Complaint No. 1781843238 - 1682897925

I am submitting this complaint and request for review concerning Deputy Chief Lynd. I believe Deputy Chief Lynd knowingly provided false information and/or inaccurate records regarding myself, which resulted in adverse employment action, including a forced termination. I was hired at the Pascagoula Police Department on or about July 4, 2022 by Chief Matt Chapman. On July 29, 2024 I was told to attend a meeting with Captain Patrick Brandle. Upon my arrival to the police department, I was blind-sided and made aware it was a meeting with Captain Brandle, Deputy Chief Lynd and Chief Terry Scott. At this time, I was told by Chief Terry Scott that he began investigating me the first day he became chief and said Captain Patrick Brandle was doing the investigation. There was no purpose stated for this “investigation.” This is ironic being that Captain Brandle himself had misconduct allegations in 2013 stemming from a use of force incident in Ocean Springs in which he was sued and found guilty and then transferred to Pascagoula. He kept his certification. I’ve attached the court paperwork for that case. I was presented with paperwork by Chief Scott stating the city manager had already approved my termination due to allegations made by these three individuals. I did not sign any of the paperwork. I read the allegations and asked Chief Scott questions. He specifically asked me if I had been kicked out of an apartment due to domestic issues and I said no and I had a letter of reference to prove it. I explained to him what the letter said at which time, he did not know what to say and said oh well. Chief Scott refused to hear what I said and told me I was not a good fit in his department. I was told to sign and submit an immediate resignation or the termination would stand. It was then Chief Scott told me I could put him as a reference for future employment basically making a resignation sound better than the termination. This was false. This department has hindered me obtaining employment including at both Gulfport and Biloxi Police Departments in which I was told I was not selected to continue in the hiring process specifically because of what Pascagoula told them but they would not state exactly what was said. Bullying, forced terminations and retaliation is a common occurrence in this department due to “clicks.”
Specifically, I allege that Deputy Chief Lynd:
Made false statements concerning inadequate job performance by not making an appropriate amount of traffic stops as deemed appropriate by Captain Brandle, delayed response time to calls, decision making deficiencies, failure to qualify with a duty weapon, security lapses, lack of cooperation in domestic violence incidents, and abuse of authority and intoxication.
Submitted, approved, or relied upon records that contained inaccurate or misleading information.
Failed to correct known inaccuracies despite having knowledge that the information was false or misleading.
Used the false information and the opinionated hear-say of Deputy Chief Lynd’s inner circle as a basis to influence disciplinary proceedings and ultimately the termination of myself.
The information provided by Deputy Chief Lynd was material to the employment decision. Had accurate information been presented, the outcome of the investigation and disciplinary process may have been different. The City of Pascagoula and the police department failed to follow procedure regarding my hiring process in the civil service. After my termination, I was made aware by city hall personnel, specifically Regina Moore, that I was not tested for civil service because I transferred to the department from Lowndes County. Lowndes County does not operate under civil service but rather their human resources department. It is my belief that Deputy Chief Lynd had this knowledge and understood I would not have civil service rights in fighting the forced termination.
1. Mississippi Civil Service Code (Title 21, Chapter 31)
Mississippi law requires that certain public employees, including police officers, be hired through a civil service process that is open, fair, and competitive. This process is designed to prevent favoritism, nepotism, and other improper practices. If a city police department fails to follow the required civil service procedures — for example, by bypassing open examinations, using non‑competitive hiring, or excluding qualified applicants — it can be found in violation of the Mississippi Civil Service Act FindLaw.
2. Public Employment and Ethics Laws (Title 25, Chapter 4)
The Mississippi Code of Ethics and related statutes apply to all public employees, including those in local law enforcement. Violations can include:
Nepotism (Section 25‑1‑55) — placing relatives in positions without competitive process.
Failure to follow proper hiring procedures — which can be considered a breach of the public employment system.
Failure to file or maintain required records — which may also be investigated by the Mississippi Ethics Commission lega

I respectfully request a thorough review of:
All reports, memoranda, emails, and records prepared or approved by Deputy Chief Lynd;
Any evidence demonstrating discrepancies between the records and the actual facts;
Witness statements and documentation relevant to the allegations;
All department staff employees personnel files to ensure compliance with civil service;
Whether Deputy Chief Lynd knowingly made false statements or falsified records.
Because truthfulness and credibility are essential duties for law enforcement personnel, any finding that Deputy Chief Lynd knowingly provided false information should be evaluated for potential Brady/Giglio implications and any required disclosure obligations.
