Comptroller Concerned About Abuse Of Power

The State Comptroller’s investigation of Monterey Police Chief Bill Randolph includes concerns about the chief’s ability to lead the department.

Randolph involved two staff members in his plan to use a training conference trip to Gatlinburg as a vacation, missing the training. Comptrollers Director Of Communication John Dunn said the employees count on the chief to make decisions.

“Management is responsible for implementing a strong environment where fraud is not allowed and where there are checks and balances in place to ensure that people are doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” Dunn said. “Well, in this case, you have the manager, the chief, essentially abusing his position. And that when you have a problem like that, it’s essentially a problem at the top.”

Dunn said the investigation found one officer provided Randolph with QR codes to show his attendance. A second employee in the department maintains training records, where Randolph claimed the 36 hours of training.

“Both were certainly aware that the chief wasn’t attending classes, but because of their subordinate roles to the chief, it put them in a somewhat compromised position,” Dunn said. “And that does raise some ethical concerns and certainly potentially damages public trust.”

Randolph enrolled in the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Officer’s Association Fall Conference in November, 2022. Dunn said the investigation showed Randolph did not attend the conference at all.

“The town of Monterey not only paid for the conference fee and for his hotel and for his fuel to get there and for his meals, he also received, or claimed to have received 36 hours of training,” Dunn said. “When our investigators took a closer look, what we determined was that while the conference was going on, which the town had paid for, the chief was visiting restaurants and shopping with his wife.”

Dunn said he could not comment on how the issue came to light with the Comptroller’s Office.

“We have a team of investigators here in the comptroller’s office, and their entire duty really, is to investigate fraud, waste, and abuse,” Dunn said. “So when we receive an allegation and we assign a case to an investigator or two, they’ll spend many months receiving and acquiring records, doing interviews, doing their really the legwork to determine how much money, if any, was stolen or misappropriated.”