AP News, July 25th, 2007
State investigators raided a Teamsters office during an inquiry into a feud between rival unions that had been vying to represent Nashville police.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday hauled away files and computer hard drives from the Teamsters, which took over as the police department's representative from the Fraternal Order of Police last year in a bitter department election.
Earlier this month, International Brotherhood of Teamsters organizer Calvin Hullett was arrested and charged with aggravated burglary. Agents said he hid cameras at a youth camp run by the FOP. Agents believe the former Nashville police lieutenant was hoping to catch officers who volunteer as camp counselors drinking alcohol or otherwise acting inappropriately, his lawyer has said.
The TBI began investigating the Teamsters after receiving a tip about the cameras.
Agents on Tuesday also questioned police and sheriff's officers in Memphis and Nashville on Tuesday in an effort to learn who might have known the cameras were there, TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm said.
Attorney Jack Byrd, who has represented the Teamsters at times, said he was the office during the search Tuesday.
"The only comment that we'll make at this time is that the Teamsters local is cooperating fully and that's it," he said.
In Memphis, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office relieved one sergeant of duty after TBI agents interviewed him, according to a news release Tuesday. The man remains on the payroll pending the outcome of an internal investigation, the sheriff's office said.
The Shelby County Deputy Sheriffs Association and the FOP had been the joint union representatives at the sheriffs office, but the sheriffs association recently affiliated with the Teamsters, FOP state president Brian Moran said Wednesday.
"It doesn't surprise me that there's a possible connection between the Teamsters investigation in Nashville and the Shelby County situation," he said.
