Kroll Report Recommends THP Promotion Change

(Today/yesterday) the governor announced changes that will immediately affect the hiring and promotion practices of the state’s troubled Safety Department.

Governor Phil Bredesen called for a report by New York-based Kroll Government Services in December after the three top Safety Department administrators resigned.

Using the reports findings, Bredesen recommends streamlining some of the department’s non-law enforcement duties and establishing a transparent promotion process for the Highway Patrol.

Bredesen says he knew the report would find political trouble in the THP, but not as widespread as it did.

“I had no notion how extensively the hiring and promotional process could be manipulate under the rules we had…you can take tests in one place and go get hired in another place and get moved to once place for a promotion then move back again, all kinds of things.”

Bredesen says the new policy will publicize open positions and the test scores of the qualified individuals. More importantly, it would prohibit outside recommendations which includes the governor or any other state official not part of the Safety Department.

The consulting firm hired for the THP report has conducted similar diagnostic studies for the Los Angeles and Detroit Police Departments as well as the Pennsylvania State Police. Kroll’s Chief Operating Officer Jeff Schlanger says in no other department has he seen the political favoritism found in the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Bredesen says the new policy will publicize open positions and the test scores of the qualified individuals. More importantly, it would prohibit outside recommendations which includes the governor or any other state official not part of the Safety Department. The consulting firm hired for the THP report has conducted similar diagnostic studies for the Los Angeles and Detroit Police Departments as well as the Pennsylvania State Police. Kroll’s Chief Operating Officer Jeff Schlanger says in no other department has he seen the political favoritism found in the Tennessee Highway Patrol.