Beleaguered chief resigns

Beleaguered chief resigns

LAKE CITY, FL - Lake City Police Chief Steven Burch tendered his resignation Thursday effective immediately.

Burch had come under fire in discrimination complaints filed by Lake City Police Department Sgt. Shawn Raggins and Lt. Rudolph Davis. He had been placed on administrative leave while the city attorney conducted an investigation into the Raggins’ complaint. He had previously been suspended five days for what Davis considered an "offensive" email.

He was cleared of any wrongdoing in the Raggins’ case in a 27-page memorandum released Thursday afternoon.

Raggins’ claimed Burch discriminated against him because he:

Would not let Raggins resign from the Police Department Honor Guard or from as a recruitment officer for the department;

Racially segregated the police department building by having no blacks on the second floor

Racially discriminated against Raggins by not allowing him to pick up his child while on duty, while a white officer was allowed to work from his home one day per week.

The report indicated that the complaints had no factual basis and that "Burch simply made an administrative decision not to relieve Raggins of the recruitment duties, and was well within his right to do so as head of the police department."

Regarding the complaint about not being able to transport his child from pre-school, the report noted that there is no question Raggins’ request to transport his child using a city vehicle while he is on call was correctly denied and that police officers have no designated lunch hour.

Capt. Bruce Charles will be in charge of the department while the city interviews for vacant police chief position.