Recorded phone call of former police chief raises questions of quid pro quo for commission card

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - In August 2022, former Millersville Police Chief Dustin Carr was on the phone, talking frankly with a security guard colleague.

Carr didn’t realize that call was being recorded.

That call, obtained by WSMV4 Investigates, reveals Carr is conflicted about whether to accept a generous gift from a friend.

“I’m kind of torn on some things, to be honest,” Carr says in the call.

That gift, according to the call, was $200,000 worth of license plate readers for the Millersville Police Department.

In exchange, Carr says on the call, the person offering to donate the license plate readers wanted a police commission card.

There’s just one major problem: police commission cards are only given to certified law enforcement officers or offered by a police chief to someone who volunteers their time to be a reserve law enforcement officer.

The person asking for the commission card, according to Carr, was neither a certified law enforcement officer nor a reserve officer, but still wanted that commission card.

“As a decision maker, is it worth me giving a reserve commission to somebody who is gonna - will put his hours in - and get essentially 200,000 worth of cameras installed?” Carr says on the call.

In the call, Carr identifies the person wanting the commission card as Jack Byrd, the head of the security company Solaren.

Byrd has been featured in a series of WSMV4 Investigations, “The Thin Blurred Line,” that revealed how people who are not certified law enforcement are wearing police identification and are accused of acting as police officers.

“Jack has offered to donate lPR cameras to our city. I don’t know if you know how expensive that is,” Carr says in the call.

The person who was speaking with Carr and recorded their conversation agreed to speak with WSMV4 Investigates, but asked that we conceal his identity for fear of retaliation in the security industry. The person on the phone with Carr is a security officer.

WSMV4 Investigates asked him what he thought when he heard Carr discuss giving the commission card to Byrd. “I already knew what it was – it was bribery,” the security guard said.

“Why did you record this conversation?” asked WSMV4 Investigates.

“Cause it’s the right thing to do,” the security officer said. “I have a lot of respect for police officers. I know the training they go through. I know the toll that it takes on them. For somebody to pretend to be one like that, it’s not right.”

That security guard said certified law enforcement, carrying commission cards, can charge more money for off duty security jobs.

It also means that if a security guard wanted to make more money, that guard would need a commission card to do it. “You think this is really about money?” asked WSMV4 Investigates.

“Yeah. For the money, really for the side jobs,” the security guard said.

Later in the call, Carr can be heard denying that he hands out commission cards, but then adds that he needs to “consider” some things. “I don’t hand out commission cards. I don’t. And I told (Byrd) that. I’m adamant against it,” Carr says in the call, and then adds, “with that being said, there are some things you’ve got to really consider.” WSMV4 Investigates asked the security guard what he made of that comment.

“(Carr) was just saying that to cover himself in the future. In case things got brought up,” the security guard said.

WSMV4 Investigates reached Carr by phone, who confirmed he was aware of the recorded call and referred all our questions to his attorney.

WSMV4 Investigates repeatedly emailed and also called Carr’s attorney but did not get a response.

WSMV4 Investigates has also obtained a complaint, emailed to the state program of Tennessee State Protective Services, which oversees security guards, from a former employee of Solaren.

WSMV4 Investigates also spoke to the sender of the complaint email, who asked that we not reveal her identify for fear of retaliation in the security industry.

In the email complaint to the state program, the former Solaren employee wrote that in 2022, “Jack Byrd asked me if I would like to make more money per hour and of course I said yes. He stated that he could get me a commission card with Millersville police but the charge is $5,000….I responded as I appreciate the offer, sir but I am not going to do something that is illegal and jeopardize everything I have worked so hard for.”

A spokesman for The Tennessee State Protective Services stated that because the complainant would only email and not be interviewed by investigators about her claim, they could not open an investigation.

In November 2022, Byrd was appointed by Millersville police as a reserve police officer and got a reserve officer commission card.

But in Feb 2023, public records show Byrd resigned, citing a conflict with the work he needs to do at his company, Solaren.

Carr resigned from the Millersville police department late last year and, according to photographs on his Facebook page, now works for Solaren.

Byrd’s attorney wrote in an email to WSMV Investigates, “We don’t validate these shenanigans with a response as it’s evident that they have zero merit. The facts here are simple. These media antics are free until those making false, malicious, and damaging statements are held accountable to the fullest extent of the law, to which we shall do!”

Byrd’s attorney also included this message from Byrd to Jeremy Finley, “You represent everything that people hate about the media. You’re immoral, unprofessional, and a virulent human being that exemplifies all the reasons why people don’t trust the news.”

If there’s something you’d like WSMV4 Investigates to look into, let us know here.

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