I will address these violations I was accused of that led up to my forced/coerced resignation. First was the inadequate job performance. This was based off of my last evaluation in July of 2024 which was conducted by none other than Captain Brandle. In Captain Brandle’s opinion, I was not conducting enough traffic stops throughout the shift and only responding to calls for service was not enough. What was not stated was that sometimes I answered twice as many calls as other officers due to me being bilingual and being one of only a few officers that is fluent in Spanish. Also what is not mentioned is the fact that unlike most officers, I volunteered and worked other shifts. On July 7, 2024 I worked on a Sunday covering for “C” shift. At approximately 0900 hours, I was dispatched to an unconscious individual on the sidewalk at Pizza Hut. Upon my arrival, I made contact with a female individual I recognized as being homeless and she was holding a male individual in her lap crying. I felt the male individual and his wrist was already cold to the touch. The ambulance was right behind me so they started working CPR on the male. I was on this scene for 30 minutes consoling the female with whom I placed in the back seat of my patrol unit to get her away from the scene. During this call, I had to leave and respond to assist another female officer. An unidentified male individual had wrecked a mustang under the bridge and ran from the scene. I made contact with this individual a few minutes later on the property of the Singing River Hospital. This encounter with this individual turned into a hands-on situation and the individual died in our custody en route to the jail. I spent the rest of the afternoon in administration speaking to MBI and then Jackson County Deputy Kroeger for an assessment. Most officers would have received three days off after an event like this which Kroeger said he was recommending. I worked the next two days on my regular shift. These types of days are not mentioned in my evaluations or my termination paperwork. That in-custody death turned into a lawsuit and I attached a copy of it to this complaint. Captain Brandle was with us waiting for MBI and he is aware of what occurred that day. I would ask what the policy is on officers dealing with multiple deaths within a few hours of shift on the same day. I deny this allegation because I know my job performance.
Second was delayed response times to calls. This stems from a night shift on “A” after I was switched shifts. I spent almost two years on “D” and then was changed in April or May of 2024. After switching shifts, I was given the busiest beat which included all of East Pascagoula. That certain night I had responded to an accident. I returned to the police department and was completing my report. Dispatcher Sheila was helping me obtain all of my vehicle information for the report. While working on this, I was dispatched to another parking lot accident at Regency Woods Apartment Complex. This was only dispatched as an accident and no injuries were reported. I obtained my documents from Sheila and closed out my computer screen then responded. When I arrived on scene, an ambulance was present. Someone on scene had called due to small children being in one of the vehicles. There were no injuries and all parties refused medical treatment. The mother of the children was the driver and she advised me she did not call for an ambulance. After completing the call, I returned to the police department to complete my report. I was advised by Lieutenant Michael Chabut that allegedly an individual from the ambulance had called him and said they were waiting on me and they complained. There was no reason for them to be waiting on me. I looked up the call logs and with my memory, it took about twelve minutes for me to respond after getting the call to shutting down the computer and driving from the west side of town to the east side. Prior to this incident, I had not been told my response times were too long. I will note that being dispatched to multiple accidents, not one officer on this shift offered to assist me so I handled them myself but hey, it was part of the job duties. Let me also say that I also made it very clear on this night to the Lieutenant I felt as though I was being harassed by that shift and I was tired of being referred to as “D” shift everything because “D” shift was my family for almost two years. After I spoke up on this, allegations became more often. I deny this allegation.
Third was decision making deficiencies. I’m not sure where these complaints came from. I never received write-ups or reprimands for any decision I made on shift so they can provide whatever evidence they feel relevant to this allegation. I deny it and I believe this was said because I handled service calls differently than “A” shift because they had an arrest everyone for everything mentality.
Fourth was failing to qualify with my duty weapon. First of all had I not qualified, I would have been removed from patrol or my weapon would have been taken away. I have attached my certifications showing I had a certification. What they did not state within their allegations was that I am right handed and left eye dominant. Because of this, I have to shoot differently. The instructor at the time they had for firearms, Mitch Loftlin, was not a good instructor and had me shooting different types of ways to qualify which were not correct for an entire day. The next day I trained with Alex Smith for one hour and qualified on the first try. I also went through training and obtained my qualification through Jackson County to carry a rifle. I had never shot a rifle in my life and I am right handed but had to shoot left-handed and I still qualified because the instructor was good. This won’t be documented in my training though.
