POST Commission approves multiple academy waivers and agreed-order suspensions, accepts decertification subcommittee report and sets tentative 2026 dates
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Summary
The POST Commission on July 18 accepted a decertification subcommittee report, approved multiple waivers for academy attendance and administrative delays, and accepted a series of agreed-order suspensions pending litigation.
The Tennessee POST Commission approved a slate of routine but consequential administrative items during its July 18 meeting, including waivers that permit candidates to attend alternate training academies, temporary suspensions of certification tied to pending litigation, and the commission's tentative calendar for early 2026.
Key actions taken:
- Decertification subcommittee report accepted: commissioners set the subcommittee's informal recommendations (multiple default decertifications, resets to August and other recommended actions) and voted to accept the subcommittee report into the record.
- Military-discharge waiver: Tennessee State University requested a military discharge waiver for Christian Anthony West (discharged July 1, 2020 with an entry-level separation/uncharacterized discharge). TSU commander Miles Jackson and West described recruiter-altered paperwork; the commission approved the waiver allowing West to pursue certification and academy attendance.
- Academy and transfer waivers approved: Springfield Police Department was granted a waiver to allow Jake Elliott McDaniel to attend Walter State after previously not completing a state academy; Selma Police Department's request to send April Diane Lloyd to Walter State due to medical withdrawal was approved; several administrative six-month waivers (for officers delayed by injury, scheduling or family obligations) were approved for Cleveland, Dallas County and South Pittsburgh candidates.
- Agreed-order suspensions and pending-litigation suspensions approved: staff presented a number of agreed-order suspensions and pending-litigation suspensions (examples in the record include Ruben Angel Basalva, Johnny Hughes, Miss Pomerance and Lewis DeMont Powell). The commission accepted those suspensions so certification is suspended while criminal or civil matters proceed.
- Additional legal items: the commission approved two legal pending-litigation suspensions added at meeting (Chad Moody and Brianna Looney) and authorized a family in a line-of-duty death appeal to appear by Zoom at the next meeting.
- Tentative 2026 calendar: the commission provisionally approved three dates for early 2026 (Jan. 16; Feb. 20; March 20) as a scheduling framework and discussed shifting formal/informal timing to Thursdays to reduce conflicts.
Several motions were voice votes and recorded as carried; individual roll-call tallies were not recorded in detail for each voice vote in the transcript but the meeting minutes show the motions passed by majority voice votes.
Quotes from the meeting included TSU commander Miles Jackson introducing his officer and the applicant, and attorney and agency representatives explaining that some candidates had resigned and were removed from the agenda. The commission noted small-agency staffing shortages as context for several instructor and appointment-waiver requests.
