TAMPA, Fla. — A dozen personnel of the Tampa Police Department, from officers to staff, have been either fired, discliplined, or were demoted after an internal investigation into policy violations, the agency said.

  • Investigation began in September 2018
  • Chief Dugan: "Discipline is about accountability"
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Now, Chief Brian Dugan is vowing changes at the department.

From officers to supervisors, the 12 members of the department were investigated, then disciplined for violations ranging from improper recording of events via body cameras to improperly disposing of evidence to being discourteous to the public.

Some of the officers involved were fired. Other staffers were either demoted or simply written up.

Dugan said in the wake of the investigation, officers will face even tighter regulation regarding when they have body cameras recording.

"We're increasing the number of reviews that the super(visor) will have to do," Dugan said. "The police officer, more importantly, will have to turn (the body camera) on much more frequently."

"We had some strict policies on when the camera would be on. Now we're asking the police officer to turn it on whenever they're taking police action," Dugan added.

Dugan went on to say the changes were about making management more aware of what's going on. The discipline for the officers, though, is about accountability.

The officers who were terminated following the investigation are contesting their firings, the agency said.