It's been nearly a year and a half since Metro hired an outside law firm to investigate whistleblower allegations involving the Metro Police Department. But 16 months later, the city's watchdog agency that initially received the complaint, the Community Review Board, says it has little information about the status of that investigation.
The 61-page whistleblower complaint prompted Mayor Freddie O’Connell to hire Memphis law firm Butler Snow to investigate claims of MNPD misconduct in June of 2024. Multiple allegations were outlined by former police internal affairs Lt. Garet Davidson, including that Nashville police leaders helped push a new state law through that diminished the power of police oversight agencies across Tennessee, including Metro's Community Review Board.
“I think everyone agrees that the allegations are serious and thorough enough to merit attention,” O’Connell said during a press conference about the matter in May of 2024.
Davidson has also been charged in a separate case alleging he leaked police records related to the Covenant school mass shooting.
In March of 2025, Fox 17 News uncovered that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant in Butler Snow’s Memphis office, seizing documents that sources said were related to Davidson and included the claims he made about MNPD. Community Review Board members feared the raid may have hindered the firm’s ability to investigate Davidson's allegations over Metro Police.
"Is this investigation...
What You Need to Know The motion comes as class action attorneys are grappling with the advent of third parties that, through the use of technology, have advertised their services to assist poten...