A recent investigation by the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST) has led to the resignation of Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Ted Brindle. The investigation found that Brindle falsified firearm training records, leading to his stepping down in lieu of termination. According to a report by WVLT News, Kevin Krieb from POST discovered the discrepancies after making an unannounced visit to the sheriff’s office, where Lt. Brindle admitted to not being able to provide the required documentation on the spot.
The POST investigation began as a standard audit when the lieutenant failed to submit the necessary records on time. Brindle had claimed the missing records were on his laptop, which he did not have with him at the time. "He stated he didn’t have his laptop with him, and he left it at home," the POST investigator said, as reported by WBIR. The situation worsened when records were later provided that seemed to have been freshly created and altered. "It looked like the morning he submitted the document to me, it was altered and imported in," Krieb noted during his presentation of the findings to the POST commission.
As the audit transitioned into an investigation, Brindle eventually admitted to fabricating the records after failing to locate the originals. "The sad thing about all of this is I was able to get the rosters of the firearm shoot, the handwritten copies from TW Hayes, one of the firearm instructors," the investigator shared with the commission, as WATE detailed in their coverage. These documents painted an accurate picture of the training sessions, showing that the required training had indeed occurred, despite the lieutenant's fabricated documentation.
The Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office has since implemented changes to ensure better oversight and record-keeping. "The training duties were given to the person [who] we thought was competent to be able to handle it," said Chief Deputy Hayes, cementing the responsibility in someone else's hands. The POST commission decided not to take disciplinary action against the sheriff's office itself, but the case will instead be presented to the Claiborne County District Attorney, and Brindle may still face decertification, as WBIR noted.
Brindle's career with the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office spanned over 25 years. There was no previous documentation of disciplinary action prior to this incident in his personnel file. He had received certifications from the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission as a training officer and firearms instructor, as per the records. Brindle's resignation underscores the importance of integrity and accurate record-keeping within law enforcement agencies, a lesson that will likely imprint itself keenly upon Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office practices going forward.
