Lawsuit Mentioned in Shelby Co. Sheriff's Promotions

Shelby County and the Sheriff's Office is about to have a new lawsuit on its hands. This time, it's coming from the men and women who serve the county as deputies.

The Union representing them said they were ignored when it came to promotions. The lawsuit hasn't been filed yet but the Shelby County Deputy Sheriff's Association's attorney said it's coming soon and, it's ready for a fight.

The Shelby County Sheriff's deputies who protect us from harm everyday, are about to take-on a battle within their own ranks. The union representing the deputies believes its men and women have been cheated out of promotions.

Attorney Ted Hansom is filing a lawsuit on behalf of the Deputy Sheriff's Association.

"Against Shelby County government and of course the Sheriff's Department, Sheriff Mark Luttrell," said Hansom.

The issue at hand is how some ranking Shelby county police officers were re-classified into the sheriff's office.

The county police used to handle security in county buildings but in 2005, the sheriff's office slowly started to move them under its umbrella. The last remaining county police officers were of rank one captain and two lieutenants. In order to keep their same rate of pay, the sheriff's office moved them down a rank to a lieutenant and two sergeants.

"Both those are ranks which-- number one, must be competed for... there must be competition," said Hansom.

"To boot them down to patrolman wouldn't be fair for those three," said Kennedy.

The Deputy's Association argues it wasn't only unfair, but illegal.

"He took people from outside the agency, gave them rank. And ignored people within the agency who were eligible for those ranks, who had competed in a promotional process for it," said Hansom.

Commissioner Dedire Malone questioned the promotion process.
"The process was adjusted just a tad, because of their level of experience, they did not have to go through, or did they, the same process that any other deputy.... going up the ranks would have to go through?"

No, they did not go through a regular promotion process. That's reason for concern from Commissioner Wyatt Bunker.

"I'm worried about our chances in a lawsuit, on something like this. You guys drag us there, you better know," said Bunker.

Hansom said he's filing an injunction first, to stop this promotion practice while the lawsuit is pending.

Regardless of a lawsuit, we want to know if you think it was fair to transition the county police officers this way. Leave your comments below or on our Facebook and Twitter page.