Former employees of the Metro Nashville Police Department say that, for years, the disciplinary process has been used to protect a small group of high-ranking officers against complaints of sexual misconduct and other workplace abuses. We show through data analysis, public records and interviews that this is the case. Overall, people of color — especially women of color — faced more severe internal discipline than white male officers, even for comparable infractions. We also detail several particularly egregious cases, including that of a police captain who was accused of sexual assault of a subordinate inside the department headquarters but was not punished.
