoing in the agency. It’s up to Bredesen to act quickly and decisively and severe ties from previous administration officials.