Covington cop resigns amidst probe of referee arrests


WWL.com Reporting

The Northshore police officer in the middle of the football referee dispute has filed for retirement from the Covington Police Department.
It comes a day after Sgt. Stephen Short met with Police Chief Tim Lentz.
Lentz was beginning another investigation into Short arresting two referees at a high school football game.
The chief  says this effectively closes the book on the matter and any related investigations.

Covington PD issued the following news release:

    Today Chief Tim Lentz announces the retirement of Sgt. Stephen Short.   As you may recall, Stephen Short was at the center of the controversy surrounding the arrest of two referees at a high school football game.  He appealed the discipline he received as a result of an internal investigation, and during that process requested a list of documents to prepare for his appeal.   One of the documents he requested was a list of recorded phone calls made from the police department.  Of those calls requested were two phone calls Chief Lentz made to the referees.   In Stephen Short's request for the phone calls, he listed the specific date and time (to the minute, 6:23pm and 5:20pm) the phone calls were made.

    As a result of this request, Chief Lentz placed Short on paid administrative leave while an investigation was conducted to determine what if any policies were violated.   That investigation concluded and determined that Short had violated several polices.  As part of his due process under the Police Officer Bill of Rights, Short was given the opportunity to defend his actions at a pre-disciplinary hearing on May 5th.   At the conclusion of this hearing, Short was instructed to appear in Chief Lentz's Office the following day, May 6th at 8:30am where he would be advised of Chief Lentz's decision.  Shortly after leaving Chief Lentz's office on Monday, Stephen Short appeared in the Human Resources Office at City Hall and filed his retirement papers.

    With Short's retirement, we believe this brings an end to the saga involving the referees and the most recent incident with the phone calls.