Nashville Police Chief Admits Mishandling of Qur�an Desecration Case

June 30, 2005

Source: The Tennessean

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050630/NEWS03/506300404/1017/NEWS

On June 30, 2005 The Tennessean reported, "Officers and dispatchers should have done a better job responding to complaints last week about the defacing of a Muslim holy book, Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas said yesterday.

An Emergency Communication Center employee has already been disciplined for the incident that Muslim leaders said took two hours for a police response, Serpas confirmed.

But the chief, speaking after meeting with a group of Muslim and other community leaders yesterday, said he did not believe the delay was intentional.

'I don't have any reason to believe that someone decided not to go there for any reasons of bigotry or discrimination,' he said.

'I think that some days you get really busy and you can do a better job of managing the calls, and I think in this case between us and the (Emergency Communication Center) we should have probably done a better job of managing the calls.'"