Nashville Officer Decommissioned Over Comments On Minnesota Police Shooting

Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson has decommissioned an officer from the Hermitage Precinct after a Facebook post regarding the shooting of Philando Castile in Minnesota.

Officer Anthony Venable made the post on his personal account Thursday afternoon. In an online discussion of the shooting, Venable made the comment “Yeah. I would have done 5.”

This is an apparent reference to the number of shots fired by the officer in the Minnesota case.  

Venable claims he was being sarcastic.       
   
     
   

Chief Anderson says the department is treating the matter “very seriously” and decided to take action “regardless” of the original intent.

Venable has been with the police department for eight years and currently works the midnight shift.

MNPD Response To Recent Shootings

Earlier in the day, the Metro Nashville Police Department had already
released a statement in response to shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana.

“I am extremely concerned and disturbed by the videos and the accounts we have heard thus far coming from Baton Rouge and Falcon Heights,” Anderson wrote. “I ask Nashvillians to please not judge or associate MNPD police officers they may see on patrol, at the scene of a crime, or in a restaurant as having any association or connection.”

Anderson says Nashville police officers receive “months of instruction” about how to communicate with citizens to avoid or de-escalate situations. They spend 220 hours on “use of force.” And Anderson says that includes “implicit bias training.”

“Our training emphasizes the sanctity of human life,” Anderson says. “Minimizing use of force necessarily begins with proper communication skills, especially in tense and fast-moving situations.”

Anderson says the department is working to maintain the confidence of the public.

Friday’s Vigil

Organizers from Black Lives Matter Nashville are still planning to hold a vigil at Public Square Park in downtown Friday night.
So far Metro Police have not issued a statement regarding the planned event following the
shooting of officers in Dallas Thursday night.

One of the Nashville event’s organizers responded angrily to statements made Thursday by Chief Anderson. Organizer Joshua Crutchfield tweeted that “Chief Anderson is trying to halt the momentum” from Friday’s vigil.

He also claimed that the city’s “Operation Safer Streets” program has “been terrorizing and over-policing black neighborhoods for years.”

But we know what police departments in this country are for. We know that they’re literally designed to serve and protect white supremacy.— Joshua Crutchfield (@Crutch4)
July 8, 2016

Over 1500 people have signed up on the Black Lives Matter’s
Facebook page indicating they will attend Friday night’s event.