Abilene Police whistleblower lawsuit settled in city council

An Abilene Police Department veteran with nearly a decade of service uncovered alleged wrongdoings in the training division. She reported these alleged wrongdoings to the proper oversight agency. In return, she received a reduction in pay and a division transfer. Her response was a lawsuit against the City of Abilene.

Today, at the city council meeting, council members voted in under 15 minutes to settle the lawsuit in order to avoid a jury trial. They did not release the details of the settlement that she received in recompense for the city's alleged violation of the Texas Whistleblower Act.

They voted unanimously to approve the settlement in under two minutes and were uncharacteristically tight-lipped, without asking a single question before putting it to a vote. City Manager Robert Hanna was absent from today's council meeting.

"This is a whistleblower case"

The petition filed on September 14, 2020, with the Taylor County Courthouse, alleged that "this is a whistleblower case." The lawsuit, "Sharra Sampson vs. City of Abilene," alleged that the City of Abilene's former Chief of Police retaliated against for her reporting a "violation of statutes and regulations" to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE)."

According to the Texas Attorney General, the Texas Whistleblower Act (TWA) protects public employees who report violations of law by their employer. An employer in return, cannot take adverse action against that reporter.

Her story

Sampson began working for the Abilene Police Department on October 10, 2011. From approximately 2017-2019, Sampson worked for "the Training Academy as Training Division Secretary."

According to court documents, she attended TCOLE training which described the nature of advisory boards in training academies. According to TCOLE standards, those boards must have "at least one-third" consist of members of the public.

After her training, Sampson emailed her Field Service Agent to "ask if Officer Chris Collins who replaced Officer Phil Sage would be considered an Advisory Board Member." Her designated agent responded to Sampson that he didn't think so "as Sage had not been considered an Advisory Board Member."

That agent forward her email to the Statewide Academy Evaluator, who oversees "the compliance of academy operations." That evaluator, Malcolm Jackson, called Sampson on November 19, 2019, and instructed her to "go through each board member's file, as well as the by-laws."

Sampson subsequently discovered that several of the current advisory board members were ineligible, as they worked for agencies with their own police departments. Members of the public cannot have "affiliation with other police departments" and Hardin-Simmons University and Abilene Christian University each have their own police force.

At the time, the APD Advisory Board included "Karin Brown (HSU), Stephanie Hamm (ACU), Lindsay Hoxsey (APD), Steven Levesque (City of Abilene), and Adam Ybarra (ACU), none of whom qualify as public members." Only Virginia Moser qualified as a public member.

Retaliation?

After Sharra Sampson reported her findings to Sgt. Nikki Hill, Training Division Sergeant, and Britney Martinez, civilian instructor at the Academy, Sampson was called into the chief's office on December 16, 2019.

There she met with Hill and then police chief Stan Stanridge, who informed her that she had "been making typographical errors," and that she wasn't the best person to represent the academy to TCOLE. Sampson was then told she was "being transferred to the Records Division" and would receive "a reduction in pay."

On December 23, 2019, Sampson filed a grievance, which resulted in an investigation. Human Resources Director Brenda Alexander presented Sampson with the investigation summary, and found that the actions of management had appeared to "be justified."

Consequences for the City's alleged wrongdoings

Sampson's lawsuit alleged that the City of Abilene had violated the Whistleblower Act. In return she sued for damages, "in the form of past and future lost wages" seeking between $200,000 and $1 million from the city. It remains to be seen how much the city council will award her in the settlement.

If the city had decided not to settle, there would have been a jury trial February 26. Potential witnesses could have numbered more than 40 to include members of the City of Abilene staff and the Abilene Police Department.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Abilene Police whistleblower lawsuit settled