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Greta McClain did not set out to become the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department’s most vocal critic, but she’s the thread that ties together all the stories you’ll hear on this week’s Reveal.
The Beginning of the Department’s ‘Me Too’ Moment
It all started with an argument on a bike path between nanny Erin McDermott and an angry man in his backyard. When McDermott and the kids she cares for stopped to drink water, a man started shouting and cursing at them. McDermott filmed the encounter and posted the video online.
“He just was so agitated and so aggressive,” McDermott said. “Even the way that he was talking to the kids … no rational person does that.”
She didn’t know who the man was when she released the video, but that angry man turned out to be Capt. Jason Reinbold. It went viral and started a scandal that cracked a hole in the “blue wall” of silence that can protect police accused of bad behavior. When female officers started contacting the nanny to share their experiences with officers’ bad behavior, it sparked a “Me Too” moment within the department, inspiring current and former officers to speak up about how they had been mistreated or sexually abused.
A Choice Between Justice and Her Job
Monica Blake-Beasley, one of the few Black women on the force, says the blue wall of silence teaches police officers to keep things in the family. But then there was a case in which she didn't think the unwritten rules should apply: her own sexual assault. She says she was raped by a fellow officer.
When she reported it, she felt like she was the one in trouble, with her chain of command launching a disciplinary investigation against her that was unrelated to the assault.
When she accused a fellow officer of rape, she crossed an unspoken line.
The department began to punish her for minor infractions, including recording a testimonial video for a local magician who performed at her child’s birthday party. That seemed to her like payback. And she says she lost all trust in the system that was supposed to protect good officers and hold the bad ones accountable.
“Never did I think I would have to choose between justice and my job,” Blake-Beasley said.
The Thread That Ties It All Together
After McDermott posted the video of the police captain, she says she started to receive messages from women in the department. She felt a duty to help these women, so she contacted McClain, the founder of Silent No Longer, an advocacy group for sexual assault survivors.
McClain and her organization started to reach out to the officers who had sent messages to McDermott. And then phone calls and emails started pouring in. Eventually, more than 40 current and former employees would share their stories, including complaints about Reinbold and others within the department.
Samantha Max of WPLN News in Nashville investigated those allegations with help from APM Reports. Hear her full investigation in Behind the Blue Wall.
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