The Police Merit Board Tuesday upheld Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert White's decision to fire an officer who had sent lewd photographs of himself and viewed other sexually explicit photos from his patrol car computer.
Chris Dison, who had been with the department for seven years, was fired Sept. 29 after an internal investigation. He appealed that decision to the merit board, which heard testimony on the case Tuesday.
"I realize that what I did was wrong," Dison told the board. "I understand that the opinion of me by the city … is not high. This does put me in a bad light and there's nothing I can say really except to give me another opportunity."
But after hearing several hours of evidence, the board - made up of two police officers and four citizen members - voted unanimously to uphold White's decision to fire Dison.
The situation "brought great discredit to not only the men and women of this police department, but to our entire community," White said. "It's been a great embarrassment to our entire community."
Evidence of that embarrassment included a clip of a Jay Leno monologue that was played during the hearing in which the comedian referenced Dison's firing in Louisville.
Police began investigating Dison in March 2010 after receiving an anonymous e-mail accusing him of sending lewd material and engaging in sex while on duty. As a part of that investigation, members of the metro government technology department deployed monitoring software that recorded all the actions Dison took on his computer.
No evidence was uncovered substantiating that Dison had sex while on duty, but police recorded several e-mail exchanges that included sexual photographs, including some of Dison himself. In one photo Dison was wearing his uniform shirt, but nothing from the waist down.
The photos were sent from a personal e-mail account that was accessed from his departmental computer.
In 2007, Dison was given a 19-day suspension because he posted lewd photos of himself in a police car and in uniform on the website adultfriendfinder.com, on which he used the screen name LMPDCop.
But White was forbidden from considering that when handing down discipline in the later case because the earlier discipline had been issued more than three years before, according to the rules of the police contract. White said during the hearing that the latest case was so outrageous that it warranted firing on its own.
"What was most alarming to me was that a member of our police department would expose himself in his police uniform," White said, adding that it showed a "lack of respect and a lack of common sense."
Dison declined to comment after the hearing.
His attorney, Mary Sharp, said afterward the outcome was disappointing, though she believed the board held a fair hearing.
Sharp said during the hearing she believed the punishment was too harsh, asking the board reinstate Dison and give him a suspension.
"This case has gotten a whole lot of sensationalism," she told the board. "And it's gotten blown out of proportion to the point where it's ridiculous."
Sharp argued that Dison never thought anyone but the person he was emailing would have access to the images he sent and didn't intend for them to become public. She said Dison did many good things as an officer, including being awarded the medal of valor in 2010 rescuing a man from a burning car.