Bradenton OKs investigation of police. YouTube celeb brings crowd to support sister.
The Bradenton City Council on Wednesday approved an independent investigation into allegations of misconduct and criminal behavior inside the Bradenton Police Department.
The meeting drew former officers who had filed complaints against the department and one of their relatives — a popular YouTube celebrity who also brought a following.
After the discussion turned hostile at times, the council voted 4-1 to approve an investigation. Councilman Bill Sanders voted against the motion.
Mayor and Police Commissioner Gene Brown had announced Tuesday he would be recommending two people to conduct the investigation: Captain Brian Gregory from the North Port Police Department and Retired Judge Greg Holder.
During Wednesday’s council meeting, he said Holder had agreed and Gregory would only be assisting him with aspects required to be handled by a certified law enforcement officer.
Typically, if there is a conflict within an agency over an internal affairs investigation, another agency or state attorney is asked to step in.
YouTube celebrity supports sister
Some of the allegations against the department were made by former Bradenton police officers Hannah and Steven Kalchbrenner, who were at the meeting.
The Florida Benevolent Police Association, a statewide police union, filed an unfair labor practice charge with Florida’s Public Employees Relations Commission earlier this month based on Hannah Kalchbrenner’s account of a July 14 service call in which she said she witnessed Chief of Police Melanie Bevan search both a person and a home without a warrant.
The Kalchbrenners also said they resigned from the department because of how they were treated by Bevan and the Internal Affairs division.
Neither Kalchbrenner spoke at the meeting, but Hannah’s brother Charles Ross attempted to speak. Brown denied the request, citing that the time for public comment had been at the onset of the meeting.
Ross — a Bradenton native and a YouTube personality who makes videos of public pranks and has over 3 million followers — told the Bradenton Herald outside city hall that he was not familiar with the meeting rules.
“They talked about which department to chose for the internal investigation instead of BPD. There was a question of it being ethical because there may or may not be associations between the mayor or the chief of police and that department,” Ross said. “For some reason, it’s obvious that you should choose the one that there is no association with.”
Ross — known online as RossCreations and Vlog Creations — brought a couple dozens other supporters with him. Many of them were wearing RossCreations shirts.
Absent from Wednesday’s meeting was Bevan — who previously called the allegations against her and others in her command “unfounded and completely unsubstantiated.”
Why isn’t FDLE involved?
Councilman Patrick Roff questioned why the latest complaints launched against the department — four sworn affidavits from Bradenton police officers — were not sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Last month, that agency declined to investigate allegations by Bevan and her command staff.
“FDLE had initially said they wouldn’t do this because it was anonymous. But there have since been affidavits that are signed and could change FDLE’s perspective on that,” Roff said.
Brown said he thought it best to go “outside the box,” especially given public scrutiny of FDLE.
“They didn’t get everything last time,” Councilman Bill Sanders said, referring to the report detailing results from a union survey conducted earlier this year.
On Wednesday morning, Brown claimed that FDLE has received a copy of the report — which found that more than half of Bradenton’s police officers were unhappy with certain working conditions, such as morale, wages and the appearance of favoritism from department leaders.
In July, the Bradenton Herald confirmed with FDLE that they never received anything other than an anonymous letter. Brown, at the time, defended his decision saying he didn’t share the report because of ongoing union contract negotiations. He called the report “a distraction.”
Councilwoman Jayne Kocher rejected Roff’s and Sanders’ suggestions that the latest complaints be sent to FDLE, saying she didn’t want to waste time.
“At this point I very much want to support our chief and I think a lot of things are being said that aren’t substantiated,” she said. “I am really concerned about the public trust right now and there undermining our law enforcement.”
Roff hesitated but voted in favor to contract the independent investigation.
“FDLE’s whole purpose is to investigate law enforcement. That’s the state agency that is supposed to be doing this, he said. “We sent it to them incomplete and they didn’t want to touch that.”
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 4:51 PM.