Fifth was security lapses. They state on multiple occasions my patrol unit was left unlocked and unattended. This is completely false. Officer Cagle had pulled up to my residence one afternoon and I had the back hatch open to my unit because I was moving from Biloxi to Pascagoula and I was unloading my belongings out of my unit taking them upstairs to my apartment. This was not an intentional act of leaving my unit unlocked. I was also on the phone with Officer Jamal Hutchins when Cagle pulled up and Hutchins knew I was moving my belongings. Cagle apparently reported it as intentional or being irresponsible. The only other time I can think of they documented was a time I flew home to New Mexico to visit family. At that time, I asked Officer Tineo to go to my apartment and check on my things and my patrol unit. My car keys for my personal vehicle were attached with my patrol unit keys and my husband was staying in the apartment. She advised me the patrol unit was not locked but she locked it and it was because my husband had the keys and probably unlocked it, not due to responsibility on my part. Any accusations outside of these I am not aware of. I deny this allegation because there were no security lapses that were reasonable enough to use as firing allegations. If we want to speak of irresponsibly, I can speak of two separate occasions I almost received write-ups due to the false narratives officers provided. One was when Officer Tony Vail said I did not back him on the handcuffing of a juvenile suspect and I watched from my patrol unit. After the body camera was reviewed, it was determined that it was not me but rather Officer Brittney Langley that failed to assist him and Vail had to write an apology letter which allegedly went in his file. Another time was when I was accused of driving my patrol unit in a bikini by Officer’s Joe Biggs and Richard Landry. After doing the investigation, it was determined Landry actually made up the wardrobe allegation to impress other male officers and was not true. For the facts, I was in work out clothes and had permission by my shift Lieutenant to be in my patrol unit. These facts won’t be stated by Deputy Chief Lynd. This is because he covers for his own “friends.” Officer Ernie Synder had issues under Chief Matt Chapman and got his K9 taken away from him and he left the department only returning to reside with Deputy Chief Lynd. Coincidentally enough I was put on “A” shift which also had these friends of administration on it. Another “friend” of Deputy Chief Lynd is Michael Davis. This officer has had numerous complaints against him ranging from racial to use of force to zero communication skills. If you research these complaints, you will probably find that there is no accountability for this officer. I have attached a screen shot and you can watch the video yourself to see his interaction. He was also previously posted online for stealing money during a traffic stop but body camera “saved his job.” These are security lapses.
Sixth was lack of cooperation in domestic violence incidents. I admit I did have domestic violence issues with my husband but to say I did not cooperate was a lie. My husband was charged in Ocean Springs in 2023 and I was at the court hearing in which he pleaded guilty. What Chief Scott was mad at was the fact they wanted me to sign charges on stolen items that were returned the next morning and I said no. I did not let them write their narrative to what they wanted to decide for me. What they won’t state is that Captain Brandle had me report to his office where he was attempting to bully me and force me to go work for the Singing River Hospital Police Department where Chief Scott’s best friend and academy buddy is the chief and who also sits on the civil service committee. Brandle also approached Officer Mike Delaney who worked at the hospital police trying to coerce him into transferring to Pascagoula and told Delaney he had a female officer he would replace him with meaning me. It was not known to Brandle that I previously knew Delaney from Lowndes County so he was my friend. I declined Brandle’s offer and told if I wanted to work at the hospital I would have applied there. Brandle also wanted me to go to counseling with a female “friend” of his which I declined not because of the counseling but because I did not have trust in a “friend” of Brandle with whom he has drinks with on the weekend. Brandle did not like this. These are the reasons Brandle wanted me gone from this department. Brandle has been married four times according to public records. Maybe he should attend counseling for the things he has in his closet that he hides behind religion for but that’s not my story to tell. I have attached police reports to this complaint. I also spoke to officers that had left the department and in speaking with Karey Nelson, he advised me that while in FTO, he reported for shift one day 30 minutes early. After exiting his patrol unit, he was met by Captain Brandle. He advised me that Brandle told him he had 30 minutes to resign from the department or he would make up a reason to fire him. Karey said he resigned because he didn’t have a choice but he had already been applying elsewhere and had been hired at Keesler Air Force Base so he didn’t fight it. He was a transfer from Moss Point. This kind of bullying and coersion is what is going on in that department. He can be contacted through Facebook.
Lastly was abuse of authority and intoxication. I have attached police reports to this complaint especially for this allegation. I argued this with Deputy Chief Lynd in the termination meeting. This was over a domestic violence situation that occurred in Ocean Springs under the previous administration which had already been taken care of. First off, when you read the reports you will see that Deputy Chief lynd is the one telling another officer, Richard Landry, to call police in Ocean Springs. I never called the police myself. Secondly, the reporting officer from Ocean Springs attended high school with Keith Barnes and he knew perfectly well who we were and what department we worked for. There were multiple officers there that night celebrating a dispatcher's divorce. Deputy Chief Lynd was the one using his authority in this situation, not me. If I was going to be disciplined two years later for consuming alcohol then so should the other officers and dispatchers that were also involved. These include Richard Landry who was later fired from Biloxi Police Department for racial comments caught on camera, Jamal Hutchins, and Keith Barnes who was fired from Pascagoula for having sexual relations with female drug addicts on body camera. They also had a report attached to these written by Officer Joe Biggs who was not present at all with our group nor had anything to do with the situation other than third hand gossip. This was the most absurd accusation they used against me and not to mention double jeopardy. If we are going to speak about abuse of authority and intoxication, I will prepare a complaint separately on this matter and submit it for investigation as well which I should have reported at the time.