Bradenton Police Chief Investigated, Accused Of Unlawful Search: Union

BRADENTON, FL — Bradenton police Chief Melanie Bevan is under investigation after a city police officer and the Florida Police Benevolent Association accused her of an “unlawful search of (a) citizen’s home,” according to an Aug. 8 letter from Mick McHale, the Southwest Florida PBA president, to the city’s mayor. (Read the full complaint below.)

The Bradenton Police Department’s internal affairs department is also under investigation for its conduct following the incident, Mayor Gene Brown confirmed in an Aug. 9 letter to McHale. Both letters were provided to Patch by the union.

In an Aug. 11 open letter given to Patch by the city of Bradenton, Bevan said she was “utterly dismayed and disappointed” by what she calls “false allegations.” She claimed they were made because of failed contract negotiations between the union and the city.

“The PBA has obviously failed in its responsibility to successfully negotiate the contracts of its members, and is therefore shifting blame and accountability elsewhere,” she wrote. “It is no coincidence these attacks began at the same time the Southwest Florida PBA declared impasse in the contract negotiations. To attack the Chief of Police and their own members on numerous unfounded and completely unsubstantiated accusations is a disgrace not only to the agency, but also the citizens we protect and serve every day.”

On July 14, Bradenton officers were called to help probation officers with the Florida Department of Corrections with an arrest warrant at a home at 911 21st Ave. W. in Bradenton. Bevan, who was on a ride along with a new Bradenton officer, responded to the call, according to McHale’s letter.

During this call, the chief allegedly “reached her hand inside of the pocket of a bystander on scene without any warrant or warning,” the union president said.

She felt something in their pocket and instructed an officer to find out what it was, according to the complaint. The item wasn’t a weapon, McHale added.

“After conducting a warrantless search of the bystander,” Bevan entered the home and began searching it, he wrote. “She wore black gloves and began looking around the home and moving things inside the home as part of her warrantless search. Other Bradenton police officers on scene were in shock and were left speechless as they watched Chief Bevan conduct an unlawful search of the home.”

Officers were also concerned about the chief’s safety, as she didn’t wear a protective vest in the home, which is BPD policy, McHale said.

Bradenton police officer Hannah Kalchbrenner, who was at the scene during the arrest, filed a complaint about Bevan’s search to her direct supervisor and the internal affairs unit.

The officer was later “ambushed by internal affairs investigators upon her return to work after filing the complaint, and she was thereafter interrogated and illegally detained,” the union president wrote. “Internal affairs investigators refused to allow (her) to have an attorney present, and they refused to allow her to use the restroom.”

They also forced Kalchbrenner to hand over her personal cell phone for review, according to McHale.

He also said that internal affairs investigators reached out to the homeowner and tried to convince her “that Chief Bevan’s warrantless search of her home was lawful.”

In her letter, the chief said she’s prohibited by state law to say more about an active investigation. Bevan noted, though, that she was wearing a body-worn camera, which captured the July 14 incident.

“Consequently, I am confident when the investigation is complete, the evidence will speak for itself and I will be fully exonerated of any assertion of conduct violations,” she wrote.

Patch has requested a copy of the July 14 video footage from Bevan's and Kalchbrenner's body-worn camera.

Read the full letter from Mick McHale, the Southwest Florida Police Benevolent League president, to the city of Bradenton about accusations against police Chief Melanie Bevan and the Bradenton Police Department's internal affairs department: