Conway police chief terminates Officer Britney Byrd after review board cites failure to respond and untruthfulness

Chief Harris terminated Conway Police Officer Britney Byrd after a departmental review board recommended dismissal, concluding she violated six departmental policies in the department’s response to a mass shooting at Fifth Avenue Park on April 13, 2025.

The review board’s recommendation, the chief’s decision and the testimony supporting that outcome centered on three findings from the investigative file and video evidence: that Byrd did not respond with the urgency the department’s code 3 response requires; that she deactivated recording equipment while responding and drove a circuitous route rather than directly to the park; and that she made statements to an internal investigator that review-board members considered untruthful.

The board considered about a month of investigative material, including officer interviews, radio traffic, GPS tracks, dash- and body-camera footage and officer testimony, members said. Major Clay Smith, a review-board member and the major assigned over the criminal investigations division, told the hearing that after reviewing the file he identified “two major concerns” with Byrd’s conduct and concluded the investigation showed untruthfulness and conduct unbecoming. “Untruthfulness is always a terminable offense,” Major Smith testified, and he said his “recommendation was termination.”

Major James Presley, another review-board member who reviewed Lieutenant Kennedy’s investigative file, told the commission the same evidence pointed to a failure to act. “It was clearly a failure to act on her part,” Presley said when asked about his assessment of Byrd’s response.

Sergeant Philip Sweet, who was on scene and later reviewed the videos, said officers on the ground — including Byrd — indicated they could identify the general area from which shots were fired. Sweet recounted on the record that officers “could tell it came from this area,” referring to the pavilions and the center of the park.

What the board reviewed Major Smith described the investigative file as…