An Austin police lieutenant was fired for failure to report a colleague’s misconduct and for trying to sabotage an internal investigation.
Austin police Chief Art Acevedo fired Lt. Johnny McMiller last Monday. A memo of the incident was made public on Tuesday, [**which you can read here.**](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/mcmiller-12-14-15.pdf)
McMiller’s indefinite suspension comes after colleague Sergeant Nathaniel Roberts was [**suspended for 60 days**](http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/memo-police-sergeant-suspended-for-doing-home-repa/npbJT/) for spending six hours making home repairs while scheduled to work at Capital Metro Rail, the city’s transit system.
Since McMiller failed to investigate and report Robert’s whereabouts and lack of work ethic, he ended up getting the boot.
McMiller, according to Capital Metro Rail staff members, promised to report Robert’s conduct to higher ups. But, he never did.
He also flip-flopped his statements throughout the internal investigation which began in October.
McMiller also violated a direct order of confidentiality where he was not to discuss any details with potential witnesses, including an assistant chief.
McMiller also is accused of texting an assistant chief a warning message that stated, “watch your back Chief,” and later phoned him to chat about the text.
Once in questioning, McMiller denied breaking procedure. He then told Acevedo he had heard rumors that he was intentionally trying to fire the assistant chief.
“He wanted to warn assistant chief (Patrick) Ockletree of my alleged nefarious motive, an allegation that is untrue and baseless,” Acevedo said.
Acevedo added that McMiller said he thought he was being reprimanded because he had asked for a transfer—a matter he also wanted to discuss with the assistant chief.
McMiller is not the first officer to be suspended indefinitely from the Austin Police Department. In October of this year, the Austin Police department fired another detective when an internal affairs investigation proved the detective had lied on multiple occasions about working overtime hours.
Meanwhile, the [**Austin cops caught on video**](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2015/11/austin-police-beat-up-men-for-jaywalking-in-texas/) attacking a pair of men for jaywalking have not been disciplined.
