Conway review board majority recommends termination of Officer Britney Byrd over response to April 13 mass shooting

Assistant Chief Mike Welsh told a review hearing on June 26 that he recommended termination of Conway police Officer Britney Byrd after a majority of the department's review board concluded she violated six department policies in her response to the April 13 mass shooting. The review board, Welsh said, found unsatisfactory performance, insubordination, failure to follow emergency-vehicle policy, violations of body‑worn camera rules, and a truthfulness violation tied to Byrd's explanation of her route. "My recommendation to the chief was termination," Welsh said. The board examined dash-cam, body-cam and GPS data, radio logs, and surveillance video to reconstruct Byrd's route from the funeral-home/church parking lot to Fifth Avenue Park. Lieutenant Tom Kennedy, the investigator who compiled the files, told the panel he had gathered GPS data, video and interviews and uploaded the investigative file for the review board to consider. Kennedy testified he did not alter the GPS files provided to him and that some data displayed in Central Standard Time while other Google Earth exports displayed UTC, which created display differences but, he testified, not different event periods. Why it matters: the board's recommendation addresses how officers are expected to respond to a life‑threatening event and could determine whether the department's disciplinary decision stands. The assistant chief, review board members and the investigator described both procedural findings and their factual bases to the board. The board's deliberations focused primarily on Byrd's actions during the narrow time window between when she left the funeral‑home parking lot and when she arrived at the park. Welsh and other members cited several factual findings: Byrd did not operate her assigned emergency equipment in Code 3 mode while traveling from the parking lot to the park for most of the route; her average speed on a portion of the route was recorded at 25.3 miles per hour; and her body‑worn camera was not active during the initial response and only triggered later when she used the vehicle horn to move traffic (the witness described the camera activating as it was triggered by that action). Board members pointed to radio traffic indicating many rounds were fired and to surveillance showing victims on or near the park grass close in time to Byrd's arrival. The review board was chaired by Chief Chris Harris and included command‑level members and supervisors. Welsh described that, after discussion, five voting members reached a majority conclusion that Byrd committed violations; Major Lee Wood was the sole dissenter. Welsh testified the board recommended termination and that he conveyed that recommendation to the chief; the transcript does not record the chief's final personnel decision. Board members also discussed truthfulness: the investigator and others told the panel they believed parts of Byrd's account — specifically that she followed a unit because of radio traffic about a vehicle with "gold rims" — could not have occurred in the sequence claimed. Those discrepancies were discussed as part of the board's truthfulness assessment. The record shows the department considered prior discipline in Byrd's personnel file during review board deliberations. Welsh testified Byrd had previously received a low-level reprimand (a Form 219) in connection with direction about her canine vehicle and had been counseled about following orders. What was not decided in the hearing transcript: the chief's final personnel action is not recorded in the hearing excerpts provided. The review board's role is advisory; Welsh described that the board's recommendation was forwarded to the chief for final action. The hearing included objections and evidentiary disputes about exhibits and the investigator's methods; Lieutenant Kennedy and others were questioned on GPS handling, dashcam and bodycam availability, and the foundation for photographic exhibits. Those technical and evidentiary matters were part of the board's review but separate from the board's eventual recommendation for termination. A next step recorded in the transcript is that the recommendation was provided to the chief; no final effective date or chief's ruling appears in the excerpt.