ORPD force policies are online; no changes since August
Oakridger
The city of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Police Department has not changed its use of force policies this year in response to national controversies pertaining to the use of police force, but it has posted a list of its policies online.
The ORPD s use of force policy is available online as one of many policies available online. It can be found at http://www.oakridgetn.gov/Policepolicies/police-policy.php. The city has not updated this policy since Aug. 19, 2020, which was after the national controversy and protests surrounding Minneapolis Police Department Officer Derek Chauvin s killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. After that incident, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson encouraged the ORPD to make updates to some of its policies. Also, some Oak Ridge City Council members encouraged the police department to start posting its policies to its website, which it has since done.
DA: Former ORPD officer arrested for assault after kicking handcuffed juvenile
Officials said that Andre Thompson kicked a handcuffed juvenile in the department s interview room while waiting for him to be picked up by a foster parent. Author: WBIR Staff Updated: 5:25 PM EST March 9, 2021
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. A former officer with the Oak Ridge Police Department, Andre James Thompson, is facing an assault charge after kicking a handcuffed juvenile, according to a release from the District Attorney General s office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Officials said that the juvenile was a male teenage runaway and that he was taken into custody while officers contacted a foster parent to pick him up. The teenager was defiant towards officers, officials said, as he was held in the Oak Ridge Police Department s interview room.