Sergeant Michael Carter may have lost round one against Police Chief Ben Raymond, but the fight is far from over with. After losing a bid before the Police and Fire Civil Service Board, Dr. Carter has filed a lawsuit against the City of Shreveport and Police Chief Ben Raymond.

Carter is claiming that Police Chief Ben Raymond's transfer of him to SPD's human resources department is a clear abuse of power and suppresses the vote of the officers who voted for him to serve on the civil service board.

The Chief, however, says Carter is highly qualified in the field of HR and is needed to help the department function at its highest level. In fact, during the Board meeting on Tuesday, Raymond went on the record to praise Carter's ability in the field of human resources and said that he hopes Carter's addition to the department will lead to a lot of changes.

Carter contended that since he was not being put in charge of HR or being promoted to Assistant Chief, he would do nothing but shuffle paper. Carter also contends that moving him to the HR Department causes a direct conflict with him serving on the Civil Service Board.

In the suit, Carter outlines that he believes his job transfer is an abuse of power and is an attempt to manipulate Civil Service Board outcomes. Below are some of the complaints listed by Carter in the suit:

The lawsuit states Carter’s transfer to HR is an abuse of power in a clear attempt influence and control decisions of the board that review the actions and decisions of Raymond by:

  1. Causing Carter to recuse on many and/or selected cases before the board which could result in the action standing due to a tie vote and/or due to the lack of participation by Carter;
  2. Causing Carter to face another Ethics Board complaint and possible discipline by the Ethics Board; and/or
  3. Giving Raymond grounds to begin disciplinary action against Carter up to and including termination if he refuses to perform services that would conflict with his duties as a board member; and
  4. Suppressing the vote of the members of SPD for their representative on the board by precluding and/or attempting to preclude Carter from participating in appeals, voting on the appeals, and representing their interests on the board.

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