38-8-305 - Proceedings subsequent to disciplinary action Hearings Evidence Witnesses Counsel Record. - Tennessee Statutes

38-8-305. Proceedings subsequent to disciplinary action Hearings Evidence Witnesses Counsel Record.

(a)  A police officer who is dismissed, demoted, suspended or transferred for punitive reasons, may within a reasonable amount of time following such action, as set by the officer's agency, request a hearing. If such request is made in a timely manner, a hearing shall be held within a reasonable amount of time set by the agency. The hearing shall be set no later than fourteen (14) calendar days following the date of request, unless a later date is acceptable to the police officer.

(b)  At the hearing, the police officer and the officer's agency shall be afforded the opportunity to present evidence and to examine and cross-examine witnesses.

(c)  The hearing panel shall have the power to, and on the request of either the police officer or the officer's agency shall, issue subpoenas requiring the testimony of witnesses who have refused or failed to appear at the hearing.

(d)  The police officer shall also be given the opportunity to be represented by counsel at the hearing, unless such officer and agency are afforded, by regulation, the right to counsel in a subsequent de novo hearing.

(e)  The panel conducting the hearing shall rule on the admissibility of the evidence.

(f)  A record shall be made of the hearing.

[Acts 1989, ch. 398, § 5.]