CNF has received many calls in the last few days asking why we have been silent after the news of interim Crossville Police Chief’s resignation last Thursday.  We have a few reasons.  First, we wanted to gather as many facts surrounding Mr. Shoap’s resignation as possible. Secondly, the news of Mr. Shoap’s resignation struck a nerve.  We have seen and heard nothing but rave reviews from the community and local leaders about interim Chief Shoap’s work since he took over the position. We wanted to get this right.  Thirdly, we love Crossville and feel that Mr. Shoap was a huge asset to our town and was serving us very well as Chief of Police – we wanted to wait and see if there was any possible way to resolve this issue by talking to everyone connected with his resignation.  Rather than publishing a story chocked full of allegations and innuendoes that could harm any chance of resolving the situation at hand, we wanted to first make any and all attempts to reverse Mr. Shoap’s resignation.   We have spent hours upon hours since Thursday talking with Council Members, City Manager, the Mayor and other community leaders in hopes of getting some kind of communication going between the parties and reverse this loss to the City.  Unfortunately, there seems to be no way to fix this mess…and it is a mess.

After our interviews with all those connected to interim Chief of Police Shoap’s resignation, we have concluded the following:

First, we feel Mr. Shoap prematurely submitted his resignation with one full month left on his contract. Mr. Shoap told CNF the straw that broke the camels back was when he learned his trip to a Police Association meeting scheduled for one day after Mr. Shoap’s contract is to expire had been canceled without his knowledge.    After our interview, we do understand Mr. Shoap is totally frustrated with having to fight both crime and City Hall.  Mr. Shoap told us he has been trying to get someone to listen to his request to become the full term Police Chief for months…to no avail.  Former City Manager Rutherford explained in an interview with another news outlet he was bout to hire Mr. Shoap, who was the only applicant for the job of Chief, when Rutherford was abruptly fired.

What we have discovered in our investigation is:

Councilman Jesse Kerley clearly has issues with Mr. Shoap.  These issues were confirmed by Mr. Kerley himself along with the interim City Manager Steve Hill and the City Council Members we interviewed.  There is no doubt Mr. Kerley does not want Mr. Shoap to be full term Police Chief. Is there any merit to Mr. Kerley’s issues – not that we can find.  We’re sure Mr. Kerley has his reasons, but we simply cannot find any solid foundation for his accusations – and we have seen every correspondence there is, both internal and public, dealing with the issues including letters, text messages, emails and social media posts in addition to personal interviews with those connected to the situation.

Has Mr. Hill exercised prudence in expediting the hiring a Police Chief since Mr. Shoap’s contract expires at the end of this month?  Our investigation indicates he did not.   While it is true that Mr. Hill just recently took over the interim position of City Manager after Rutherford’s firing, the simple fact that Mr. Shoap’s contract was about to expire would require Mr. Hill ‘take care of business’ and hire a full term Police Chief.  Mr. Hill explained to CNF that he just got there (manager’s position) and was trying to figure out everything and he wanted to wait until after the November Elections to hire a Chief. But there was never a new contract offered Mr. Shoap to extend his employment as Chief until November.   If Mr. Hill had any doubts about who should be hired as Police Chief, (there was only one applicant for the position – Mr. Shoap) he should have asked the City Council for advice.  The Council cannot control the hiring and firing of city employees, but they sure can offer advice to the City Manager.  Mayor Mayberry last month asked Mr. Hill to poll the city Council to get their views on the Police Chief position because if some action was not taken soon, the City would be without a Police Chief come July 29th.  Councilman Jesse Kerley put a stop to the polling saying it was illegal and the council could not directly be involved with the hiring process.  That is true.  But Mr. Hill could have easily ‘asked’ for the Councils advice anytime.  As it turns out, during our interviews of the Council Members, all but one had nothing but high praise for Mr. Shoap as Chief of Police.  We were not able to speak to Mr. Souza, but he has expressed his approval of Mr. Shoap publicly many times.  Additionally, Mr. Hill had access to letters of recommendations from District Attorney Bryant Dunaway, Cumberland County Sheriff Casey Cox and Sessions Judge Larry Warner.  All three expressing, with emphasis, that Mr. Shoap would be the ideal and logical choice as permanent Chief of Police based on their previous working relationship with the interim Chief.

Has the City government been negligent in its duty to look out for the citizens of CrossvilleCrossville and its citizens.  It means when a problem arises of this magnitude – fix it.

There has been discourse among the city council for years now and it has done nothing but hurt Crossville.  This time, it has cost us a valuable asset to the City that we see no way to recover at this time. By now it is no secret there are two council members who have been seemingly preoccupied with disrupting the flow of progress for Crossville rather than being cooperative and exercising maturity in helping the community grow through proper leadership.  After interviewing many local leaders we have gotten the same end result answer.  If the people want a better council – go vote in November.

Negligence and personal agendas among a few city leaders has cost Crossville possibly, as one Council Member stated,  “one of the best Chief’s of Police we’ve had”.   Major Mark Rosser was put in as the next interim Police Chief – he is a very capable and professional officer of the law and leader.  Major Rosser was being mentored by Chief Shoap and told CNF that he has the utmost respect for Mr. Shoap and hated to see him leave as Chief. Major Rosser was the only other applicant for the job of Chief – but withdrew his application when he learned Mr. Shoap had applied.  Earlier we told you City Manager Steve Hill told CNF he wanted to wait until after the November Elections to hire a full term Police Chief.  If he was true to his words, there will be no hiring of a full term Police Chief until after November.

To repeat the consensus of some members of the City Council:  “If you want a better Council, go vote in November”